DSC Diary – Back To Imola

It’s been six years since the ELMS visited Imola, and that six years has seen changes – to the grid – the circuit is set to welcome Gibson-powered LMP2s for the first time, plus second generation LMP3s and all three of the current GTE cars are far more recent than 2016!

Much else has changed too, a new media centre for starters, Our last visit here was punctuated by a somewhat troubling leak of raw sewage into the old media room – And I’m not talking about a visit from the Daily Mail!

BUT, the charm of the old-school circuit in its parkland setting, with real history on both sides of the circuit wall, is untouched.

The memorial to the late and very great Ayrton Senna is still revered, and is still a site that first-timers and repeat visitors alike somehow need to visit.

The now ageing Ferrari F40 sculpture, erected in 1999 as a tribute to Enzo Ferrari is fading, and that leads to a question – Do you repaint an artwork?

We’ll find out tomorrow whether another DSC ‘must visit’ site has survived since 2016 – Trust me, if that Gelateria has closed then we’ll want some answers!

The day started early – very, very early, after yet another flight cancellation saw the only available alternative requiring an alarm to be set at the sort of time that this writer would have been coming hime from a night out about 40 years ago!

The now traditional 15 minute drive to discover that I had left my phone at home added just a little spice to the morning, no further drama though and British Airways’ Full English revived things for a while – that as until our Airbus ‘went technical’ and that early start ebbed away with two hours sitting watching the young businesswoman sitting in my row dissolving in anxiety as her connection in Bologna to an important appointment became first difficult, then unlikely, and finally definitely gone.

The BA engineers came and went, applying bandages to the A320’s broken wing* and we were away, a glorious morning in London gave way to a simply beautiful morning over Europe, the Alps as magnificent as always and Bologna Airport as epically crappy as we remembered it.

Remarkably Alamo’s “VW Golf or similar” did not emerge as some form of van-based FIAT, as it has on almost every other occasion, but instead a Subaru-blue Ford Focus, actually a lovely car, with the the exception of the bonnet damage from a previous hire – Welcome to Italy!

The road from Bologna Airport gives some fantastic views of one of the two Italys that DSC has found on our travels – the achingly beautiful natural wonders of its scenery, coupled with the astounding history, crumbling or otherwise, of the past.

The other Italy, an every present outer cityscape of dereliction behind padlocked gates was also very visible too.

Thereafter it was a matter of catching up with the news of the day – Juan Manuel Correa will again miss out on an ELMS start with Prema, his stress fracture still a problem, Lorenzo Colombo again steps in.

But there’s better news at Iron Lynx with both Sarah Bovy and Michele Gatting on site after both missed the Spa WEC race last weekend after a positive COVID test for Bovy, and a close contact with Gatting.

Across the circuit, the paddock and the surrounding area there was seemingly a snowstorm underway – in actuality the tres are seeding and there are plumes of the fluffy, hay fever inducing stuff everywhere, in the same way as there was at Spa last weekend!

And so to bed – via a charming local bar and Burger joint – cash only – “You don’t have cash? No problem, pay us later in the week!” – and via a vantage point that DSC’s David Lord hopes will provide a spectacular, and very different start shot on Sunday!

That was one part of a very happy half hour on the roads surrounding the circuit which have some jaw droopingly beautiful vistas of valleys, mountains and villages – a country of contrasts, not all of them good – But one thing is for certain, they have some truly amazing race tracks and the Autodromo Dino Ferrari is one of them – Cars are on track for testing on Thursday!

* probably not but they didn’t tell us what was wrong so it could be!