| After a very quick
breakfast (the alarm was sabotaged but the rest of the team was able to
wake me in time) all the investigators met to be shipped out to training. |
Preparing for the trip to the track |
| Taking a breather
from the crowds I took a look at the teams from a distance. |
The teams gather |
Eventually, we were
all gathered and ready to go.
|
And the car sits waiting |
Of course, while
waiting we took the opportunity to talk with other investigators even
more. Always good to know your fellow investigators well, after all
we're all here with the same goal - bring back the artwork!
|
Teams mingling |
As Sam once said,
"you can't have tooo many investigators". He went all out calling in
this many people to help.
|
More mingling |
Finally on the bus,
we were all delivered to a secured facility well away from Barcelona and
the crime scene.
|
On the bus to the track |
Finally we arrive at
the track.
|
The track |
And at the track, we
go to meet the fifth member of our team - the Team USA Cooper S! With
twenty or so Cooper Ss full of trained crackerjack investigators from
around the world, I had a feeling the black van would be keeping a low
profile.
|
On the way to collect our cars... |
Our first view of
the Team USA car.
|
At last, Team USA greets the Fifth member |
After checking out
the car, we went down to the tent for a briefing.
|
Teams gather at cars |
There we listened to
how the setup worked - teams would split into groups of three to four
cars each going through seven stations together:
- Learning Understeer/Oversteer.
- High speed cornering.
- Emergency Braking.
- Cone Slalom/Runflat Education.
- Reverse 180 degree turn (or the Bootlegger, as we call it
in the USA).
- PDA Training.
- High-Speed Lane Change.
At each station we would each get a chance at driver so as to provided
a rounded education for all.
|
Explaining the schedule |
Before heading out
we stopped for a team photo - here added to be a friendly fellow from
Team Middle East. Later we were to use this backdrop as the computer
background and screensaver in our office.
|
Team photo with bystander |
And another team
photo, in case the first didn't turn out. It always pays to have a
backup.
|
Team photo |
The first instructor
(for Understeer/Oversteer) explains we are to follow him.
|
Meet the first instructor |
And the instructor
takes off in a fine Yellow MINI.
|
Instructor prepares to lead. |
We follow him, close
behind us is Team Ireland and Team UK - our other team companions for
the day.
|
Instructor leads us to the first section. |
The first thing to
learn is how to even adjust the seat properly and position your hands
(3:00 - 9:00). If you aren't sitting right, you're driving's uptight!
|
Explaining how to properly seat yourself. |
After a little
instruction we are ready for the course. Note the track was secluded
behind these imposing mountains to help proclude unwanted visitors.
|
Ready to go. Nice views! |
Team Ireland
prepares to go.
|
And we're off! |
After a while of
Understeer/Oversteer training, we proceeded to the high speed cornering
station. After my turn as driver, I drop myself off at the tent as a
sudden wave of nasuea overcomes me - I guess a hasty breakfast of mostly
bacon followed by a lot of sharp turns in the back of the car is not a
receipie for sucess. Brooks stays behind as well to help documetn the
proceedings from outside the car.
Luckily the nasuea passes quickly, so my investigative skills will be
unhampered later on.
|
Back at the tent for high speed cornering. |
Agent Winnie takes
a turn through the course.
|
Winnie on the high speed cornering section. |
| For this section, an
instructor in the lead car guides the other team drivers through the
proper lines to use in high speed cornering. As he repeats all the time
over the radios given to us for instructor/driver communication, "Use
the whole road!". |
For cornering, it's follow the leader |
To give each driver
the fullest chance to follow the leader, the team cars alternate leaders
on the fly. In this case Team USA brings up the rear.
|
USA on the move |
And here we've gone
behind Team UK.
|
Team USA close behind Team UK. |
After all the
drivers are done, we all stop for a break. It's time for lunch!
|
Brian exits the course. |
Here the MINI food
specialists prepare a range of cullinary treats. My favorite is, as
usual, bread.
|
Preparing a feast |
Inside the tent we
sit down with Team Spain for a lunchtime chat.
|
Talking to one fourth of Team Spain |
Other teams mostly
mingle as well.
|
Everyone enjoys a nice meal |
As I said, in these
high-profile investigations you have a lot of press around. In this
case the press needed an interview with every team after lunch so we met
at our cars and individually talked to the press as a team, letting
them know what our expectations were.
|
Press gather team expectations |
The interviews took
a while, during which we examined how our car was doing so far. Holding
up remarkably well, it had survived a few encounters of the dirt kind,
with not much effect. The track time however had taken off about half
our tread depth!
|
More interviews |
|
|