Pitpass editor Chris Balfe spent Wednesday morning at a cold and windswept Rockingham Speedway, as Sky Sports filmed some promotional material for its coverage of the A1 Grand Prix series, which gets underway next year.

Sadly, the car was never pushed to the limit, but editor Balfe did at least get to hear the 3.4 litre Zytek engine, which he describes as "awesome".

With the series scheduled to kick off next September, and with 13 countries already signed up, interest is steadily growing, and Sky Sports, which will broadcast A1 GP in Britain, is keen to get the message out to its viewers as soon as possible.

Like most 'shoots', the day involved a lot of waiting about, never fun at the best of times, but particularly difficult when the cold is biting at your extremities. Whoever said motor racing is glamorous?

After various shots of 'staged' pit stops, including a number of standing starts which had the crew enthralled but begging for ear plugs, the car went out on to the Speedway for some action footage, admittedly at around 70% power.

During the 'pit stops', Technical Operations Advisor, John Wickham looked suitably embarrassed as he leaned into the cockpit to show the driver the data readings from his laptop, and we promise not to tell Equity that he utters the lines, "A1 Grand Prix, only on Sky Sports", like a true pro, watch out Pacino!

At the wheel of the car was former British F3 champion, Robbie Kerr, who put the Lebanon entry through its paces at Silverstone recently.

The twenty-five-year-old made a stunning sports-prototype debut in the Zytek 04S at the Silverstone round of the Le Mans Endurance Series in August, taking pole by 1.7s from Johnny Herbert in the Audi, and setting fastest lap. Sadly, problems re-starting the engine after the first stop, two separate mistakes by back-markers and grass in the radiators meant the youngster could only finish fourth, despite leading the race by ten seconds at one point.

It was this performance with Zytek, in addition to his many other achievements, that led to Robbie getting the Silverstone A1 GP outing and the Rockingham 'screen test'.

Although not sure of his plans for 2005, Robbie, who took part in several rounds of the Renault V6 Championship, wining one race and claiming one pole position, is keeping his options open, and though he is hoping to stay in single-seaters (GP2), is willing to drive anything, anywhere. Talking to Balfe he admitted that he would be delighted and proud to drive Britain's entry in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix championship, hopefully team boss John Surtees will get the message.

Frustrated at not being able to 'let rip' on the banked corners at Rockingham, Robbie could at least have some fun with his standing starts, much to the delight of those present.

It was cold, windy and damp but not at all miserable, and though the toes are still recovering, that sound made it all worthwhile. Awesome!

By the way, it looks the part too!