Supercar Saturday

[point n squirt]

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon at Elvington airfield for what was about to be a boyhood dream come true. I was to be unleashed upon four of the most desirable sports cars that you would love to be let loose on. We arrived half a hour early in plenty time to catch the end of the last session so as to see the cars in action and get the butterflies going. We were called for a short briefing and asked very nicely not to bend the cars as you are responsabile for the first £2000, note to self try and not overdrive. As this had been booked a year ago I was in group A and was to be 1st out in group. The cars in question were to be . 1/2001 pro drive Subaru 2/ Porsche GT3 3/Ferrari 360 4/Lamborghini Gallardo I was told the first car to get my hands on was to be the Ferrari so with a brief decription of the car I was asked to get in. I fastend my belt, started the car, applied cheesy grin and pulled slowly away so as not to stall it as all eyes are on you. You pull up to the edge of the track waited for the next car to go by then leave some room then told to go. Rapidly up to 3rd through the metal H pattern box and through the 1st corner the car is singing and wanting to drift wide so as to release the speed on the straight 70000 revs I change to 4th and have a brief look at the speedo saying 110 before hitting the brakes which were totally reassuring then 3rd then into the stiff 2nd for the hairpin, at that point was sternly told not to use 2nd again only 3rd and 4th so I made my apology and did not push too hard on the exit until back in 3rd. Next is a long straight followed by a chicane then a fairly tight right hander and thats the lap. The Ferrari handled all corners with ease with a very point n squirty feel and smooth even power all the way. On the second lap I was to catch up with traffic this was to be a ongoing problem all day and when you are getting only three laps per car is very frustrating. The 1st run was a little dissapointing due to traffic and getting to quickly know the track the other thing that may sound silly is I found it a little tricky to judge turn in and apex because the track is made of cones and when your approching a chicane at 110 they all look the same . Next up was the Porsche the 1st thing you notice is its track day interia, roll cage, seats etc. The Porsche dident have quite the same pull untill futher up the power not that it was slow but i was allowed this time to use 2nd gear on the promise of not being greedy on the power which made coming out the hairpin more rewarding but at the same time you could tell it would bite you very quickly . Once again brakes were superb but pound for pound i preferd the Fessa. Next up the Subaru not in the same leauge as the rest but fun and alot more chuckable with out any panic. Even though i was carrying less speed into the hairpin i had quickly become used to the brakes on the previous cars and was to be caught out underbraking . I was then to be held up with more traffic after catching up with the Lambo ,something i dident think i would say. Lastly a bright yellow Lambo ,i got in and quickly made my way to track to get pole and was glad i did 500 horses of fun did not dissapoint you are instantly reasured by this car that it will look after you as it pushes you on with a whine and a growel. The instructor was a old KH man and said he had kept a open eye on me in previous sessions so gave me wider use of the car,great .I was suprised just how at ease i felt, it is flatter through the corners but had to run wider on the fast corner or speed would be scrubbed.The brakes were great untill reaching about 60 mph and there was a bit of fade . Think i let out a yahoo at one point to the instructors amusment This is def the best car i have ever driven and prob ever will ,even in my hands it was something very special. All in a great day but 5 laps would have been more like it.

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[duggiesmith]

Sounds like an awesome day Ian.
Pure driving porn.

[renmure]

Definately sounds like a great day!!
Was the lambo a manual or flappy paddle gearbox?

[point n squirt]

All cars were manual but still fun

[mikeyb13]

Did the wife get over the fact that there wasn't a Lotus there?

Looks like a great day mate.

[bertieduff]

Useless! How you gonna fit a gazebo in any of the above?

(Looks like fun though )

[point n squirt]

There was a wee S1 there but the fastest thing there was a caterham type thing with a Honda in it.