THUNDER FROM DOWNUNDER - WHC 2010

Tuesday 24^th August 2010:

Today the boys headed for the hovercraft championship venue at Towcester to spend time wandering around the many craft in the pit area and catching up with drivers and crew who have arrived from all over the world.

Towcester is a small town (pronounced 'Toaster') about 65 miles north of London, and dates back to Roman times when it was known as 'Lactodorum'. The Roman settlement grew up around a fort built on Whatling Street, the ancient roman road built between Dover and Chester.

Set on this important route Towcester became a coaching town and by the early 19th century had more than 20 inns. When Charles Dickens visited the town he stayed at the Saracen's Head and later mentioned it in 'Pickwick Papers'.

The Roman road network remained the only nationally managed highway system within Britain until the establishment of the Ministry of Transport in the early 20th century.

It was quite a buzz to see all the countries represented at the World Hovercraft Championship and particularly to be part of the Australian contingent as there are only 11 of us here for the event.

150 hovercraft and over 200 drivers from 18 countries are participating in the 2010 Championships and after a warm welcome from the Mayor of Towcester and a brief history of the town which dates back to Roman times, the President of the World Hovercraft Federation, Tony Drake, pronounced the 2010 World Hovercraft Championships OPEN.

It was a reasonably early night following the conclusion of the official opening ceremony as the music hit decibiles higher than the racing hovercraft manage while competing, and we had left our ear muffs back in the pits.

Wednesday 25^th August 2010:

After scrutineering of all craft and a drivers briefing, the morning practice session was underway. This gave the drivers time to get the feel of the course and iron out any bugs that may affect the craft performance.

The afternoon session was a bit more formal with time trials for grid positions being held, and drivers being a bit more serious in order to be placed close to the front of the grid.

The final event on todays schedule, and the first race for the meet, was the first round of endurance racing. This proved to be exciting to watch with a packed field and the leaders constantly changing positions as craft were called into the noise testing area throughout the race.

By the end of the race we were all cold and wet, so we headed home to the warmth of our cosy 400 year old cottage and a warming wine or two.

Thursday 26^th August 2010:

Rain, rain, rain and more rain - add some gusty wind to all that rain and I guess we must be in England. It has rained all night and looks really set in now - not that a little rain is going to stop us from heading over to the Towcester Racecourse for todays hovercraft events.

Debbie, the Thunder From Downunder backbone, rang to see if she could bring over the teams racing suits to dry in the dryer ready for their second race, which was due to start at 1:00 pm, as well as wash and dry many wet clothes, as they are camping along with six hundred other people at the Championships campground.

Elaine and Judy spent most of the day assisting Deb with the washing and drying, then headed over to the event in the late afternoon to see the final endurance race. They thought this race was really something special to see as OzTeam 2010 Thunder From Downunder in the Renegade IQ won the race in an exciting finish.

As this was the last event of the day and as it was still raining and had become quite cold, we headed back to Dollys Cottage to dry off and enjoy a warm drink in front of the fire.

Sunday 29^th August 2010:

It looks like another beautiful day in sunny downtown Towcester this morning, although there did appear to be quite a breeze blowing as we headed for the final, and what was promising to be the most exciting day of the championships.

By mid-afternoon the girls had joined the guys thinking they were going to see the exciting formula 1 finals racing, as today has had the best sunshine of the week. Unfortunately the breeze had strengthened to over 40 mph, and with 2 drivers being evacuated to hospital after coming unstuck in these conditions, the events were halted for safety reasons just before the end of the second session. The drivers voted to pospone the racing for a couple of hours and see if the wind died down in the early evening.

Much to everybodys disappointment this didn't occur, and Round 5 for Formula 1 and Round 6 for all Formulas were abandoned around 5:00 pm. Results up to that point were taken as the final results for the event, a real anticlimax to a sensational 2010 championships.

After dinner there was a prize giving and closing ceremony event which went off really well, and it was great to see the Aussie's Thunder from Downunder team up on the podimum receiving their awards.

A little time was spent saying good bye to old friends and all the new ones made over the week long championship before we headed back to Dolly's Cottage for a good nights rest.