2018 Season review
2018 Season Review
2018 began with the usual flurry of bookings for the WEATHERTECH Rolex 24-hour pre-race race ROAR in Daytona. Alex set off not knowing quite to expect as 2017 had been a bit manic with so many additional requests for work. As it turned out the format of the ROAR only allows for a certain time to be spent perfecting the essential seats for this race....in the event only Fernando Alonso and Filipe Albuquerque were lucky enough to receive our attentions.
Fernando got the bulk of the media coverage and to our utter delight Filipe won the race overall in some style, messaging later that the seat made a big difference to his comfort and fatigue levels. He remains one of our loyal customers and a friend too.
Tyre testing in Aragon and WEC and ELMS Prologue at Paul Ricard was a difficult but rewarding time for us and our output was massive, everyone who required a seat was accommodated in time for the new season.
Porsche OE suppliers meant that orders rolled in and being the only official seat insert supplier, we were stretched but met all of the demands placed upon us.
British Touring Car Championship season was a blast with Pro-Seat equipped cars challenging for the Championship until the very last event, once again proving the benefits of being securely encapsulated in a comfortable, seat insert makes all the difference especially when this 'non-contact, series turns out to be anything but that.
LE MANS 2018 loomed and with Alex facing the prospect of being there alone we began to make preparations for some help to be on hand. I am delighted to say it took the form of two of the best possible replacements for me that he could have asked for, I was side-lined awaiting surgery for an acquired damaged heart valve following an eventful and ultimately disastrous trip to China the previous winter Rheumatic Fever is alive and well over there as I found out to our cost.
We welcomed Rich Wake, former Force India F1 stalwart, into the team at Pro-Seat and he proved to be invaluable to Alex in the first week at the Le Sarthe circuit during practice and testing. Rich remains with us for the future and is a most experienced and welcome addition to our small but world class team of professional seat fitters.
Enter weeks 2 and 3 of the Le Mans epic and Alex was joined by Uni friend Dom Rowe, now a resident in France and all-time true friend to us all. His fluent command of the French language and understanding of the nuances of the ACO meant that Alex could concentrate on seats.......lots of seats.
Pro-Seat International equipped cars won in every single class in 2018 what a result for all of Alex's hard and professional work, borne out by the amazing results.
The remainder of 2018 slipped by in a blur of work all over the Globe and Alex excelled at all times and in covering for me too, whilst I recuperated from my surgery.
Melanie in the accounts department kept us ahead of the paperwork and as usual her amazing dedication kept us financially sound, 2019 appears to be off to the usual start, with Alex and Rich off to Daytona just the day after New Year and we wish them well there.
We wish all of our many customers all the very best for 2019.
