FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

Hatch, where we had done a drainage project, converting the gravel run-offs to tarmac, and we had extended the track itself, creating a new section in the woods. (This section was later re-named ‘Sheene’s Corner’ the following year, in honour of the motorbike racer Barry Sheene who died in 2003.) So now, in January 2002, Jeff Barley, from the Brands Hatch Leisure Group, came back to us with an urgent job. They had been asked to host the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 11 th . The problem was that the previous year heavy rain had flooded the visitors’ car park, and dozens of cars had to be pulled out of the mud by tractors. Bernie Ecclestone had hosted that race; Jeff didn’t want the same thing to happen on his watch. So, the job was to build two new car-parking areas and to improve the infrastructure of the course. This year, however, the rain came early, and it was very heavy. Although work was suspended for a week on the nearby A43, we didn’t have any time to spare, so we carried on regardless. Brian Morris and his team took their caravans up there and pitched camp in the rain. They set up their own foam-mix plant, so that they could produce their own recycled materials, and they worked all hours. In spite of the bad weather, they shifted 280,000 cubic metres of material into the Stowe Corner, and completed the job on time. Conditions at Silverstone were far from ideal. At one point, the lights around the track failed. Roy Hedderman immediately sent Lee Blackston up there with a large telescopic lighting tower. When Lee asked Roy how long he was going for, Roy simply said: ‘For as long as it takes.’ Lee’s job was to tow the light tower around the track, providing light for the gang to carry on with their surfacing work, long into the night. But nobody provided any light for Des Riley when he arrived at

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