David gets first place, Nick gets second - this weekend!
Written by Matt   
Sunday, 12 March 2006

This weekend saw two elements of Pink Floyd successful in their solo endeavours.

First off, David Gilmour's new album "On An Island" entered the Official UK Album Charts at the coveted number one spot. Selling very heavily since it hit the stores last Monday (6th March), empty racks in a number of outlets bore testiment to the demand for his third solo album. This is despite a relatively low key promotional campaign to promote the release.

Nick Mason at Goodwood
Nick Mason in driving mode
With the BBC broadcast of the Mermaid Theatre show over the weekend, sales are expected to remain high this week, so its position at the head of the charts is hopefully assured for the coming weekend.

The story is the same in a number of countries, with Norway an example of another place which has now published an album chart with David's latest heading the list!

Nick Mason was in Bahrain this weekend, taking part in a support event for the start of the 2006 Formula One Grand Prix Championship. Nick participated in the Pro-Celebrity Challenge, which featured an interesting line-up of celebrities and drivers, with the likes of five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave, Boris Becker, Lance Armstrong and Michael Johnson alongside professional drivers such as Martin Brundle, Johnny Herbert and Williams' Narain Karthikeyan, taking the wheel of sixteen Chevrolet V8 SS Luminas.

Each celebrity partnered up with a driver, to take the 380-horsepower cars around the circuit in two, ten lap races.

Commenting before the race Nick said: "I could hardly believe the invitation when it arrived... see what promises to be one of the best GPs for some time, drive a seriously exciting race car in the shape of the 5 litre V8 Lumina, and escape the British winter! Not only that, but compete against one of my heroes in the shape of Sir Steve Redgrave. I may have some motor racing experience, but I suspect anyone who has quite so many gold medals is unlikely to head out onto one of the most sophisticated of all Grand Prix circuits for a gentle meander around!"

It was no surprise that come the races themselves, Nick, alongside his co-driver ex-Formula One racer Martin Brundle, secured a podium place after getting second place overall.

Our congratulations to David and to Nick for their successes - and here's to many more!