Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

A high-ranking official of BP Azerbaijan will participate in the City Challenge Baku 2012 race on October 26-28.

The City Challenge, which will be joined by Mark Thomas, Vice President Operations for BP Azerbaijan's exploration and production business and a semi-professional Canadian driver, is a proven formula for joining sports and entertainment as demonstrated at events held in Budapest and Bucharest in the past. It is holding its next event in the Azerbaijani capital, on the shore of the Caspian Sea.

The event brings three days of exciting entertainment, breathtaking city races and many fun activities for the whole family to Baku. City Challenge is promoted as a venue where manufacturers can test green technology that can be integrated into ordinary automobiles.

Seven teams have already signed up for the Baku City Challenge event. Vita4One will bring two BMW's Z4 GT3 to the capital of Azerbaijan, sister team Vita4One Italy represents Ferrari with two 458 GT3. Reiter Engineering and Leipert Motorsport will both bring two Lamborghini's Gallardo P600+ and Grasser Racing one. Mühlner Motorsport comes with two Porsches GT3 R and HEICO Motorsports brings two Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 cars.

Mark, with teammate Nick Tandy, a full professional Porsche driver, will represent Mühlner Motorsport.

Mark has spoken about his hobbies, career and life in Baku in an interview with AzerNews.

Q: What was your inspiration for car driving?

A: As a child, I always liked to drive fast. I built go-karts and drove them down hills...in traffic sometimes! Once I got through university, I decided to do something about my desire to race and attended racing school in Canada. From there, it just grew constantly. Of course, Gilles Villeneuve, the famous Formula 1 driver, influenced me as well.

Q: Does your family enjoy your hobby?

A: Yes, my wife has always been at my races and now my two sons, Matthew and Mackenzie, attend. My elder son was with me in Daytona and at the Nurburgring 24-hour race.

Q: Do you think your sons could follow your footsteps?

A. I do not encourage them to do that, I mean, it might be OK as a hobby. I am not encouraging them to choose the professional career of a car racer. The number of people who want to be top race drivers and the number of those who actually become top drivers differs. The number of people who can actually make a career as a professional racer is very small, and it is not a highly successful business. Though I do not encourage them to be drivers, my older son Mathew, who is going to the university next year, is interested in engineering and aerodynamic aspects of cars. A career of an aeronautical engineer is what I am supportive of, but he has an interest in cars as well and he was always with me at my races. My younger son Mackenzie enjoys the social aspect of racing competitions and photography at the track, but he does not have an interest in being a race car driver.

Q: Is car racing as dangerous as it looks?

A. It can have risks as everything in life can, but we have more safety equipment and we are more professionally trained than the average driver. I think driving on some streets in Baku is more dangerous!

Q: You mentioned those drivers on white Ladas who pretend to be racers on the roads of Baku on your Facebook page, what do you think of them?

A: Sometimes when I am just driving, minding my own business, I see and I wonder what can come to somebody's mind, some maneuvers that they may make; they do not see anyone around them, they do not seem to care about anyone around them. It seems to me, white Ladas do very strange things on the roads in Baku.

Q: Do you think it is dangerous to drive on Baku streets?

A: Driving on Baku streets certainly has some challenges; you have to know not only the rules of the road but to anticipate what people will do. You have to always anticipate the unexpected; you never know what may happen at any moment of time. When you drive on a motorway in the morning and its dark, and people are walking across the highway in dark clothing...well, you have to expect the unexpected.

Q: Do you ever speed while driving in the city?

A. No, I try not to, and for me it's about two things. First, it is too dangerous, and second, the fact that I drive fast on the racetrack does not mean that I drive fast on the street. A number of things can go wrong, and the consequences of what goes wrong on the streets are much higher than what's going on the racetrack.

Q: Had you heard about Baku before your first visit?

A. Not much. First, I visited Azerbaijan in 2002 with BP business. I came for a very short visit. We were opening up a training center in the Old City and so I had come from London. I was working in London at the time, with one of the senior managers, who was opening the facility. So, I traveled with him to Baku in 2002 and even in 2002 it was a very dynamic place. I was able to meet President Heydar Aliyev during that visit which was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Then I came here again in 2004 just for a one-day visit. In October 2009 I was hiking in Scotland with my son on the top of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK, and one Saturday I got a phone call from Rashid Javanshir, who is the President of BP Azerbaijan. He asked if I would like to come and work in Baku, and I said "sure" and that it was basically the question of time and I can be there in 5-6 weeks time, but he said, "Could you be here on Monday?".Thus, I came here on Monday and started from there."

Q: Can you somehow interconnect your sport and work activities, which you have been involved in for about the same period of time?

A. When I started working, I had enough money to start racing. As simple as that.

Q: Next month it will be three years since you came to Baku, what was your impression of the city when you came to live here?

A. My first impression was that it has changed a lot from my first visits, I have heard about Baku primarily from the oil industry, but here you see driving outside the city, going up the mountain, you see there is so much more in Azerbaijan. You see the great diversity of things to do many things, which you do not hear about when you work in the oil business. I have been North up to the mountains and South down the border and for me Azerbaijan is a lovely place, an unspoiled one. I even started learning Azerbaijani, now I know numbers and can explain myself in markets.

If you like to go back to nature and be able to walk in the mountains, it's just so much easier and freer, space is wide open, you just go and enjoy the outdoors. Then Baku itself is a big modern city. You would not think, driving down the Boulevard, that you would see all these high-rise buildings and stores, that was a surprise.''

Q: How can you manage to continue your hobby and stay fit for racing and your work in Baku?

A. It is much more difficult just from the point of distance and from the prospect of timing. Most of my racings are in Europe, I do one race a year in the U.S. and that is 24 Hours of Daytona race, one of the famous races. It is always in the end of January. I have participated in Daytona for three years already and I like it, so, I will continue to do that. So, traveling to the States is difficult because it takes a day to get there, takes a day or so to get back, and a lot of time you have to spend on the plane. Time changes are very difficult as well, but most of my other races are in Europe, still, I have 3-4 hours time change. If I am racing on the weekend for the 24 Hours race, they generally begin on Saturday and end on Sunday. The event actually starts earlier in the week. It may start on Tuesday, with a driver's parade and an autograph session. On Wednesday you may have a practice session, on Thursday you have qualifying day, Friday is a day off to get the cars ready, Saturday is the race, and Sunday it's complete.

Thus, it takes the whole of week time. I don't race many times per year, I primarily just do long distance in 24 Hours races - 24 Hours of Daytona, U.S., 24 Hours of Spa, Belgium, 24 Hours of Nurburgring, Germany -- those three are the big ones. I have done 24 Hours at Dubai, but that was in January and it can interfere with Daytona.

Q: So, what is actually a 24 Hour race?

A. You have 3-4 drivers in 24 Hour races, and organizers put limits on how long each driver can drive for a single stint. When you get in the car there is enough fuel only for one hour and 10 minutes, so you have to come in to the pits anyways in that time to get more fuel. The less time you spend in the pits the better. You just get in the car, drive, come in for fuel, keep driving, and if it is possible, you come in a pit-stop one more time. So you drive for three hours and after that time you are tired, you lose a lot of weight and water. Thus, you have to get out of the car, for the next driver to come. Then you stay off for about 6 hours and then come back to do another rotation, so each driver might do three rotations during the whole race weekend, three rotations three hours each.

Q: Can you describe the feel that participation in such an event gives you?

A.I really enjoy the physical and mental challenge of racing. You must be in good physical condition and be of sharp mind with long concentration. Driving in a 24-hour endurance race can be exhausting. You will lose 3 or 4 kilos of body weight, but it is an exhilarating feeling crossing the finish line.

Q: You have been racing for 27 years, what kind of a feeling do you get when driving on the streets?

A: People say, you drive fast, but generally, I do not. Actually, on the racetrack I feel very comfortable, because I know what is exactly going on the track. I can see what is happening and I do not have any fear of the unknown, you know, I do not have to worry about pedestrians, or cars coming out of the side streets. All I have to worry about is the car behind me and the car in front of me, and I find driving on the street more stressful than racing.

Q: How does a racer feel at the race itself?

A.I am always nervous before the race when I am outside the car, but once I get in the car I calm down, with all my surroundings around me I feel quite comfortable. Being in the car is calming for me. I am nervous at the start of the race, because there is a lot of action; all the cars are too close; if another car makes a mistake and you have no place to go, then your race is done, so I'm nervous. However, inside the car, I am very calm, actually, I like it much more, and you think you will be nervous during the race, but actually, you are not.

Another thing I enjoy in during race weekends is to take people to the race and to see their experience. A few weeks ago, I was driving in the Porsche Carrera Cup in Germany and one of the team sponsors invited guests for what is called "a taxi drive". We put the passenger's seat back in the racecar, which is not normally there. We had these guests come, put on all the safety gear and get into the car, take them around the race track, not with racing speed, but maybe with 85-90 percent of racing speed. I like to see how excited people are when getting out of the car. Because of the thrill, they are completely scared but very excited as well. There are no handles to hold on to in the racecar and you have to hold on to your legs. They feel the force when you accelerate because they are pushed back. I always look over to be sure they are OK. That's when I can see their eyes widely open and they seem to think, "when are you going to put the brakes on?" That definitely is one of the most exciting parts of being a racer.

Q: What do you expect from the City Challenge Baku 2012 event?

A. Most of the racing in Europe will be complete by the time of the City Challenge Baku, so once they are done in Europe, they will pack and come here, and it is really a challenge. I was talking to my Team Chief, he normally has three trucks full of cars, tools and everything else when he races in Europe, but here all they would have is temporary facilities for working instead of permanent garages and tools. Thus, from logistic point of view it would be a challenge as well. Since the event is on the weekend, I hope that people could participate, as it is not just a race, it is also other entertainments. With my teammate Nick Tandy, who is a full professional Porsche driver, I expect good results.

We have some very good sponsors lined up for the event - first class companies. They are very excited about being a part of this big event and we are very happy to have them on-board with our team. Just watch out for Baku's "fastest taxi" because I will be driving it!

Q: What are your plans for the future in racing?

A. I will continue to race the big endurance races like Daytona, Sebring, Spa and Nurburgring. I still have a dream to race at Le Mans someday.