[Malcolm]

A week to go now. Certainly the job list is going crazy with loads of little things that need to be done.

One of my tasks has been to get the pit/car radio system up and running. Last year we ran with an Autotel system. There was an Autotel engineer at the circuit for the event, but that is not a job I fancy as the poor guy was completely inundated with things to sort out for many teams. Also I thought them a little bit guarded about helping people making their existing headsets mate up to their control boxes. All they seemed to want to do was sell you a new head set.....at £160 a go! Thank goodness a mix of sense from other manufacturers and a continuity tester sorted the day.

This year we are using a system based on Autocom hardware. I pulled it from my 40. It is predominantly a motorbike system but they do supply F1 and rally teams as well. Paul and Glenn both run this gear on their bikes.

After a frustrating test where I didn't realise you had to programme the Motorola GP300 to use VOX I am now confident we will have a system that works.

We have 5 radios and a base station as used by cab firms. We have a proper license and a designated frequency. One radio goes in the car and three others are worn by pit personnel, including our re-fueling guys who are in another pit lane so out the loop for communication unless we have radios. With the base station and a mast on top of our race truck we should get 100% coverage of the circuit. We are also running a car mounted ariel.

Autocom have given me the wiring diagram for their headsets if we need it, but I have also found a cable adapter to take 3.5mm ear monitors as that is what most of the guys will be using and not helmet mounted speakers.

I have splashed out and had a set of ear molds taken for custom ear monitors to be made. After scaring myself over tinitus after driving the Prosport for one day, I wanted proper ear protection. These monitors are F1 quality (Renault drivers use the same supplier and parts). The supplier, Ultimate Ear Protection Ltd, quote a minus 34 dB level of protection. Having tried a set out in their lab, I have never had so much noise reduction in one set of plugs! I could hardly hear myself talk through my head let alone the guy standing directly in front of me! If the finished article is that good, I will be very pleased.

I have managed a last minute sponsor from one of my local bakers, Dean Wilshire trading as Good Taste in Camberley. He will bring as many cakes and doughnuts as he can fit into his 997! Not quite sure how dougnuts fits into team fitness et al, but what the heck, lets see what happens.

Our pit garage has been moved twice now. Initially we were sharing garage 11c with a BMW team, then we had it to ourselves, and now we have been moved to garage 3c. We have a Mosler next to us, a team going for the outright victory. This is actually a good thing as last year we were in garage 10 and it is close to Copse corner so by the time you came up to your pit board you were seriously concentrating on the corner and not on reading the pit board. This year I hope we get more time to read the pit board!

I need to thank Roy Snook for help with my sponsor logos and Brain Magee who quoted to help John with the full car graphics. Thanks for the support guys and hope to see you at the race.

John tells me the car is now fully ready to go, so we just await the next test day on 5th Sept. Thursday 6th Sept, as well as the official test day, will be signing on and scrutineering as well as driver briefings etc etc.

Not long to go now....