Monday 27 August 2018

AI secures global publicity – in the world of motorsport

Aggregate Industries resurfaced the Silverstone circuit earlier in the year in a multi-million pound deal. The company was not shy of promoting the fact on social media:




But the crowing has backfired – big time.

In July, Lewis Hamilton slammed the new surface as "wasted money, which could've gone to much better use":

It's bumpier than the Nordschleife, which is 100 years old. It's rattling your freaking eyeballs out of your brain.
Apart from that it's fantastic but jeez, they need to hire someone better. I don't know how you could do such a bad job in layering the track.
But this weekend, publicity for AI got a whole lot worse.

Silverstone’s new asphalt was branded a 'disaster' by MotoGP riders after the opening day of the British Grand Prix. There was chaos as rider after rider came off in the rain during practice on Saturday, with the bumpy surface being blamed for water retention and aquaplaning. One rider suffered a badly broken leg. British MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow – who apparently gave AI a πŸ‘ in the tweet above – told the Independent:
We’ve seen today that it’s worse than last year, even though the track’s been resurfaced... I have no idea why but there’s a lot of bumps on the track.
Other MotoGP riders were also "very critical about the new Silverstone tarmac".

Remedial work on the surface was undertaken overnight, but to no avail. The track couldn't handle the British weather, and on Sunday:









A record attendance of 122,000 fans, who had patiently waited hours for the race to start, were left disappointed and angry. According to the BBC – "British Grand Prix: MotoGP boss blames new Silverstone track for cancellation" – Silverstone's management will launch an investigation:
We will be reviewing all the data we have on the track and gathering more, and together with the contractor, Aggregate Industries, a full investigation will be carried out.
The Twittersphere played host to thousands of angry fans; angry at AI, and looking for refunds.




Meanwhile, jokers on Twitter thought AI should stick to driveways in future, or swimming pools. The company attracted a variety of memes; here's a small assortment for your enjoyment: