September’s rolling around again, and that
mean’s America’s flyboys are getting ready for the annual pilgrimage to Nevada.
Back in 1964 a guy named Bill Stead had the
audacious idea to hold the ‘National Air Races’ on a 2000ft grass strip just
outside Reno, Nevada, ‘The Biggest Little City in the West’. Since its inception
it has attracted more than one million visitors, and happens every September.
The Air Races organizers label the event as the
‘Fastest Motor Sport in History’, so after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
2003, it seemed natural that we could use the event to promote Bentley - to all the
well-heeled, aircraft-owning enthusiasts who turned up each year.
Now, the Air Races are held at Reno’s Stead
Airport, and if you’re into flying this is one of two great annual aviation
events in the USA.
The second is the Oshkosh get-together, run by the
Experimental Aircraft Association, the EAA.
The Lake Tahoe area is one of the most stunningly beautiful parts of the USA, and is definately worth a visit, especially in winter, for fantastic skiing.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to show
off the Bentley brand with the media, I pulled together a pretty disparate
group of journalists to come to Lake Tahoe to drive a range of Bentleys; but to
guarantee attendance we also told them that Derek Bell would take them for hot
laps at Reno airport in our Le Mans-winning EXP Speed 8 race car; and on Sunday
they could experience ‘weightlessness’ by going up in the Zero-G Boeing 727,
which is used for astronaut training.
We had a an RSVP rate of 100%. Little did
they know what they were in for. However, little did we know what we were in
for.
After signing all the promotional contracts
with the organizers of the National Air Races, we then found out that there was
no way we could ‘interrupt’ the races. We could not give ‘demo drives’ in the
race car during the hours of 9am and 7pm – we would have to schedule the drives
at ‘some other time’!
So the guys from Reliable Transport hauled
the EXP Speed 8 to the airport at 4am; we managed to get the media out of bed
at their hotel in Lake Tahoe and to a meeting with Derek Bell.
The tech guys
from Bentley Motor Sport who came from the Crewe, in the UK with the race car had marked out a
circuit with witches hats and began prepping the car.
Derek and I ran some laps around the
‘circuit’ in a Bentley Continental GT coupe, during which Derek told me this
was going to be a ‘bit hairy’ in the race car, because he would be virtually
driving in the dark, and from his low level driving position he wasn’t sure the
headlight spread was wide enough to ‘see’ the witches hats.
All went well, everyone had a run, and
there was even time for me to suit up for two quick laps with my mate
Derek.
What a fantastic experience! I’ve passengered in quite a few race cars,
but never anything as pure as this – the noise, the speed and the centrifugal
forces made a big impression.
Of course, DB later revealed he was really only
driving at 5/10ths, because it was too dangerous to do otherwise. I remained
impressed.
Then as the big hand struck 9am, we had
packed away the race car, said our farewell to the ‘circuit’ and retired to one
of Reno’s many casinos for a hearty breakfast.
Then it was back to Stead Airport to watch the races, and for the media crew to go through their 'Weightless Flight' briefing.
Most of the media survived the weightless
experience, but not without some depositing their lunch around the padded
aircraft interior. At least no-one threw up in the race car.
After watching the air races, and going
weightless, we drove across to the other side of Reno Stead Airport, which had returned to normal operations, to catch our Northwest 767, for the return flight to Detroit.
John -- i just found this post. That was a great event and I was pleased to be part of it. I too was too chicken to go weightless...
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