Paddock Hill Bend was the focus for plenty of fierce racing battles during the weekend finals of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, with the inevitable BTCC 2005 championship crown going to an ecstatic Matt Neal in his Team Halfords Honda Integra.

Girlracer literally took over one end of South Bank as usual with our wicked cars on display and a double marquee with both Dunlop and Girlracer banners - Ady even had a special banner made up to show we were true supporters of Fiona Leggate! To top it all, we added Dunlop union jack flags across each car windscreen. Our stand was pride of place and could be seen very well from the pits, which was soon confirmed when doing a Mexican wave at Fiona Leggate’s mechanics who waved back. When I also spotted from Girlracer base camp HPI Racing’s Richard ‘Sex God’ Williams on a walkabout in the pits, Gail (MBR) very unsubtly wolf whistled at him. Queue a knee-shaking Sezza in hysterics when he waved in our direction!

An early morning visit to the pit garages gave Gail, Gaz and myself time to mingle with Fiona’s team and Dave Older, race manager of HPI Racing’s Richard ‘Sex God’ Williams and Ian Curley. Whilst expertly lowering the tone with Dave in some very early on banter, Richard ‘Sex God’ was beckoned over by Dave so I was pretty much put on the spot to talk to him. My first professional question was, “what position would you like to be in……on the grid?!” which I felt broke the ice quite nicely. I invited chatty Richard ‘Sex God’ to come and see our Girlracer stand but I think he was secretly more interested in the mud wrestling we promised him in the quagmire up on South Bank later on. Queue a now extremely happy Sezza as I have at last interacted with BTCC’s top totty!

During the free practice sessions on qualifying day, fighter Fiona Leggate was doing superbly well until her bio-ethanol fuelled Vauxhall Astra started leaking gearbox oil and was ordered back to the pits by her Techspeed team. Frustratingly for all, the engine had to be taken out and worked on throughout the qualifying session. Watching them working on this was like observing a delicate operation. First mechanic: “Pass the spanner,” second mechanic: “spanner,” “wrench,” “wrench,” “cup of tea,” “cup of tea,” “two sugars”…

To make a point about scantily clad pit girls, Fiona had a pit boy as her companion on the grid line up before each race. However, this was no ordinary pit boy, being an employee of Dunlop on a dare and wearing exactly the same tight Lycra crop top and hot pants outfit minus the peroxide blonde hair and fake tan. The poor guy was literally hounded by photographers and TV crews in hysterics and was even lynched by Vicki Butler Henderson!

The first drama of the weekend was during race one of the BTCC finals where newbie race prodigy and winner of the penultimate round at Silverstone, Gareth ‘cutey’ Howell in his Team Halfords Honda Integra, tapped Rob Collard’s MG ZS causing a backwards mess into the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend. Collard got out of his car waving his arms in fury. Later, Howell’s antics were rewarded with 2 points on his racing licence and a slot towards the back of the grid for race two.

A tussle for the all important 10th place during race two – resulting in a pole position for the final reverse grid race of the day - meant Collard clipped Leggate’s wheel when going for a gap that really wasn’t there, causing damage to her steering and an early retirement for Leggate. She just took this in her stride, knowing she still had one more race to prove herself and finish the 2005 series in style.

The final Elf Renault ‘let’s see how many times I can roll this thing’ Cup race certainly lived up to its name. Four competitors went into Paddock Hill Bend during the first lap at full pelt without giving in causing a severe banger racing stylie crash which saw Ben Winrow rolling over the crash barrier into Druids infill woodland, scattering a blur of orange panicky marshals everywhere!

The final BTCC race was not free of incidents either when halfway through, Yvan Muller in his VXR Vauxhall Astra was seen to break late before Paddock Hill Bend and smack into the back of Dan Eave’s Team Halfords Honda Integra, pushing him into the end of the pit wall and collecting Jason Plato on his exit. All three ended up in a massive cloud of dust with virtually unrecognisable mullered-by-Muller team cars. Collard went on to take first place after his successful reverse grid start, even after a few eager pushes with second place James Pickford in his SEAT Toledo. Leggate came in a respectable 10th place and drove smoothly without incident above newcomer Andy Neate, HPI Racing’s Curley and independent racer Mark Proctor.

We left the BTCC teams to enjoy a huge after season party finale hosted by Dunlop bringing our official motorsport support for 2005 to a close. But what a superb and exciting season it’s been! Roll on 2006 with an even bigger Girlracer motorsport following and hopefully more top totty(!).

Sezza