I was recently fortunate enough to be invited as a VIP guest of our business partner EMC and Team Lotus to attend the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. After getting out of bed at 4.45am, an ungodly hour especially for a Sunday, I made my way to the event in order to get there for 7am, so I could immerse myself in the full Formula 1 experience.
Ian Parslow and Craig Russell were also invited, but I can’t say for sure that I saw them there at 7am or even 8am for that matter…probably arriving at 8:30am.
As the day got underway, I got called away from all the excitement to go and rescue two executives from Telefonica and Visa International who had forgotten to pick up their passes and were stuck in the Paddock car park. I was lucky enough to have been given an access all areas gold pass, so naturally, I was elected to get these two back into the Paddock Club at the Lotus hospitality suite. It didn’t take long before they were back where they belonged – some twenty minutes later. Sometimes it helps to have an operational outlook in other areas of life!
The fun started when I was fortunate enough to meet Pastor Maldonado, one of the Team Lotus drivers, who was kind enough to sign a mini Team Lotus helmet for me and get a picture taken with him. This was all facilitated by a lovely lady called Beth O’Neill, who is the hospitality events manager for Logan Sports Marketing, which supports EMC in these sorts of events. Beth and Logan Sports Marketing, which looks after EMC with their sponsorship of events, from rugby through to sailing, were fantastic hosts during the day, letting us meet some of the drivers and get down in the paddocks during the race.
Following a super lunch and as a special VIP treat we were escorted down behind the scenes by Aimelia Herbert (Johnny Herbert’s daughter) giving us access right into the to the Team Lotus garage area where the real action happens, where we were able to watch the technical teams behind the race work (listening in to the radio as the cars zipped around, and watching while electronic adjustments were being made to the cars as they raced).
Ian Parslow, Craig Russell and Phil Cook also had a great time, and got to experience the action first hand. You can see a picture of us all alongside some of the Team Lotus memorabilia.
I would like to say a big thank you to all the EMC executive management for inviting us out to such an exciting VIP event, in particular Jonathan Martin, SVP, CMO for EMC, for setting up the day & hosting us and converting a Formula 1 novice, such as myself, into a die-hard fan.