It is said that one of the definitions of insanity is to repeat an action over and over again expecting a different result, sounds familiar. Some of us never learn.

I was at this blogging lark back in ’95 and ’96 before the term was coined, posting on the net what I thought passed for wisdom about the BPR Series. All that got me was banned from the final race in 1996 by Jürgen Barth. He had a point, don’t crap in your nest and I had a point, don’t bullshit those who can tell the direction of the wind. We are still on speaking terms.

Work In Progress?

The next net adventure was to get involved with the group that became DailySportsCar, then I got uninvolved.

Kerry Morse and I had the bright idea of setting up our own stall, SportsCarPros and due to the kindness of a real gentleman, Harald Mergard, we managed to blunder our way through for six years. An unlikely result given the chaotic manner that Kerry and I conduct ourselves. However we hit the target more often than we missed. Outraged of Weissach and Unhappy of Volusia were evidence that our aim was true.

The SCP mission statement, if it can be graced with that tag, went like this:

What the World needs now is……..another website about sportscars……….Nah! You can see why good ole Burt Bacharach rejected that line……showing the good taste and judgement that bought him a string of classics and even showed him the way to San Jose. If such a musical titan rejected this plot line then why are Morse, the Cottons and I plunging headlong down that particular ravine? Because it’s there? Well, yes actually. Sportscars and their competitive antics attracts the usual cast of obsessive, compulsives who also chase locomotive engines and the life and times of Black Sabbath……….so too their websites are a reflection of this. What are we going to do that’s different? Hmmm, it is probably easier to say what we are not going to do. No race reports as events unfold, no forums, no competitions, no minute by minute breaking news of events that rarely mean much, no endless photo galleries of the same shot, badly taken………… You get the picture, there is a broad canvas out there and we are going to splatter our oils on it when we have something to say and not before then. The site is unusual in that the main suspects are all working in the sport already not peering from the outside trying to find a magic key to gain admittance and a free media pass for lunch. We know the resource that we all have the greatest shortage of, even more than money, is time……..so just this once we intend to use this fact to govern our course……….we won’t say much but what we do say will be worth listening to. Viewed coldly there are only two things in the sportscar area of any worth……….Le Mans and the people who labour away in the business……….saints, criminals, lunatics, fantasists, good blokes, complete shits and people who make me laugh. This procession of heroes and villains is the world that I now inhabit some 25-30 times a year. There are worse places to be. Our aims……. To stimulate mainly, to entertain usually and to annoy occasionally………climb in for the ride

Of course the effort of keeping our cyber rooms tidy was too much for Morse and I after a few years, plus there was a bag of gold on offer from another blog. So for the recent past I have been toiling away trying to keep the faithful entertained but that too seems to have run its course, so I am back on the streets again.

The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

Ah yes the streets………….in fact I have been back to the tracks as well and will bring a few thoughts from the Dubai 24 Hours that took place last weekend.

The other good news for the readers is that I will have guest blogs from a wide variety of collaborators during the course of the year. Things will take a bit of time to get established, so please have some patience till the flavour of the blog gets set. Those of you who are familiar with my style will know what to expect, the rest of you have been warned.

Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride…………….

John Brooks, January 2011.