Let’s just get there already
You wouldn’t imagine that setting off at 4am from your home would see you arriving anywhere in the dark, but with the time difference we had a long journey ahead of us. This year with a break between flights on the way there meant we wouldn’t land until the evening so not so much day time photography, in fact after looking back in my phone, the main features collected were the lights of the city, and where we ate on the stopover in Philadelphia (if you haven’t had a Smash Burger then you have to try it at some point).
We made extra investments this year and paid for a floor sign which would show people to our stand. Given the size of this event, it also helped us find our stand in time to get it set up ready for the publics arrival.
Items of interest
What follows again is a collage of motorsport and street sport eye candy, it’s always difficult to encapsulate the entire show into a few pictures and paragraphs, but as always the show was filled with interesting people not only in the public, but on the stands too. The atmosphere is excellent and everyone is more than happy to stand and have a natter about what they’re doing, what they’ve been up to and what they have planned for the year ahead. For us it’s nice to get the opportunity to wander the stands and catch up with people we don’t see every day.
Danny Nowlan of ChassisSim popped by to say hello and as always had our sides splitting with his awesome character, the students really like his content in the degree and when you meet him it’s clear to see why. Anders and the Sunoco team were out in force as always with their incredible stand and the Australian quarters social was a pleasure to attend.
We were in the Great British alley you could call it, surrounded by the usual suspects of the UK motorsport show scene and we were all well catered for by the team down at MIA and the PRI team on site. As always there was a huge variety of the Motorsport world out on display and what follows is merely a snap shot of the huge mass of companies, teams and stands that make PRI the show that it is. No NFL this year unfortunately, but as that was the case PRI put on a couple of excellent networking events in the Lucas Oil stadium where again the atmosphere was excellent, definitely a place to visit if you’ve never been.
Our presentation
This year we decided to do a presentation at the show to give people the opportunity to listen to what we do, and to get any questions answered in an environment set out for such things. We were pleased to see the local response and interest which led to a very relaxed and open forum of discussion on not only our course but the wider subject of motorsport in general.
The attendees were all genuinely interested and posed many valuable questions which ensured all in attendance had a clear view of how to get involved and make steps from their side of the pond for studying with the NMA.
Someone got star struck
So there we were closing down for the day, getting ready to go out for the evening and who would wander by but Guy Martin, one of the Director of Motorsports favourite celebrities! He couldn’t help but get a picture with him;
The Brickyard
So as not to exhaust or spoil the experience, I have dropped a few teaser images in of the Brickyard museum and tour, in summary, between the museum, the site itself (and its history), and the tour, you get a real sense of the highs, lows, excitement and emotion that comes with being in the business of Motorsport.
Wow I hear you say, you must have had a go in a car whilst you were there then? Unfortunately, not, but the tour bus was better than walking, if not a little too cosy.
Yeah, not that fast either unfortunately, although it did make it much easier to see the sights, especially the safety barriers – Look them up if that’s your bag, they’re quite impressive!
It’s a shame we didn’t have Gaz with us to ‘kiss the bricks’ and give us some luck for the year ahead!
Frozen Volvo
So after another successful trip to Indy it was time to jump on the plane and get back to the UK, I’d heard that the weather hadn’t been great so I was looking forward to getting home, with circa 15 hours of travel behind me I was ready to make the final journey from the airport home, the weather had been fairly nippy walking out of the terminal, but what resembled the following is not what I expected to see in the car park, and with leather seats, was not a welcoming sight at all!
Bugger!
Memories of the warm welcome and great people we met whilst at the PRI show however outweighed the deep freeze though, and we look forward to returning next year.
Wayne Gater – NMA Curriculum Leader of Motorsport
