Bluebird Team Racing (BTR), headed up by Don Wales himself, in conjunction with Project Director Martin Rees, has been established to prepare and maintain Bluebird Electric for all record attempts, test sessions, major public appearances and for organising the on-beach/track elements of the attempt itself.
BTR operates on two fronts - technical and operational. The Technical team, led by Chief Mechanic Mike Varndell, will be responsible for the smooth running of the car as well as organisation of pits and workshop. The Operational arm, under Course Controller Peter Gazey, will run the logistical side, covering everything but the car itself - the course, health and safety, crowd control and team catering.
Each team has spent an intensive two days going through every procedure they are likely to encounter in detail to identify potential problems and work out ways to get round them in advance of the attempt, now scheduled for the first weekend in June.
Particular attention has been paid to safety issues, with the help of Richard Baker, who heads up the Fire and Ambulance support crew, and Steve Barlow who will head up the security and marshalling at attempt events.
The team simulated the whole attempt weekend, on the beach and in the workshop, calculating how long it will take to perform the various tasks needed to make for a successful run, looking at ways of speeding things up wherever possible, and making sure that everyone knows exactly what their role is within the team.
"It's vital that we get our procedures and working practices right ahead of the attempt," said Martin Rees. "All manner of things can go wrong, as we well know, and in record-breaking they usually do. The purpose of this weekend has been to try and anticipate them so that we can have solutions in place, which everybody understands so that valuable time is not lost when the timekeepers' clock is running."
"We have waited a long time to get back on the course. We want to make sure that, this time, we get it right."
The team plans to hold two further practice sessions ahead of the UK record attempt.
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