The 2017 racing season officially launched for us on March the 8th at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol!
Bristol Sport were kind enough to let us have the space inside the sports bar at the very impressive state of the art stadium, and we were able to run a really professional event in front of 180+ people. We had champagne and canapes on offer...all chosen by yours truly.
The idea behind the event, was that we wanted to launch the season to our partners and sponsors, and to show them what the racing programme and the Porsche Carrera Cup is all about. So we went about inviting all of our supporters, partners, sponsors and potential sponsors and put on a good show. There was a lot of planning involved, but with my team around me and with the team at Bristol Sport, I believe we managed to pull it off.
Lots of people turned up to listen and network.
The evening started at 6pm and went on until around 9pm. I got up on stage at around 7pm and did a presentation to everyone. I was quite nervous because I didn't plan the speech...at all. Normally I love getting up on stage and talking, but there has to be a direction to what I'm saying. I felt like I waffled on a bit, but maybe that's because I was the one doing the talking!
I spoke about racing, sponsorship and what I have to do to stay alive in this sport. I played some video and then got Nick Tandy up on stage. Nick jumped up and was interviewed with myself and a chap called Mike Wilds. Mike Wilds is a 71 year old racing driver who is phenomenal. He's been racing for 52 years straight I believe, and hasn't missed a year. In the Motor Racing world, for someone to have raced for 52 years without missing a year, and to be paid every year, is remarkable. I can't begin to explain how impressive that is. And of course, I had the Le Mans winner and current Porsche #1 on stage as well, Nick.
We had some fun questions and some great stories from Nick and Mike, before the audience got to ask some questions. After which we did some more networking before everyone left and on their ways.
We picked some good sponsors from the event as well as reaffirming and resigning some of last year's sponsors. As well, I wondered round the room and introduced a few sponsors and partners together. So it was great to do an event of such size and planning and pull it all off. I enjoyed it and we'll definitely be doing lot's more throughout the year!