Dossing Times Christmas Party: Race of Champions

So the crew here at The Dossing Times headed to London this past weekend, partly to sample the fine ale that our disastrously exchanged Euro could be spent on but also to visit Wembley stadium for the Annual Race of Champions. Now the other members of the team being genuine fans of motor sport, I was more attending in the spirit of a tastily eclectic life. And 15 minutes in I wondered what could be achieved by drivers racing for the next 4 hours around the same route. How wrong I was and an afternoon of exciteful, fast paced and skillful displays were put on show. Each racer, firstly as a representative of their country and in a second round defending their own good names to ultimately earn the title of Champion took to the track in 5different models of car including an Aston Martin and a specially designed Race of Champions car (See specifications here). The drivers came from the worlds of Formula 1, NASCAR and the World Rally championship to select a few. More than impressed with the intimacy of the amphitheatre that is the new Wembley, the singular draw back to the day was the glacial conditions. I had decided that because of the likelihood of me loosing such items as gloves and scarves etc they were best left on my bedroom floor in Dublin, a decision which was instantly regretted emerging from Stansted Saturday morning. The afternoon ripped by, demonstrations by stunt bikers and of monsters of cars I knew nothing about but knew I was impressed by filled out the time between laps where every corner mattered and a number of laps including the final 3 to decide the Champion were decided in nail biting, crowd pleasing style. So too some time was set aside to pay tribute to Colin McRae who passed away this year in an accident and would have been attending the event representing Scotland. The main piece of information I took away from the day (other than dress warmly in December)is that while trophies and adulation are all good and well, the ability to send smoke pumelling from your vehicle and do wheelies is key in motor sport. The day was one of good entertainment, one enjoyable to me as a novice and so too to my companions who appreciate fully the skills and characters involved.