Far Out Son of Lung...

Getting to Europe

In the beginning of February I was cruising the web looking at all the racing series doing testing for the 2006 season. I wanted to know who was quick, which teams were testing most and how the season was going to shape up in each championship. One site I visited was for the World Endurance Championship, a motorcycle road racing series that encompasses a schedule of long distance events in Europe.

Within the site I found a news item about how many teams are privateer and do not have the funds to pay for a pit crew at all of the races. Seeing as how events are anywhere from 6 to 24 hours in length, this made perfect sense. The news bit specifically mentioned how many of the teams welcome outside volunteer help during the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto race, and how it is such a great way to get involved with the series. I thought this was pretty interesting and made a mental note to pursue such a thing in 2007, but wrote the idea off this year because at that point the race was only a little over two months in the future.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm talking with Rock Gal about racing and what's going on in the different championships. I mentioned the news bit and how cool it would be to go, but how there was not time. She didn't buy it. Immediately she was encouraging me to get in touch with a team and try to go to Europe for a round of the series. I agreed to try and went back to the site that evening where I located a BBS for the series. There, I posted this message and figured I would not get any replies.

Monday morning I had a post from Eileen at PhaseOne, a British team in the championship and one of the most successful teams in England:


Dear Greg,

You SO need to come racing with us at Phase One. First of all, we'll be one of only two or three English speaking teams there (World Endurance is VERY French); secondly, all of the crew are volunteers, so you'll be in good, if impecunious, company. Thirdly, you cite Jason Pridmore's school on your blog, and Jason used to ride with us.

I've responded to your email 'cos the rest of the team are away testing this weekend and I wanted to get your attention before you get seduced by the works teams. Check out our website www.PhaseOne.co.uk and contact Russell Benney when he gets back (probably Tuesday)

Drop me an email if you've got any questions.

Best of luck
Eileen


Tuesday, the 28th, I had another post on the BBS from Hans Westra of Primo Racing. Primo is a Belgian team and, given the post, they didn't speak a lot of English. I wrote Hans an email explaining my stance as a Freelance writer and once again, hoped for the best.


Hans,
Earlier this week I posted a message on the World Endurance Championship website seeking a team for which I could volunteer at the 24H of Le Mans. Thank you for your prompt reply and offer to assist me in my plan to attend the race as a volunteer crew member and writer. Based on your email address I believe your team originates in Belgium. I am not bilingual and have only a minor grasp of German. I am, however, quite good at understanding hand signals and shouting.

Essentially, I am coming over as more than just a volunteer. I am a freelance writer flying in from the United States with a desire to cover the race from inside a team. The benefits to your team are numerous, as I am an able mechanic and willing to pull my weight within the team. On top of this I can provide you with content for your website (live updates perhaps?), press coverage for your team and another reason for a sponsor to take notice of your operation. Personally, I'll gain the ability to crew for an outstanding team at a legendary event, and I'll also have some great material I can work up into publishable material that I can turn around and sell to magazines.

I have been in touch with a team from England but I want to keep my options open and at the very least I would like to meet with you and your team at the race. If you are interested in my services as a crew member and writer, please contact me so that I can sort out some of the details of my trip. At the moment I am trying to decide where I should fly into and how best to get transport to the track. If any part of my trip can be made with the team or other volunteers on the team I would be most grateful. And, it could make for another great story! Also, I have a wonderful photographer with which I have worked. If you have room, might he be allowed to join me on the trip? If not, I'll find another means of locating photographs to go with my work.

To give you a better idea of who I am and what I can offer, here's a link to my current website. It is a collection of work that should give you a good idea of my writing style, sense of humor and general demeanor. http://gresam.blogspot.com/ Thank you for your time,

I am anxious to hear from you,
Greg Sampson


The next day I had a reply from Hans:


Greg,

First off all sorry fore my pore English speak it better.
We are a amateur team that is based on Belgium near Antwerp.
We ride whit Suzuki gsxr K6 and aiming fore points in the championship.
We are whit a round 16 team members ,all friends. can pick you op at the airport and you can stay whit us fore the rest off the week .
maybe it is a good idea to spent two weeks whit us so you can see the assen round to.
My dream is to ride the Belgium round whit two US riders Dave estok and mike barnes who are good friends off my.
Whit your help it is maybe possible to find some American sponsors to bring them over.
I think we can work something out fore your photographer to.
You fly in to Brussels that's 30 min drive from my place.
We all speak some English so that wand by a problem.
We take care off food and a place to sleep .

Kind regards,

Hans Westra


In the meantime, and much haste, I had ordered an official copy of my birth certificate from the State of New York ($70) and then spoke with my Dad about having a copy FedEx'd to me in Dallas from home ($free). The birth cert would arrive a week later and the passport acquisition process began in earnest. Expediting the passport cost me just under $200 and I was slated to receive it in two weeks, so I decided to move forward and get in touch with both teams again.


Hans,
Thank you for your kind offer of hospitality in Belgium. I am still working on some details for my travel and I am very interested in joining your team. I am currently considering joining you for Assen and Le Mans, hopefully my plans for travel will become more solidified in the next two weeks. As soon as I know more I will be in contact with you.

Also, I would like to talk to you on the telephone, perhaps this week or next. I am still talking with several teams, but I am very interested in your offer. Please tell me if there is a best time of day for me to call you by telephone.

Thank you,
Greg Sampson


I spoke with Russell from PhaseOne a week later on the telephone. He was happy to have me come over and join the team, but only as an observer. They required nine days of shop work prior to being in the pit and this would make it impossible for me to join them as a working crew member, which is what I wanted most... I completely understand their position as a professional team that can easily win Le Mans, but I wanted to do more than observe.

The next day, Wednesday, I called Hans. His spoken English far exceeds his written English and we had a good rapport on the telephone. I told him I was really interested in joining him, in fact that I was sure I would, and that I'd be in further touch as we progressed and I'd gotten my airfare. He told me they'd save a spot for me on the big team bus and that they had three cooks on the team that would be making meals and feeding the team. So, basically, I just needed to get myself to Europe and they'd take care of me as one of their own for two weeks.

The following Tuesday, 6 days after talking to Hans, I had purchased a ticket to Brussells, Belgium. Two days later I had a passport in my hand and everything was set. I wrote Hans with my itinerary


Hans,
Unless something really strange happens between now and April 13th, here is my itinerary. I tried to get what I thought would be a convenient time for my landing in Brussels but transferring airports in London made things a little difficult. Hopefully, this will not be an inconvenience.

Arrival in Brussels
British Airways
Flight Number BA0394
Thursday April 13, 2006
14:45

Depart Brussels
British Airways
Flight Number BA4983
Friday April 28, 2006
07:00

The departing flight is pretty early in the morning but that was the only time available the whole weekend. I'm not crazy about getting to the airport at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning but I figure I can get a cab over there or stay at the airport the night before my departure.

I gave myself some extra days in Europe and hope to make it out to Spa and the Nurburgring, perhaps a few other places as well time depending. At this point, I just need to figure out what to bring. What is the weather typically like during this time of the year?

See you soon,
Greg Sampson


and he wrote back:


Greg,

We will pick you up at he airport and fore your departure we figure something out .
The weather is still pretty cold it can by good whit some luck .
At the arrival i will show a sign primo racing .

regards,
Hans westra


This is all just beginning to sink in and I'm getting more excited each day. I need to figure out what to pack and how to pack light. I'm trying to take as little as possible and simply hope that they'll have wash facilities available at the track! Or, I'll end up actually packing two weeks worth of clothing... Hm.

There's more to come, obviously, and I'll be sure to post it here as it happens.

posted by GreSam @ 20:00