Monday 15th December 2003
Well last week’s debut of the Sagaris certainly attracted attention. The short video I took has been downloaded thousands of times via PistonHeads.tv, the story has been read tens of thousands of times and I’ve had a national newspaper on the phone wanting copies of the pictures.
Whilst the grey show car didn’t float my boat particularly I can’t wait to see the car in race trim when I think it will look fantastic. Must make some calls there and see when that’s likely to be…
Polished off the Eurohoon site having spent too much of the weekend in front of a keyboard sorting it out. Still, I’m pleased with the result and more excited about the trip now. Just need to get the T&C’s confirmed and we can launch it.
Had a call in the afternoon from the press office at the road safety group Brake. They’re not very happy about a thread on the Gassing Station concerning their chief executive. Seems best that I remove it.
Ten minutes later, an email confirming which thread it was arrives from Brake. No problem, except that it claims they’ve informed the police about it! I took another more comprehensive read of the thread – nothing to worry about there in my opinion. Just pub style banter…
Thirty minutes pass and the phone rings. A journalist from the Times looking into the matter.
Rapidly making a mental note to say as little as possible as I can’t believe what’s unfolding…
Tuesday 16th December 2003
Up with the lark to try and get the news sorted at a reasonable time today. Better nip down the shop to see if anything did make The Times. A quick flick through as I chomp on breakfast pie only to choke mashed pig trotters as I reach page 13 and find a half page article all based around comments on the Gassing Station. Certainly an interesting interpretation of the discussion, but surprisingly sensationalist for the Times.… Very annoying
Still, they say all publicity is good publicity – today should test that theory.
PHers rallied round this morning and particular thanks must go to 'Mon Ami Mate' who provided me with some sound advice regarding the statements to make and what not to say! He also put me in touch with a lawyer who talked some welcome common sense on the matter and put my mind at rest about the whole farce.
Whizzed up to Warwickshire to meet Graham Bell and Simon from Noble Cars who were lending us a GTO 3R for a road test. Slippery roads were not ideal conditions for a car with over 350bhp but at least it wasn’t raining.
A quick nosh and chips in the local pub revealed that Simon - Noble's new marketing man - used to be a road tester for Autocar, so plenty to chat about there.
Post nourishment we headed out to get some video. Graham did plenty of whizzing up and down whilst I stood at the side of the road with a tripod scaring motorists
. Not sure what my dodgy video will come out like once I’ve weaved it together with some royalty free (porno) music. Still, got to try these things.
I left Graham and Simon to it and hacked back to PH Central to see what had been unfolding in my absence. Had a nice drive back down through Oxfordshire relishing the Switchtronic and the chassis balance of my newly acquired Alpina B3. Only one minor death threat on the way back. As I eased off to crest the brow of a hill, I was encounted by a Fiesta doing about 30mph crossing the solid white lines (over the blind brow) with a stressed mother attempting a suicidal manoeuvre past the car in front. And they say it’s speed that kills… I think someone’s got it in for me this week.
Anyway, got back in one piece and checked out the phone calls and emails I’d missed. A couple of enquiries about advertising but nothing from the police yet.
I get tipped off that Brake have issued another press release claiming that the thread was removed because of a warning from the police. The world’s going mad…
Wednesday 17th December
Up a bit later this morning and when I got to my desk I found an SMS from a friend. Mary Williams was to be interviewed on GM TV about the death threats made against her. Ah… seems this story isn’t chip wrappings just yet. PH didn’t get a mention specifically thankfully.
More enquiries from the media so I put out another statement…
Seeing as the police hadn’t contacted me yet, I thought it best I get on the blower to them. Their press office were very helpful and an hour or so later I had a call back from a Chief Inspector. I’ll respect his confidence with regard to our discussion but the end result was that he didn’t consider any of the text to constitute ‘death threats’ and that no further action would be taken.
Oh well, a bit late now. The story of ‘Death Threats’ has now been carried by The Times, BBC, the Press Association, The Scotsman, GMTV and local radio stations. Just shows the power of a clever PR department I guess…
Time I got out of the office before I blow a blood vessel. Off up to London for the launch of the 2004 British GT series. A nice crawl along the M4 in rush hour and into Fulham as I searched out the address in Old Brompton Road. Making full use of my non-satnav, print-off from Multimap navigation system, I bluffed my way nearby and then found a Mosler parked in the street behind an F3 car. That’ll be the place!
Met some familiar faces, scoffed some canapés and listened to the launch info. Grabbed some more cucumber things on mashed pureed stuff on small biccies and made my exit. Back to PH central for the latest…
Thursday 18th December
A whole day in the office today so I should be able to knock out some decent news and send off all the merchandise that people have ordered (thank you!).
Spent the morning working on Lotus news. The level of interest from the US in Lotus stuff still amazes me. There’s such a legacy of enthusiasm from their old cars and of course from the Esprits. I certainly wish them the best of luck with the Elise launch. It would be so fantastic if Lotus could really start making a bigger impact and hopefully start growing its product range again. How they finance that though remains a mystery to me. Selling a few thousand Elises each year surely isn’t enough?
Finally caught up on some of this week’s admin. Designed some new ads for clients, secured some domain names and did a bit of development work on project H (to be launched next year). Got plenty of interest in that now – just need to get some more coding done! Spent time catching up on how Paul (aka PistonFest) has been getting on with planning for PF2004. Plenty of exciting prospects for that although some will be dependent on sponsorship. Must whip the info into shape ready for the new year.
Looks like the laptop will be busy over Christmas.
Friday 19th December
My, what a week… and it ain’t over yet…
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