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Driver Parades, The Marmite Of Motorsport!

On Wednesday afternoon, I went along to watch the drivers’ parade in preparation for the Spa 24-hour race. Last year I didn’t manage to get to the circuit until the Thursday, but this week, persuaded by my dailysportscar.com colleagues that this was an event that they all wanted to visit, I tagged along too.

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I use the expression advisedly, as I don’t usually get much out of such events. I have long since stopped going to the ‘parade des pilotes’ at Le Mans. When I last went, it was to stand in the crowd, on tip-toe, trying to catch a glimpse of the drivers waving as they were driven around the streets handing out publicity material. Admittedly, there was plenty of atmosphere, but I found myself enjoying the walk around the streets of the old town that we did beforehand, and the meal afterwards far more than the gaudy extravaganza itself.

When I see pictures from the event these days, it seems that the gaudiness has only increased; the size of the crowd even more so and I have no desire to go back. Especially at Le Mans, where the drivers can often be spotted making their way through the paddock, and will usually give an autograph to those who ask politely for one. Or pose for a selfie, as I understand is now all the rage.

It is true that the personalities that populate this sport are crucially important to me: I love getting to know what makes drivers tick, who are the ones who sparkle and who are the ones who do their job without ever being able to engage with their fans. But I don’t find that the format of the drivers’ parade at Le Mans does that as well as, for example, the sessions during the scrutineering, or (dare I say so) the fresh-out-of-the-car, emotion-filled interviews that are available from Radio Le Mans.

So although dailysportscar’s snappers told me that the driver’s parade at Spa was different, I wasn’t quite sure that it would ‘float my boat’. Certainly, the Spa parade is different – mainly because it is a parade of cars, not of drivers. The police close the road leading from the circuit to the town of Spa, about ten kilometres away, and all of the cars are then driven into the centre of the historic town, accompanied by much shouting and blowing of whistles.

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The cars are then, randomly, it seemed to me, parked in the squares and around the pretty streets, in front of the baths that give their name to the town, while drivers and team personnel stroll about, signing autographs, handing out posters or chatting to folk like me who happen to wander by.

The drivers’ briefing is then held in the Casino (the oldest Casino in the world, according to the Belgian Tourist Board), built in 1763, which guarantees that all the drivers and team managers are present. I can only assume that the roulette wheels and blackjack tables are closed down for the duration…

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Then, it’s back into the cars for a blast back to the circuit. We headed out of town early and found a spot on the top of the fens, at Malchamps, with marvellous views across the open countryside to the north. The road itself is lined with spectators: families with children waving flags, and all of a sudden you are reminded of how things were fifty years ago, when the ‘grand tourers’ of the day were raced along roads very similar to this one; roads that form the triangle between Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot. It’s not a race of course, but some of the cars are driven with gusto (mostly by their engineers, note), and I have to say it was the highlight of the afternoon, until the beer at the end of the day rounded it all off perfectly!

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But, and it’s a big but, now that I’ve been there and done it, I see no real need to do it again. I’m lucky enough to see today’s GT3 cars up close quite often and I’m afraid that I’m not really one to collect racing paraphernalia such as publicity shots and hastily scrawled autographs. I’ll admit that it’s a good way of talking to folk, who generally don’t have much to do apart from meeting their fans, which I admit is probably more important.

I remember the days when the Formula 1 circus decided it would be a good idea to send the drivers round the track, in a parade on the morning of a grand prix. Initially, if I remember correctly, this was done with each driver in an open-topped car, but then, possibly due to commercial conflicts, the decision was made for them to tour around on the back of a flat-bed trailer.

The trouble is and this is perhaps a matter of taste, that the spectators are these days so far from the track that it is hard for the drivers to relate to their fans or vice versa. It becomes an opportunity for TV presenters to catch a few interviews, or for the drivers to spend an enforced ten or fifteen minutes actually talking to each other. But I doubt whether many of those attending a grand prix would describe it as the highlight of their day.

I don’t wish to be curmudgeonly, but driver parades are somehow not quite to my taste. It’s not that I feel they shouldn’t be held, and in the case of Spa and Le Mans they undoubtedly do a great deal in bringing the race to the public’s attention and generating valuable publicity. It’s just that, having seen one you have, to use a well-worn phrase, seen them all.

That said, the public loves them. Providing the market with a product that it wants is pretty much always going to be a successful formula. For those who like Marmite, they should be able to have as much as they want!

Paul Truswell