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February 26, 2004
Introduction

Silverstone, UK - F1 Testing less than 2 weeks before the start of the real (and F1VWC) season. But it's February - cold, raining, biting wind, definitely a place for strange people to congregate! Yes, you guessed it - real F1 teams were there AND members of the F1VWC community!

This was the 2nd F1VWC meet up, the first being in August 2003 at Donington Park - click here for details.

Back then we had 4 people attend - Andy Graydon, Matt Maple, Chris Galloway and Ted Cragg. Unfortunately we have now lost Ted from the Sim Racing community, but what was discussed back then has definitely seen the light of day right here and now!

The F1VWC is now running with 11 teams with drivers in abundance, plus waiting lists for both Teams and Drivers. A new dedicated site (www.f1vwc.com), rules package, and a dedicated group of individuals, plus pre-season testing that has seen an astounding turn-out at each of the sessions held so far - all promises great things for the 2004 season.

Oh, and just in case anyone needs confirmation - we're here to stay!

24th February 2004 - Silverstone

And so it was that F1VWC team owners and drivers, from the UK and abroad, met up at Silverstone to both sample F1 testing and to meet the people behind the e-mails and Forum posts!

Attendees throughout the day included the following:

Andy Graydon - Chief Admin F1VWC; Governing Body member; Phoenix F1 Team Owner - legend in Holland!!

Matt Maple - F1VWC Admin; Governing Body member; Mapes-VO Team Co-Owner; JTM Race Driver.

Lawrence Simpson (including his Dad) - Governing Body member; Simsoa Team Boss.

Matt Hunt - Mapes-VO Test Driver.

Toby Lock - F1VWC Admin; JTM Race Driver.

Dave Cummings (plus his mate Chris) - Puma F1 Team Owner; Puma F1 Test Driver.

Peter Van Oostende - Mapes-VO Team Co-Owner; Mapes-VO Test Driver. Peter flew in from Holland just for the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately Chris Galloway couldn't make it (he was full of cold) and Paul Fawcett was having his belongings packaged before heading of to Australia!

A cold, damp, deserted Silverstone!

And Max Mosley - yes, the smell of fried onions and NO CORPORATE GUESTS IN SIGHT!!!!!!!!

Left to right -

Lawrence Simpson; Toby Lock; Matt Hunt; Matt Maple; Jenson Button (in interim black liveried BAR!); Andy Graydon; Peter Van Oostende.

Picture taken by Lawrence's dad (many thanks)

Andy Graydon and Dave Cummings met up in the car park at 9am and went into the circuit, followed shortly by Lawrence Simpson and his Dad.

Matt Hunt had arranged to pick Peter Van Oostende up at Luton Airport and they arrived around 10.30am. The sun actually got through the clouds at one point, but this was soon followed by intermittent rain. It was cold, very cold, but the good company was enough to make you forget about the rigours of a British winters day!

Camera's were out in force, and with BAR (with Jenson Button giving it "large"), Renault (with Trulli and Alonso), and Jordan (with Heidfeld and Pantano - who we originally thought was Glock) taking to the track we all had plenty of opportunity to get some shots.

Jenson Button, exiting Bridge heading to Priory (picture by Andy G)

Jenson was doing stints of 10 laps or so, so we got plenty of time to see F1 machinery in action. Plus the sound, yes the sound of V10 F1 engines! Bring on Melbourne, quick!

Dave Cummings was only able to stay until mid-day, and was unable to meet up with Matt or Toby, who arrived after he had gone. However, questions along the lines of "is he mad?" were met with "yes!" responses, especially as Dave kept on saying he wanted to run onto the track - naked! Erm, OK Dave - keep on taking the tablets!

In the afternoon we all chatted about the F1VWC, teams, drivers, rules, testing, Lawrence's videos (well worth a look on his site), other leagues, and (welcome news to me) was the indication that the F1VWC is actually now being noticed by members of other more established leagues.

The time went quite quickly (at least for me), and by mid-afternoon Lawrence had to leave.

Pantano then decided to throw the Jordan into the gravel trap at Priory, but had the decency to wave to the few faithful spectators as the car went back to the pits on the back of a lorry.

Peter Van Oostende and Matt Hunt then left, (Peter needing to check in for his flight back to Holland). Peter really wanted to see Trulli appear in the Renault, but an earlier problem with the car meant that he only made an appearance at 4.55pm (when testing finished at 5pm).

Andy G, Matt M and Toby remained to see out the full day, with pictures being taken through the catch fencing of the cars as the light faded and the rain came down even more.

Pantano in the Jordan, exiting Luffield - 4.45 pm - it was getting dark! (Picture by Andy G)

Epilogue

All in all it was an enjoyable day. Meeting and chatting to those who turned up, with similar interests, was again well worth it. At least I can now put faces and "characters" to names! It was interesting to hear other peoples views on aspects of the league, and the positive comments were definitely a boost to my morale, proving that all the hard work over the winter really has paid off.

And that work will continue, updating the site with the 2003 results and statistics in the next month or so.

The new F1VWC season is just over 1 week away, and I hope that you can all enjoy racing in the F1VWC in 2004 in the knowledge that this league is not going to disappear. There are many committed guys out there helping out, and the Team owners and drivers have all played their part in putting the league where it is now.

Lets get a full grid in Melbourne and keep it that way for all 17 races. Lets make this season one to remember!

P.S. Discussions are already underway to hold another meeting perhaps as early as Silverstone testing in April 2004. We'll keep you informed.

PPS - I'd like to thank everyone who turned up - we all had long journeys and very long days, especially Peter Van Oostende for flying into and out of the UK on the same day. Hopefully next time we can see more of you join us.