Race of Champions 2015 - Olympic Stadium

On Saturday evening we once again found ourselves at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Stadium for the annual Race of Champions (ROC) event. The last 4 or 5 years this event has been held in Barbados, Thailand and Dusseldorf so having it practically on our door step and at the Olympic Stadium was just too good an opportunity to let go by. So I managed to get me and the boys tickets for Saturday night which was the individual event (team event was held on the Friday). Whilst not particularly cheap I figured this was a nice early Xmas treat and beats going to the pantomime (which they are already doing with school anyway).

 

The weather was extremely cold and in fact on the morning before the event we hand frost, rain, sleet and just about everything in between. Fortunately it stayed dry for the evening but was just very, very cold so we all went wrapped up in thermals, hiking boots, hats, gloves, scarves etc to keep us warm. Once we arrived there we found our seats up in row 63 and then a man came along and gave us a free upgrade to so much better seats which were taken by some sponsors and not used. We had an absolutely fantastic view across the whole track and could see everything.

 

The format of the ROC had changed slightly this year and instead of a 2 land track that had a single lane track with the two cars starting opposite each other so it was a pursuit race (similar to cycling). It actually worked really well and made for some very competitive racing. We saw a few crashes where some drivers overcooked it and stuck the car into the wall. They also had skills driving challenges, FMX freestylers, stunt drivers, 2013 Mercedes F1 car and so much more to keep us entertained. We had a thoroughly good petrol head afternoon.

 

 

We arrived at Stratford train station and admired the Westfield Christmas decorations.

Santa's grotto in Westfield is just incredible.

Outside the stadium where a few race cars for everyone to look at and snap some pictures.

A nice Mercedes AMG pace car.

Selfie of me and the boys in our original seats up in row 63 before getting our free upgrade.

Whilst we are having some lunch a few drivers were warming up and testing the track. Here is one of the ROC buggies on the start line.

One of the quickest cars around the track was the Ariel Atom.

One of my personal favourites was the V8 NASCAR's, what a great noise they make.

In the skills challenge the drivers had to negotiate a coned course and do a few donuts etc.

There was a chap called Terry there who is a World renowned stunt driver who holds some 20+ World Records to his name. Whilst we were there on Saturday he broke a new World Record for the furthest anyone has driven on 2 wheels in a Range Rover loaded with 16 people!!! The previous record was 20m and he smashed it by about 50m or so. Prior to loading the car with 16 people he had actually managed to drive the Range Rover for one whole lap on two wheels!!!

The Range Rover loaded with 16 people about to break the World Record.

Terry completing an entire lap of the ROC track on two wheels.

The drivers came out on the track in a open top bus. The who's who of driving with Hulkenburg, Vettel, Button, Wolf, Plato, Coultard to name just a few. But who would triumph at the end of the night?

One of the NASCAR's tearing up a lap.

The might Mercedes AMG V8 looked and sounded great.

The ROC buggies were the most commonly raced vehicles and were very nimble and handled well.

As night fell the stadium looked amazing under the floodlights.

Just before the semi-finals they did a demonstration of the 2013 Mercedes F1 car which was just awesome. The noise of this car was something special even though he probably didn't get out of 1st gear going around the small track. Joshua hated the noise of this car and said it was giving him a headache. He couldn't wait for the demonstration to end.

 

2013 Mercedes F1 car did a few demo laps of the ROC track.

After a few laps it entered the middle of the track to perform some very noisy donuts.

 

Later in the show Terry the stunt drive performed yet another stunning display. First he did some donuts and skids etc in his little Ford Popular. He was hanging out of the door whilst smoking the wheels and at one point even jumped out of the car whilst it was left unmanned in the middle of the track still doing donuts. But then his icing on the car was his Jaguar display. He had a F-type Convertible which he set-up doing donuts in the middle of the track. He then jumped out of the car, ran over to a Coupe version and then  started doing donuts around the unmanned F-type. He even ran up in to the crowd and pinched someones mobile phone, then took it on the track and started taking selfies of himself hanging out of a car doing donuts etc. 

 

The stunt driver sets of an F-type convertible doing donuts unmanned and then circles it with an F-type Coupe.

Notice the lack of driver in the convertible!!!!!

In the end Sebastian Vettel won the event. David Coultard was the defending champ who did very well but eventually lost out in the semi final. Jenson Button was not quite as good as he got knocked out in the first round. All in all we had an absolutely great evening despite it being very, very cold. On our way in to the event the boys wanted some souvenir scarfs which were £10 each. I am glad I said no and lets see what else is about as on the way out they were selling the scarfs for £5 each so they both got a little souvenir from the event.

As we passed back from Westfield to get to Stratford Station the Santa's grotto looked amazing all lit up at night.