Running on empty

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

THE second week back at University has thrown down more challenges and has literally left my head in a spin.  As I sit here typing this out, I know I need to shape up and get things sorted out, otherwise I’m throwing my degree into the rubbish bin and that would be a massive shame.

PREPARATION: Frank Wrathall's Toyota is rolled out into the paddock

      Today saw the entire journalism group head down to the home of British motorsport, Silverstone.  The trip formed part of the main group project we have to do on motor racing in general, with today’s focus mainly on the finale of the British Touring Car Championship which takes place at Silverstone this weekend.  Preparing for the trip in the build-up and a lot of my colleagues couldn’t see the point of going.  I was remaining cautious about how it would go, but deep down, I was really excited.  I had never been to Silverstone, so this was a great opportunity and a fantastic chance to experience the motor racing scene from the pits, paddock and media centre.  By the day’s end, it felt like I was the only one who felt short-changed and fractionally disappointed and everyone else was in high spirits.  So, why did this happen?

      There are a number of reasons for this.  Some I will go into detail now and others I won’t.  The group I’m working in were hampered today by not having a tape to collect any video footage.  This was a frustrating experience and we missed out massively because of this.  What happened to the tape, I don’t honestly know.  Maybe we didn’t get one?  Perhaps it had been carelessly misplaced or maybe someone fancied using two tapes without checking.  Either way, it was a massive blow and means that unless some of the group make a return trip, the video part of the assignment is frankly, screwed up.  The main basis of the day was to take part in a media day challenge; which was to write a 300-word preview on the touring car finale this weekend.          The prize was tickets to the conclusion of the season on Sunday.  Unfortunately, our group didn’t win, which was a shame, but everyone was very phlegmatic in defeat.  

GLORY: My group (Rochelle, Farida & Tamika); three new podium contenders!

     Everyone knows that I am a competitive soul, always have been and always will be.  Of course I would have liked to have won, but we had a go and it didn’t work out.  I have learned to be ‘Magnanimous in victory, gracious in defeat.’  I congratulated the four winners; Amanda, Tom, Shamina and Rebecca on their deserved success and actually, the article is a very good choice and a clear winner.  The article that our group wrote was on the day, not strong enough.  You can read the excellent work of my fellow University colleagues on the official Silverstone website now at; http://www.silverstone.co.uk/news/latest-news/BTCC-news/Silverstone-revs-up-for-a-dramatic-finale/

     I didn’t gain any new contacts, which was disappointing and didn’t make as many visits as I would have liked around the area too.  We did though; interview one of the leading title contenders for this weekend’s event, Jason Plato.  Plato likes to speak his mind, but he was very helpful to us and was a pleasure to interview.  I asked him whether he would take more pride and satisfaction in a third title if it happened on Sunday.  His answer was thorough but very clear and understanding and I was pleased to have asked him such a well-thought question.  We also spoke to the BTCC series director, Alan Gow, who wasn’t giving away too much on how he thought Sunday would go, but was still a very useful interview.  The drivers and teams were all very friendly to us and that was nice.  So, it wasn’t all bad today.  However, I was expecting a bit more and when you don’t get it, you can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with the final experience and it’s best to be honest rather than grit through your teeth.

      I must admit, I haven’t prepared myself properly for the New Year and I think it is starting to take its toll on me.  I’m disappointed with myself to have fallen into old traps from last year and I can’t quite figure out why this is the case.  I probably assumed that it would be a slightly more relaxed start to year three of my degree and instead, it’s ‘Bang Bang, WHALLOP!’ from the outset.  Why did I not see this coming?  I set out high standards for myself and unfortunately, I’m not meeting up to these at the moment.  In fact, I’m not even close and need to turn things around.  Wednesday was a prime example.  I couldn’t help giggling over some of the hilarious jokes about the crashing of the BlackBerry server on Twitter, but after that, I lost concentration, motivation and all sense of direction in what I was doing.  Why did I do that?  My head wasn’t in the right place and I’m not talking literally here.  I am my harshest critic as I feel that it is the best I need to do, so I can achieve the best.  Maybe last year’s stinging criticism from my lecturers has hit me harder than I have let on.  I can’t change what happened last year; I must move on!

     I think an impending family anniversary hasn’t helped matters this week.  I don’t want to go into details, as it is a very personal matter and talking about it only makes things more emotional.  The issue affected me very closely at the time and I think it always will.  I was close to this person and looked up to them in a big way.  This time of year is always a difficult time for yours truly. 

     Hopefully next week, I will return to my old self – as I have let myself down this week.  The old me must return too, the focused and more relaxed me.  In March, I turned over a new leaf.  Nobody’s perfect, so let’s just hope this week was a blip on the agenda. 

Someone put me on charge, as I’m running on empty, it might help haha!

Welcome back!

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

DEEP: I feel like under one of these already!

IT HAS been a long summer, probably a bit too long – but the first week back at University was what I thought, a relaxing week back into the swing of things.  Ha!  Dream on.  Instead, I now have a pile of work that leaves me feeling like the celebrities in 71 Degrees North; buried underneath an avalanche!

     First day back and it was my 23^rd birthday.  The timing could have been a bit better, but at least I got to spend the day with my closest friends from my journalism course at the University of Northampton.  I got many happy returns from colleagues and some lovely cards from the really close friends that I have.  You know who you are, so I’m not going to mention you in person.  First day back began with a 9am lecture on radio.  I’m no fan of radio journalism and think it is quite out-of-date.  If I listen to radio, it’s for sports commentary on Five Live and sometimes will have it on before I go to sleep.  However, I don’t listen to it, their evening programmes are so bad it just helps me get to sleep quicker.  Radio journalism went out-of-date in around 1994 and I can’t help think that, especially when we live in the technological, social networking age of today.  However, it still might be interesting to find out a deeper background into the subject at least.  For the first hour, I sat on my own, just feeling slightly nervous.  I don’t know why; guess I just didn’t want to be the centre of attention.

     In the afternoon, we had our first group session for a very interesting project on motor racing.  People who know me will understand my strong passion for motor racing (see F1 and MotoGP reports), but I’m only into the racing side of things.  All the technical malarkey does not appeal to me and it is only F1 and MotoGP that I follow very closely.  I used to watch rallying, but got bored when the same guy kept winning every rally, have never been a big fan of sportscars or racing in America (Indy 500, CART etc) and as for national motorsport, what championships are they?  Our project is based on the final round of next weekend’s title decider at Silverstone for the British Touring Car Championship.  Five drivers can still mathematically claim the title and the BTCC is an okay racing series.  I watch a few rounds on TV, especially when nothing is on the box on a Sunday afternoon, but it isn’t something that has passion to me; just another racing championship.  The project involves a trip to the home of British motorsport on Friday and that does excite me, no matter what.  It will be an interesting day and an interesting project.  I already reckon that this year is going to be tough, no doubts.

     Thursday morning bought the sad news of Steve Jobs death.  The Apple figurehead (I will do a tribute on here in the next few days) has had a massive influence in the way we talk, communicate and appreciate the technological gadgets we have.  I’m not an Apple person; I don’t eat the fruit and have had regular problems with their software, especially on the iMac’s.  Nevertheless, I use iTunes on a regular basis to listen to my music and no-one can doubt the vision that Jobs had for Apple and the world.  His death is very sad and although I reckon the company will survive without too many issues, they will miss his leadership.  The world is a poorer place without him.

     As for my dissertation, (yep I have to do one of them this year), the early beginnings are looking good and I just wish I had more books I could buy.  I now have an official question title in place and I am probably less than a fortnight away from beginning to type out my first chapter.  Although I won’t reveal the topic on here, the clue is that it is to do with broadcast journalism.  Broadcast journalism is an area where I don’t like doing it, but I seem to end up with better results than the traditional strength I have; print journalism.  If that’s the case, it made my topic fairly easy and sensible to choose.  I have already had a positive meeting with the tutor I will be working closely with, so early signs suggest that although it will probably take me to the brink on more than one occasion, it is something I’m going to enjoy researching, without wanting to do something else.

     One of the presents I got for my birthday was F1 2011; the new racing game on the Xbox 360.  Actually, I’m finding it a real challenge to play, which is great for any racing simulation, as I normally find them too easy to play.  I have achieved a second place finish with Williams in the Barcelona event and have a habit of making great starts from solid grid positions, but it is very realistic.  The days of winning the championship in your first year with Virgin Racing are a distant thing of the past.

HAPPY: Posing with fellow blogger and close Uni friend, Farida

     My lengthy birthday celebrations came to a conclusion with another trip to the Balestra nightclub on Thursday in town.  More people came than I had been expecting and it was a great night, even if the music was a bit naff.  It was a lovely night and a great way to finish the week off with the majority of my closest buddies.  As much as I was hoping to make it a regular feature this year, the workload will determine that and if week one is anything to go by, it is more likely to be a monthly rather than a fortnightly basis.

     So, week one of my final year at University has finished and there is bound to be plenty of emotional rollercoaster’s along the way.  It is great to be back around people who mean a lot to me, but the gauntlet has already been thrown down, so I’d better start trying to dig myself out of this avalanche!

      Welcome back everyone!

Plato walks away from high-speed crash

British Touring Car champion and presenter of Channel Five motoring show Fifth Gear, Jason Plato walked away unscathed from a dramatic and scary-looking crash this afternoon at Donington Park.

     Plato, driving a Chevrolet Cruize was clipped by the Airwaves Ford of Liam Griffin just moments into the start of the second of the day's three race meetings.  The most successful driver in BTCC history was powerless to prevent his car careering into the gravel trap, before submerging a grass bank at the high-speed Craner Curves.  Although he hit the bank at an acute angle, his car flipped into a serious of dramatic barrel-rolls, before coming to rest in the pit.

     The defending champion, who was trying to salvage something from a disappointing meeting, having had his first race ruined by a puncture, unbuckled himself from the wreckage of his Chevrolet and walked away uninjured, to the relief of his wife, family and team.  The car was completely destroyed however.

     However, less than four hours later, the mechanics did an amazing repair job to get their man out for the final event of the day and Plato charged through to a stunning sixth place finish.

     Who said motor racing drivers had no brains?  After this, there is one thing that Jason Plato has and that's plenty of courage after walking away from one of the most dramatic crashes in the history of the British Touring Car Championship.