My first ever media accreditation at a sports event. Verva Street Racing, Warsaw 2011

It’s the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, but not all of us can participate in it. Having in mind those who cannot travel to West Sussex, I decided to finally provide a small taste of another motorsport event that was organised 2 weeks ago (18 June) in Warsaw – Verva Street Racing.*

The event has taken place for the second time. For this partially sunny, partially stormy Saturday afternoon, the streets of Warsaw turned into a racing circuit where crowds of cheering fans could see various types of racing vehicles starting with old F1 Lotus cars, through sports cars such as Ferraris and Porches and finishing with NASCAR cars.

To be honest, I didn’t think about going there at first, but a fellow co-blogger kept her finger on the pulse and suggested we applied for media accreditation. We did and we luckily got them.

Having found media centre (a tiny hut behind the corner), equipped with our passes, we headed to Pit Party – a kind of a paddock set on one of the biggest squares in Warsaw (a place where all the official national ceremonies, like the Independence Day celebrations, normally take place). Polish drivers and motorcyclists were wandering carelessly around: you could ask for an autograph, take a picture with your idol or have a little chat if you were lucky enough.

Huge green tracks of Classic Lotus team caught our eyes immediately.

Ben Collins the way he looks today

There we found Ben Collins (ex Stig) signing autographs on his autobiography The Man in the White Suit. As crowds were gathering around him, we let it go and went to take a photo with the nearby men from Classic Lotus team in their green t-shirts. They turned out to be lovely and charming chaps, absolutely ecstatic that someone wanted to take their pictures. I would meet them a bit later, when I’d be waiting to talk to Ben Collins. They’d be talking about engine revs and types of fuels and I’d be standing there listening. I bet they wouldn’t even mind if I actually joined in the conversation.

Walking around the paddock filled with various types of cars we finally got to the best tent – one full of old Lotus F1 cars…

Happy with what we’d seen, we went to the nearby hotel for a press lunch with all the invited drivers and guests. After a short moment of hesitation we decided to go to Ben Collins for a chit-chat about the difficulties of Stig’s mysterious life. There was only one problem – we weren’t really prepared for this conversation! I personally went for Verva to have fun, not even thinking about making interviews.

Ben Collins the way you might recognise him better

And so suddenly there I am, facing the prospect of talking to Ben Collins. I tried to get myself out of it, but my colleagues had already decided: you speak English best, you go and talk, while we record it.
Damn! Luckily, Ben was outspoken and had some cheeky sense of humour straight from Great Britain. As there were lots of people wanting to talk to him, I asked him only one question concerning the challenges of living under cover and whether his family and friends knew about his secret life. Here’s what he said (please note the F1-like for sure phrase at the beginning ;)):

We ended the conversation with ex Stig assuring me that streets of Warsaw are in a pretty good shape and would suit a street circuit well, but I still take this assertion as courtesy of a foreign guest rather than a real opinion.

No matter how nice Ben Collins was, lesson learnt – if you have a press accreditation, don’t treat it as fun only. You never know what happens, so better ALWAYS prepare yourself!

Krzysztof Hołowczyc in his element - in the spot light

Taking the opportunity given to us by the press accreditation, my companion M. decided to talk to Krzysztof Hołowczyc (a Polish rally driver, multiple champion of Poland, 1997 European Rally Champion, frequent participant of Dakar Rally with various results ­– 60^th in 2005, DNFs in 2006, 2007 and 2010 but also 5^th in 2009 and 2011). I’ve never been his huge fan, but I must admit he’s handsome and very outspoken – a dream partner for a conversation for any journalist. As motorsport is still overcrowded by men, M. couldn’t resist but ask Hołowczyc for his opinion about women in the sport (in various areas). Female fans will be pleased to hear that the driver experienced competing against a few women and he admits they aren’t easy opponents. In fact he acknowledged their skill ensuring that there’s not much of a difference between a female and a male racer as they are all same tough and difficult to beat.

Enough of the talk. Let's have some on-track action! The street circuit set for this one day only was quite short and led mostly around the National Opera and National Theatre buildings. What a sophisticated combination… the classical buildings representing the higher culture and the popular sport for masses!

The every day National Opera building

The way it was on the 18th of June 2011

 As a representative of the media community, I had a seat on one of the best stands – very close to the start/finish line just in front of the spot on the track where all the stuff like drift or stunt shows were taking place.

The action started with Red Bull X-Fighters Jam – motorcyclists breaking the laws of gravity with their sky-high, breathtaking evolutions.





 Then we saw an F3 race of 3 drivers enriched with a pit stop competition. Each of the drivers was obliged to change tyres once and each of them had a special crew of celebrities doing the pit stop. The beautiful and famous did their job just fine, but I think they should still stick to singing/dancing/playing football/being famous. The programme provided for races of other cars as well: DTM, Le Mans, Porsche Supercup. I’m sorry to admit I missed the presentation of F1 Legends, that is old F1 cars (including the wonderful Lotus cars we’d seen earlier in the paddock) due to going for a snack. However, it wasn’t that bad after all as the rain started the moment we got our bruschettas (under the roof). It was raining cats and dogs, but not for long and soon the weather allowed us to come back to our stand. Lesson for the male fans watching us with disbelief: always take an umbrella when the weather is uncertain and a spare shirt (theoretically in case it gets cooler) – you can always use it to dry your seat after the rain.

Some people who apparently weren’t as far-sighted as me (no umbrellas and no spare shirts!), left during the rain, but there were still considerable crowds of diehard fans, who didn’t care for the hectolitres of water pouring down on them. When the sun came back, we watched some more shows: drifters showed how to take a corner in an unconventional manner,  then came time for a parade of the most beautiful sports cars like Ferraris and Porsches, followed by American sports cars show. I must admit I prefer the European style. All the parades were led by Mercedes SLS – the famous F1 safety car, alas without Bernd Mayländer behind the wheel.

Tomasz Kuchar, a Polish rally driver, took on a NASCAR car (for the first time in his life). He was so determined to show the public how to burn rubber that he ruined the tyres entirely and was forced to come back to the pits on the rims. I’m sure Lewis Hamilton would appreciate it!

As I had to leave and couldn’t stay till the very end, I was able to watch one more race only, the motorcycle one. The winner was Kuba Przygoński – 2^nd in 2010 Cross-Country World Championship. However, it must be noted that not all of his rivals were interested in winning. While some were fighting it out really hard, one was more engaged in investigating the arcanes of driving on the rear wheel and showing the outcomes of his investigation to the public. Not that I complain!

Though there were still a few more surprises (and some time more to spend with the annoying presenter shouting something all the time on the stage hanging over the start/finish line**), I already had to leave missing, amongst others, Dakar cars or the ending parade. Nevertheless – quite a productive and cool day. I love to be a media girl!

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* A short background: the host of the event was PKN Orlen, Poland’s biggest oil refiner. Orlen is an owner of Verva Racing Team (hence the name of the event, Verva Street Racing) – a team that takes part in Porche Supercup. What’s more, in 2002 Orlen created Poland’s biggest rally team called, naturally, Orlen Team. They take part in Dakar Rally, Cross-Country Rallies and competitions organized by International Motorcycling Federation.

** My favourite quote of the afternoon by the presenter: I’d love to stop talking and just listen to the wonderful sound of the engines, but I’ll do my best to talk a bit more for a while!

I'd like to thank Margo, Paulina and Paweł for their lovely company.
Pictures: partially mine, partially courtesy of Margo and Paulina :).