PLANNING
- Despite being in the planning for just under a year, the deal with SlideSports,
hosted in the swankiestof Mayfair hotels, the Dorchester where one could easily lose several hours, came about quite suddenly. The previous weeks' meeting was postponed due to the inclement weather which blasted much of the UK with sub-zero temperatures and snow bringing travel to a standstill meaning the trip for the team from up north became impossible. A smile and a handshake secured my return to professional motorsport and launched Lordes into the motorsport world.
MEETING - Agreeing on contracts had taken a little while to sort, so it wasn't until late March my Carrera Cup car arrived from Porsche, gleaming and pristine in white, direct from the factory. The team have completed a monumental task of getting the car prepped and wrapped in the incredibly classy Lordes Luxury Car Storage livery for the season ahead.
LORDES - Working with the management at Lordes is just great, they have a vision of where they need to be, who the target clients are, plus importantly the service level they must offer to differentiate. Working in investment management in a collectable car fund I am surrounded by exotic cars, their owners and their garages. Billionaire collectors require the best of everything, so visiting the LordesHQ recently made me realise just what Lordeshas built fits hand and glove with the client base.
CLIMATE - The air as I stepped into the main storage facility was pure, and it tasted like it - cool, dried (but not too much) and dust free. It's the type of air you find in clinically clean Swiss mountain resorts such as Zermatt. Given the air and the array of cars on show (under silk covers of course) made me think I could spend all day in the air - I was invigorated.
DEBUT - So with less than a week to go before our debut race, the excitement for the season ahead is starting to hit. At the time of going to print, I have not tested the new car whereas I know my competitors on average have at last 3 days under their belts; some even more. Luckily it doesn't phase me too much as the same happened with the Infiniti back in 2015 heading straight to FP1 having not even sat in the car.
BRANDS - So my expectations for Brands Indy are mixed - historically a circuit I've always done pretty well at, being no stranger to the podium either, BUT this is not a touring car, it's a GT car with weight at the rear and I've not yet sat in it let alone driven it.
RACERS - But like any racer, none of that worries me. I will get strapped in and head out on to the Brands Indy circuit with huge excitement, the almost killer instinct to hack my car to the front as quickly and cleanly as possible. One thing is for sure I am going to enjoy returning to the race circuit like you'd never believe.
Would be great to see you at Brands Hatch this weekend if you can make it.
MEETING - Agreeing on contracts had taken a little while to sort, so it wasn't until late March my Carrera Cup car arrived from Porsche, gleaming and pristine in white, direct from the factory. The team have completed a monumental task of getting the car prepped and wrapped in the incredibly classy Lordes Luxury Car Storage livery for the season ahead.
LORDES - Working with the management at Lordes is just great, they have a vision of where they need to be, who the target clients are, plus importantly the service level they must offer to differentiate. Working in investment management in a collectable car fund I am surrounded by exotic cars, their owners and their garages. Billionaire collectors require the best of everything, so visiting the LordesHQ recently made me realise just what Lordeshas built fits hand and glove with the client base.
CLIMATE - The air as I stepped into the main storage facility was pure, and it tasted like it - cool, dried (but not too much) and dust free. It's the type of air you find in clinically clean Swiss mountain resorts such as Zermatt. Given the air and the array of cars on show (under silk covers of course) made me think I could spend all day in the air - I was invigorated.
DEBUT - So with less than a week to go before our debut race, the excitement for the season ahead is starting to hit. At the time of going to print, I have not tested the new car whereas I know my competitors on average have at last 3 days under their belts; some even more. Luckily it doesn't phase me too much as the same happened with the Infiniti back in 2015 heading straight to FP1 having not even sat in the car.
BRANDS - So my expectations for Brands Indy are mixed - historically a circuit I've always done pretty well at, being no stranger to the podium either, BUT this is not a touring car, it's a GT car with weight at the rear and I've not yet sat in it let alone driven it.
RACERS - But like any racer, none of that worries me. I will get strapped in and head out on to the Brands Indy circuit with huge excitement, the almost killer instinct to hack my car to the front as quickly and cleanly as possible. One thing is for sure I am going to enjoy returning to the race circuit like you'd never believe.
Would be great to see you at Brands Hatch this weekend if you can make it.
