Diagonal Diary: Hosting a charitable event, crowning champions and an off-track brawl
Monday 7th October:
For the final time in 2024, our British Touring Car Championship media team returns from a busy weekend at the track. It was the BTCC’s season finale at Brands Hatch last weekend, where, after three dramatic races on Sunday, Laser Tools Racing by MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill prevailed as champion. It is Hill’s first title in the BTCC, and the Kent man’s victory marks the first time since 1960 that a driver has won the championship in their home county. Truly a memorable season.
It is all hands on deck for our team, who continue to capitalise on an intense title fight that went down to the last of 30 races. Our coverage began as soon as the chequered flag fell on Sunday evening with a short clip of Hill celebrating atop his BMW 330e M Sport, which has amassed over 65,000 views on Instagram alone, and was followed quickly by one of our regular race review press releases and a flow of social media coverage. We are fast to work editing more videos and producing written content for distribution across the BTCC’s media channels in the coming days and weeks.
Tuesday 8th October:
Whilst on-track action at the BTCC season finale was our primary focus last weekend, hosting and providing media coverage for a charitable activation with the Renaissance Foundation, a London-based charity whose mission is to help young carers and patients reach their full potential, was also a key part of our work.
We review the event, which involved 16 carers and patients aged between 14 and 18 visiting Brands Hatch on Saturday, on our website. From garage tours to on-track hotlaps in the BTCC safety car, we had a fantastic time providing the Renaissance Foundation with a useful STEM-themed experience and a great day out.
Our MD Matt Bishop’s latest column for MotorSport Magazine is published. Matt looks back on the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix, which featured brawls both on- and off-track: on-track between James Hunt and Mario Andretti, and off-track between Hunt and a trackside marshal, Ernie Strong. In those days, the Canadian Grand Prix was not hosted at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve like it is today, but at Mosport, a fast, punishing venue where only Formula 1 royalty typically excelled. You can read more about the all-time classic race here.
Wednesday 9th October:
Our client Asetek SimSports, the Danish sim racing hardware manufacturer, celebrates championship victory in the Denmark Special Saloon Car series. Their stunning red Ligier JS P3 won all 15 races with Valdemar Eriksen, the son of Andre Eriksen, Founder and CEO of Asetek SimSports, behind the wheel. Congratulations, Asetek!
In our City of London office, we have an interesting meeting with a husband-and-wife team of extreme sports stars, and we are busy working on a pitch deck for a potential new client. We also complete an exciting press release for Asetek SimSports, which you will see soon…
As we continue to digest the BTCC season finale, we publish a set of content on the series’ social media channels and website that focuses on NAPA Racing UK, the 2024 teams’ champions. The Northampton-based team, who fielded four eye-catching blue and yellow Ford Focus STs this year, never left a circuit anywhere other than first in the teams’ standings – a mighty effort from Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish, Daniel Rowbottom and Sam Osborne.
Thursday 10th October:
The latest episode of And Colossally That’s History, the podcast hosted by Matt Bishop and Richard Williams, is published. Matt and Richard began the second season of And Colossally That’s History last week by telling the story of one of the greatest scandals in recent Formula 1 history, ‘Spygate’, and today they follow it up with a tale of similar brilliance: how Niki Lauda made it back onto the F1 the grid just six weeks after suffering a near-death accident at the Nürburgring.
Meanwhile, we have an interesting meeting with a Malaysian drifter, which could lead to some fun work in the near future, and Asetek SimSports releases its third teaser for a new product on their social media channels. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for us!
Asetek is also mentioned in The Telegraph, one of the largest British daily newspapers, as a key component in the recent success of Deagen Fairclough, the 17-year-old racing driver who was crowned the 2024 British F4 champion at Silverstone in September with five races still to run, no less. Deagen labelled Asetek’s gear, which he uses at home to prepare for his real-life races, “as realistic as you can really get,” and explained that “it’s really helped me get that eye into a circuit I have never been to, like Zandvoort,” referencing the venue where he won two out of three British F4 races in July. You can read the full article here.
Friday 11th October:
On Friday morning, have a call with Caitlin Wood, the Australian racing driver currently competing in the Indian Racing League with Bangalore Speedsters, having spent the majority of 2024 racing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain. We conduct an interview with Caitlin on behalf of Driven Women Magazine, an Australian motoring magazine that focuses on women and motoring culture, as part of our latest media outreach programme for her.
The rest of the day is dominated by meetings in Central London for our MD Matt and our team continues to work on producing video content around the BTCC season finale weekend.
