Matt Hibble, winner of the SkillsOne Ultimate Apprentice Competition gives his perspective on his once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Day One - The start of my big adventure into the international racing world...
"I had so much running through my head... Going to the (Rockhampton) airport with my girlfriend I realized what was happening and it had finally sunk in i was leaving the country. The flight to Brisbane was nice and quick didn’t have much time to do anything really, got to Brisbane and took the air train to the international terminal. (Got on another plane) to Singapore for a 7hr flight, landed in Singapore and was not long until i was on the jumbo for the worst part of the trip (to England). 12hrs went on forever - I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t get comfortable. I got all of 45mins sleep and watched nothing but movies the whole way!"
Day Two In England...
"I met up with Shayne (a mechanic with A1 team Australia) and Nathan (Rookie Drive) at Heathrow. When I landed and got through customs which is a nightmare! Then we drove for about an hour and got to the Hilton Hotel. Our rooms were not ready yet so we hung out in Adam Gotch (team manager) room for a while and went to the Bluewater Shopping Centre which is crazy big. We got lunch and i got a Red Bull: it did nothing to help the jet lag! We went back to the room and sat and talked about racing, waiting for 2pm to arrive so we can go to the circuit and start work.
I drove to the track - Adam said I needed to learn how to drive in London! We got there and I started setting up the pit walls with the rest of the crew, and then moved on to do the jobs I was assigned. I pulled all the rims out of the container, built a couple of stands, and got the team helmets and radios ready. Then Adam gave me the job of driving back to the hotel by myself - kinda scary but if i want to impress these guys its what I gotta do! When I got back to the track, I started to pack everything back into the garage. We then we went to the trackside cafeteria where we got fed a good meal. I looked at my laptop date and time which is still in Australia mode and worked out I have been up for 45hrs now. I left Tuesday morning and now its Thursday morning in Australia, and I have had only 45mins sleep!"
Day Three A big day...
"I don’t really know what day it is... (but) I got a good night’s sleep last night. I didn't have to get up til 7am but I woke up at 5am, so I went down to the lobby and got hooked up to the net and an awesome thing happened to me - Alan Jones just walks up to me asks me how I'm doing and shook my hand! That was a highlight for sure! We got to the track (the Brands Hatch Circuit) and it was straight to work. Firstly we re-setup the pit and then started working on the car, doing the toe camber and weight spread of the car. All of this was pretty simple for me because its pretty much an over sized go-kart (what Matt is used to working on).
The weather here is weird as one second it will be sunny with blue skies, next second it will be raining heavier than I've ever seen and the sky will be black as the ace of spades! I got some really good jobs today - I got to build the 2 front wings and one of the rear wings. So when you see the race and look at the front wings, remember I built them. Awesome ha!!!! Well we got the car fully built and setup so we pushed it down to the A1 Grand Prix pit and got it scrutineered.
After that we had nothing really to do at all so John Martin (Motor Sport World Cup driver), Nathan Antunes and I talked racing - telling stories about our favourite Australian tracks. We later had dinner at the track and then drove back home to the hotel - what a big day."
Day Four Putting skills to work...
"Today we got up early to head out to the track did the usual - set everything up and then started doing pit stop practice. John Martin and I pushed the car into the pit area while Nathan Antunes drove so it would simulate the car driving in, next we checked the car over and then we watched the formula Audi, formula Ford and the British car practice, then it was our turn. I was given the job of left front tyre when the car was to leave the garage. I pulled the tyre blanket off and when it came in I put it on - pretty good fun. Nathan had a good run and did it clean too. Next it was John's turn. I polished the car which I actually enjoy doing, while the boys put John's setup on the car. John went out and found a few problems he came back in and a big change was made by putting softer springs in the rear. He went back out and at one of the turns he spun hard into the gravel. When the car got back the guys gave it a check over and a clean ready for the next day.
The best part of the day is drivng to and from the track. All these guys are so closely knit and the fun they have is awesome! When we got to the Hilton we made plans to go out that night. It's only a short walk and the whole way John and I talked racing again. He really is the best driver I have met - just a really good bloke. The bar was good: we all sat around and told stories (racing stories of course!) and then headed back to get some well earned rest."
Day Five Saturday - our last practice before qualifying...
"I sat and talked with John before he went out and just by talking to him you can tell how much pressure is on him to win. He went out and stabed out the best laps he could. He got 14th for the sprint race and 20th for the feature race. He wasn’t too happy about it, but the car was driving really badly. He said he could not put the power down out of the corner at all it would just oversteer after every apex. We brought the car back and did the usual adjustments to the car setting ride hits and new spring pressures and checked the toes of the car."
Day Six The big race!
"I didn’t see much of John - he went and found his quiet spot and relaxed and focused. Come race time he was ready to roll: he got in the car and went out for the sprint race and finished 14th. He brought the car back in and I got given the job to re-sticker it which was pretty cool. Next race was up and it didn’t go the way we wanted John came onto the fastest part of the track and touched with Pakistan and got spun hard into the wall. It riped off the rear wheel and totally damaged the front. The nose cone was totalled and we were out. A huge disappointment for everyone but we looked good for John. When John came back, almost straight away we started to pack up the car - we couldn’t be bothered watching the race.
The car came back and Adam Gotch, the team manager, pulled the nose cone off and gave it to me saying here is your memento of your time. I was pretty happy about that. That night we went back to the motel and I was just stuffed so I went straight to bed. The next morning I got up after a good sleep in and headed to the airport. What a time I had! Seriously, I will be going home to find myself a pit crew job soon. It was the best time I have ever had. Thanks to all the guys from A1 Team Australia and to SkillsOne. Without both of them i would still be in Australia and not have had the best time of my life."
