About Us
Where to begin? Well pretty easy really, normally around midnight on twitter during the summer of 2012 with the #IndycarTeamUK. Twitter has been a great tool in bringing fans of Indycar together, none more so than the origins of this website, namely being... Adrian, Dave, Jason, Matthew, Rachael and Robin.
So all this Indycar talk online, combined with my personal travels all over the USA watching Indycar, and being constantly told I should blog about my road trip by Liza (former Director of Fan Integration with Indycar), just before the finale at Fontana, we had a Facebook page, Twitter account and home page of a website that picked up nearly 500 views in a couple hours after going live!
As I like to promote this website as a community, the following are a few lines about us all and why we follow Indycar...
Adrian - @rkid84
Dave - @IndyCART
Jason - @JaseKM
Matthew - @Hudders_Matt
Rachael - @Rachaelwith2As
Robin - @Cunningfox99
Adrian - I had been an F1 fan since the mid 1990's, I began watching AOWR in the late 90's with highlights of the Eurosport coverage on Chanel 5. Then in late 2000, we found out that CART was coming to the UK with a race at Rockingham, I went to the race in 2001 and 2002, as well as the one in 2003 held at Brands Hatch (as Champ Car World Series). Sadly that was the last that we saw AOWR series racing on these shores so covered with my lack of satellite / cable I lost touch with watching the series, but still kept an eye out for news where I could find some! Then come the late 00's and as a result of receiving a £50 off voucher for Expedia, I decided it was time to tick an item off my bucket list, the Indy 500... (£1000 later)
So in 2010, I attended the Indy 500, for those who have been, you know, for those who haven't, you won't until you do! The racing (and American) bug got me, well and truly, so back I went in 2011 after some serious working and saving, attended the races in Texas, Milwaukee (yes, one of the few) and Iowa. As luck would have it, Delta bumped me off my flight home, which resulted in a hefty compensation voucher off another flight. Combine that with the free ticket to the Las Vegas race, come October, I was back. Little else needs to be said, but the positives were that I made some very good friends and gave me a push to make use of the opportunity to come back, meet people and watch racing.
After months of working and saving on an even crazier scale, I was back on the Delta Flight 5 to DTW, taking in the Indy 500 Qualifying weekend (a must if you can fit it in!), 500, Detroit and Texas. What stands out for me is the openness of the series, friendliness of the teams, drivers and fellow fans who do what they can to make you feel welcome, I have had the opportunity to do some much more than I could ever imagined, and I hope to do it again... soon.
Jason - I was born into a family where Motorsport was always around so it's really no surprise that I became a fan. My Father was a life long F1 fan and my brother was a bit of a hot shot local rally driver so some of my earliest memories involve watching cars on a track. My formative years were spent cheering on the Williams team but by my teens I longed for a different type of racing and Indycar was it.along with my Dad I first started watching CART on Eurosport in the late 90s and instantly I was hooked. Through CART, Champ Car, IRL and Indycar, my passion for American open wheel racing has never dwindled no matter what changes each of the above series have seen over the years. I'm so glad that thanks to IndycarUK, people like myself now have a place where we can stay in touch with like minded souls and share our passion for the greatest form of racing around- Indycar.
Matthew - I'm a fan of all forms of motorsport and started following Indycar during the Nigel Mansell years. Drifted off (no TV coverage) until the Alex Zanardi years when TV coverage returned. Since then I've watched each Indycar/Champ Car/IRL race from the comfort of my sofa.
My only experience of Indycar live was when they made their UK trips and I got to see the stars of the day around Rockingham and Brands Hatch.
The early days of my motor racing trips were restricted to when my Dad could take me. This took me to the British Touring Cars, F3, hill climbing, DTM (the Dario years), stock cars, British F3000, the RAC Rally and one long trip to Pembrey for British Truck Racing.
After passing my driving test in 1996 I was unleashed and now spend 25-30 days a year at the race track. This has extended my motor racing trips to rallycross, autograss, and pretty much any series that races in the UK! Since 2010 I've also extended my racing trips to the USA to go and see my favourite racing driver, Juan Pablo Montoya. This has led me to Charlotte (twice), Dover & Indy.
At some point I hope to see Indycar live again. In the meantime, I'll be talking about it with IndycarTeamUK!
Rachael - I've been an F1 fan almost as long as I can remember, my earliest memories are from Nigel Mansell's championship season of 1992. A chance encounter with Eurosport one Sunday evening years later saw me hooked on watching the CART races, my allegiances being split between Dario Franchitti and Greg Moore, until that day in October 1999, after which I did lose interest. Combined with the difficulties we have over here in getting coverage, it was a few years until I started to take a bit of notice again. Unfortunately I missed out on the races which were held at Rockingham, my parents put paid to that, they didn't want to go and decided I was too young to go alone!!
Over the next few years I kept an interest at a distance, mainly through the IRL's regular coverage in my local newspaper, thanks to a young guy from the village 5 miles from my home town who was making a name for himself - a certain Dan Wheldon. It was another evening of channel hopping one Sunday in 2010 before I discovered Sky's Indycar coverage, from that day on I've been hooked once again, and this time I'm not going anywhere!
Through twitter I've discovered I'm not the only person over here watching, people who understand why I love ovals, and an incredibly open and supportive community, which has been rock solid through some great highs and the obvious incredible low. Next up for me are some travel plans, after missing out on Rockingham all those years ago, my F1 travel is much more extensive. Maybe some kind of Indy 500 / Canadian Grand Prix double header...but that's for the future, for now I will continue to irritate my neighbours with my somewhat vocal TV viewing!!
So all this Indycar talk online, combined with my personal travels all over the USA watching Indycar, and being constantly told I should blog about my road trip by Liza (former Director of Fan Integration with Indycar), just before the finale at Fontana, we had a Facebook page, Twitter account and home page of a website that picked up nearly 500 views in a couple hours after going live!
As I like to promote this website as a community, the following are a few lines about us all and why we follow Indycar...
Adrian - @rkid84
Dave - @IndyCART
Jason - @JaseKM
Matthew - @Hudders_Matt
Rachael - @Rachaelwith2As
Robin - @Cunningfox99
Adrian - I had been an F1 fan since the mid 1990's, I began watching AOWR in the late 90's with highlights of the Eurosport coverage on Chanel 5. Then in late 2000, we found out that CART was coming to the UK with a race at Rockingham, I went to the race in 2001 and 2002, as well as the one in 2003 held at Brands Hatch (as Champ Car World Series). Sadly that was the last that we saw AOWR series racing on these shores so covered with my lack of satellite / cable I lost touch with watching the series, but still kept an eye out for news where I could find some! Then come the late 00's and as a result of receiving a £50 off voucher for Expedia, I decided it was time to tick an item off my bucket list, the Indy 500... (£1000 later)
So in 2010, I attended the Indy 500, for those who have been, you know, for those who haven't, you won't until you do! The racing (and American) bug got me, well and truly, so back I went in 2011 after some serious working and saving, attended the races in Texas, Milwaukee (yes, one of the few) and Iowa. As luck would have it, Delta bumped me off my flight home, which resulted in a hefty compensation voucher off another flight. Combine that with the free ticket to the Las Vegas race, come October, I was back. Little else needs to be said, but the positives were that I made some very good friends and gave me a push to make use of the opportunity to come back, meet people and watch racing.
After months of working and saving on an even crazier scale, I was back on the Delta Flight 5 to DTW, taking in the Indy 500 Qualifying weekend (a must if you can fit it in!), 500, Detroit and Texas. What stands out for me is the openness of the series, friendliness of the teams, drivers and fellow fans who do what they can to make you feel welcome, I have had the opportunity to do some much more than I could ever imagined, and I hope to do it again... soon.
Jason - I was born into a family where Motorsport was always around so it's really no surprise that I became a fan. My Father was a life long F1 fan and my brother was a bit of a hot shot local rally driver so some of my earliest memories involve watching cars on a track. My formative years were spent cheering on the Williams team but by my teens I longed for a different type of racing and Indycar was it.along with my Dad I first started watching CART on Eurosport in the late 90s and instantly I was hooked. Through CART, Champ Car, IRL and Indycar, my passion for American open wheel racing has never dwindled no matter what changes each of the above series have seen over the years. I'm so glad that thanks to IndycarUK, people like myself now have a place where we can stay in touch with like minded souls and share our passion for the greatest form of racing around- Indycar.
Matthew - I'm a fan of all forms of motorsport and started following Indycar during the Nigel Mansell years. Drifted off (no TV coverage) until the Alex Zanardi years when TV coverage returned. Since then I've watched each Indycar/Champ Car/IRL race from the comfort of my sofa.
My only experience of Indycar live was when they made their UK trips and I got to see the stars of the day around Rockingham and Brands Hatch.
The early days of my motor racing trips were restricted to when my Dad could take me. This took me to the British Touring Cars, F3, hill climbing, DTM (the Dario years), stock cars, British F3000, the RAC Rally and one long trip to Pembrey for British Truck Racing.
After passing my driving test in 1996 I was unleashed and now spend 25-30 days a year at the race track. This has extended my motor racing trips to rallycross, autograss, and pretty much any series that races in the UK! Since 2010 I've also extended my racing trips to the USA to go and see my favourite racing driver, Juan Pablo Montoya. This has led me to Charlotte (twice), Dover & Indy.
At some point I hope to see Indycar live again. In the meantime, I'll be talking about it with IndycarTeamUK!
Rachael - I've been an F1 fan almost as long as I can remember, my earliest memories are from Nigel Mansell's championship season of 1992. A chance encounter with Eurosport one Sunday evening years later saw me hooked on watching the CART races, my allegiances being split between Dario Franchitti and Greg Moore, until that day in October 1999, after which I did lose interest. Combined with the difficulties we have over here in getting coverage, it was a few years until I started to take a bit of notice again. Unfortunately I missed out on the races which were held at Rockingham, my parents put paid to that, they didn't want to go and decided I was too young to go alone!!
Over the next few years I kept an interest at a distance, mainly through the IRL's regular coverage in my local newspaper, thanks to a young guy from the village 5 miles from my home town who was making a name for himself - a certain Dan Wheldon. It was another evening of channel hopping one Sunday in 2010 before I discovered Sky's Indycar coverage, from that day on I've been hooked once again, and this time I'm not going anywhere!
Through twitter I've discovered I'm not the only person over here watching, people who understand why I love ovals, and an incredibly open and supportive community, which has been rock solid through some great highs and the obvious incredible low. Next up for me are some travel plans, after missing out on Rockingham all those years ago, my F1 travel is much more extensive. Maybe some kind of Indy 500 / Canadian Grand Prix double header...but that's for the future, for now I will continue to irritate my neighbours with my somewhat vocal TV viewing!!