Having arrived back home from Austin and SxSW, the following day held in store a once in a lifetime experience that no amount of jetlag would keep me away from.
Arriving home from the airport gave me enough time for a couple of hours sleep before jumping in the car and heading up to the hotel in Bedford for the night.
First thing the next morning we were all up and drove across to Bedford Autodrome, where we were signed in a sat down to breakfast (mmm breakfast… I had missed proper breakfasts for the last week. The Americans seem to have a thing for brightly coloured cereals and random sweet breads. That’s sweet doughy things rather than meats you wouldn’t feed to your dog.)
Over breakfast we were given a briefing about the cars and circuits we would be driving. The line-up was awesome consisting of a Caterham Seven (both on track and in head to head autotest style races, Renault Clio Cup, Porsche 911 JP3, Jaguar XKR, Landrover, Kart, Jaguar JP1 and the single seat Formula Jaguar!
Our team started the day in the rather lively Caterham Seven Superlights on the East Circuit. With a claimed power to weight ratio of 286bhp/tonne these cars are quick. Combine that with their weight of a mere 490kg and they are a handful. A lot of fun to drive although possibly not straight after a big breakfast.
With no time wasted, we were then taken to the North Circuit where the Renault Clio Cup Racers and Porsche 911 JP3s were waiting for us. First up for me was the Renault. Stripped of all creature comforts and fitted with a six-speed sequential gearbox operated by paddles, this car is absolutely nothing like the road-going version.
Then I was into the Porsche. I got in the car hoping that driving it would change my preconception of Porsches. I didn’t like Porsches. The design lacks imagination. They are incredibly well engineered, but I expected a lesser driving experience from them with all their ‘electrickery’. However, driving this particular model seemed to suit my driving style, surprising me with the fastest lap time in my team.
Last up before lunch was the Jaguar XKR on the South Circuit. Powered by a 420bhp 4.2 litre supercharged V8 this car promised a lot. Grip levels were astounding, but as I tried to be more precise with throwing it into the corners, my lap times dropped. I guess I just didn’t click with this car.
After lunch we headed over to the West Circuit and were installed into the Formula Jaguars. This is a ’slicks and wings’ F1 style car. 0-60mph is 3.1 seconds with only 1.6 seconds for 60-0mph. It is powered by a 3.0 litre V6 engine and is capable of 2.3G whilst cornering. I spent the first few laps getting to grips with the way the car felt and responded to my input and gradually started pushing harder. Unfortunately all too soon the session came to an end. I would love to go back and try this machine again. I’m sure I didn’t manage to explore more than a tenth of its capabilities.
Next was a complete change of pace as we were put in Landrovers on the off-road course. This involved driving across seesaws, beams and insane gradients all the while looking to score points by hitting tennis balls suspended around the course with targets on the wing-mirrors and in the centre of the windscreen.
Then we were back on the pace for head to head timed runs round a wetted down autotest circuit in Caterham Sevens that were similar to those we had driven earlier in the day, but these had been set up to slide. This gave us the opportunity to compete against each other directly and show how good our handling skills were. Keeping the car pointing in the right direction was not easy, but it was great fun sliding the car round the bends.
We finished up the day in the Jaguar JP1, a slicks and wings two-seater with an instructor to help us get the best out of the car.