Many of you reading this will be aware that Team Principal Jonathan’s son William was born some 18 months ago with a cleft lip and palate. Although the medical procedures for such problems are now considered routine, it was still an emotional and distressing time for all the family and Jonathan and his wife Kate were especially pleased when they were contacted by the volunteers at the Cleft Lip and Palate Association. Organised and run by parents of children and adults who have first hand experience of the condition, the volunteers were able to provide the level of help and support that can only come from understanding what the three of them were going through. It was a difficult time and the France family is very grateful to CLAPA for helping them get through it.
Already promoting the good work of the Association by presenting the Embassy Racing Radical in CLAPA livery, Jonathan took the opportunity to acknowledge his gratitude as well as show a very deserving group of people a wonderful time by inviting over 150 CLAPA guests to enjoy the 1000 km of Silverstone from the fabulous surroundings of the circuit’s Brooklands Suite.
With so much to see and do before Sunday’s 12 noon start, the CLAPA itinerary indicated an 8.30am arrival for those who wanted to see the warm up. The Embassy hospitality team knew it was going to be a special day when the first CLAPA guests walked into the suite at 8am. It seemed that they had the idea that a race of this magnitude, as guests of a top team with all the trimmings of an exclusive corporate package, was something worth getting out of bed for. With a free goody bag on arrival, it seemed that most of the CLAPA guests had the same idea because the suite was a buzzing sea of Embassy Racing baseball caps by the time the warm up was finished.
Having enjoyed a breakfast of bacon baps, tea, coffee and orange juice, the arrival of Jonathan and drivers, Warren Hughes, Neil Cunningham and Darren Manning caused some excitement. Eventually managing to get to the microphones, Jonathan welcomed his guests, the drivers spoke about the race and the day officially got underway. It was a fitting end to the hello for Jonathan to say that the most important thing for him today was that his guests enjoyed themselves. With a tearfully proud Kate and a mischievous William running around laughing, the tone for the day was set for Jonathan to get his wish.
Having visited the pit garage to see the Embassy set-up and get up close to the Radical, the guests returned to the suite and settled in front of the TV or out on the balcony for the start of the race. There was uniform wide eyed disbelief as 40 race cars roared past just 20 metres in front of them.
Having just got used to the spectacle on track, there was more amazement inside. Fresh from the grid, a few of Jonathan’s celebrity friends had arrived and were introduced to the guests. Here for the afternoon were Chas Dingle, Becky, Tracy Barlow and Frankie from Coronation Street and Natasha and Liz from Atomic Kitten. The photo call went on for ages and was only interrupted as lunch was served.
All afternoon guests and celebrities mingled, chatted and watched the race. Everyone had the opportunity to tour the circuit and watch the racing from different locations and some adventurous types made it to the pit garage and even saw a pit stop with driver change, tyres and refuelling.
With less than 20 laps to go everything looked on course to end the day with a trip to the podium as the Embassy CLAPA car was circulating in second place. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and as if to provide the guests with one last blast of entertainment a fault on the car saw it spin off the track on the turn right under our very noses.
Still, the result could not spoil what was a thoroughly enjoyable day and all the guests left with fantastic memories and full of praise for the Embassy effort all round.
Embassy would like to thank CLAPA, its celebrity friends, guests and VIP children for helping to make the 1000km of Silverstone the best event of the year. Thank you all.
