After more than a year of planning, fundraising, unforeseen setbacks, long days and sleepless nights, Englishman Andy Frost and his team finally departed for Bahrain for their record-setting attempt on Saturday, and if shipping the operation off a month ago didn’t make it seem real, the gravity of the undertaking that lies ahead has certainly set in for the popular racer now.
Frost and company arrived in Bahrain on Sunday and set off to retrieve their Red Victor 3 Vauxhall, truck, and all of Andy’s racing possessions from customs. Unfortunately, it was there that the trip got off to an auspicious start, as his truck was damaged during transport and then later, it was discovered that the truck has been broken into and ransacked at some point during its journey or stay in customs.
Frustration as customs really made us work to get the truck out of their compound. So much so that it had to spec lifted out, which of course ended up damaging the truck radiator when it came off the spec lift. So another job to fix. This meant the truck didn’t arrive at Bahrain International Circuit till 6 p.m. tonight. As you can see from the photos, Gary and Badger worked really hard to get the car pretty much ready to fire up tomorrow. Unfortunately when we opened the truck to check the car we found someone had stolen my race helmet, boots and race underwear. They had also climbed all over the car, scratching it to steal the electric rachet gun out of the impossible-to-get-at cupboards. On top of that, the windscreen in the truck was smashed, the tools in the glove box stolen, and the truck radio stolen.
It’s not the start we had hoped for, and it’s another lot of sh-t to deal with. But, we have offers already to lend us the helmet and boots from Adel, the BIC manager, and EKanoo Racing have offered to help in any way. Everyone at the circuit and the EKanoo racing team as a whole have treated us like kings, so that is at least one positive so far.
Fortunately for Andy, after coming as far and working a hard as he has to make the trip a reality, not even that ordeal can dampen enthusiasm for what lies ahead.
So that’s the bad stuff. The good news is that the track and circuit itself are amazing. You cannot even begin to see it on the internet. The experience when you are here live is spectacular. Are we going to let this get to us? No is the answer. Our resolve is even stronger now. Someone keeps swinging punches at us. We keep swinging them back.
Andy made his long-awaited first hit at the Bahrain International Circuit 1/4-mile this evening local time (just before lunch here in the states), striking the tires just off the starting line. He’ll be making additional runs during open testing on Tuesday and will continue to take cracks at the record during the Round 3 event that runs Wednesday through Friday.