Rally
Driving at Prestwold
Hall
A
day of rally driving in different rally cars and also some
Go-karting at Prestwold Hall
Date:
Saturday 2nd April 2005
Location: Prestwold Hall,
Loughborough, Leicestershire
Vehicles: Go-Karts, Rally Cars (VW Polo Cup, Peugeot
205 GTI, Mitsubishi Evolution 5)
Author: Dan
Everyman
Motor Racing Activities - Rally Gold at Prestwold Hall Leicestershire.
LE12 5SQ for those with Satnav.
The
best way of describing this course is a motor sport career
in a day. The Rally Gold course I took part in was a full
day course, driving everything from go-karts to an Evo 5 group
N rally car. Also to make the day more interesting you're
also marked on your driving in each car in the morning, then
marked again when you go back out in the afternoon to see
how much you've learnt and improved. One thing that is consistent
is that not one person ever scores less in the afternoon,
so you do learn new skills as well as having a lot of fun..
The
day starts off like most with a quick briefing about what
you will be doing that day, getting your kit - overalls and
helmet is this case, and then being split into different groups.
As soon as all the admin stuff is sorted it's straight into
the driving. The 1st activity my group did was actually the
go-karting, This was half an hour of driving and a good warm
up for the day, though with the track being fairly bumpy and
quite tricky to drive on it was almost the most physically
demanding part of the day, with more than one person having
to stop for a break and then carry on again (on a slightly
smug note I didn't have to stop, and another guy in my group
apparently did a lot of go-karting and couldn't keep up with
me!). As soon as the half an hour was up it was time for a
quick break while waiting for the other groups to finish their
activities, only a 5 minute wait at most, it was time to have
a go in a proper rally car.
The
second activity my group did that day was to drive a VW polo
cup car. This was made all the more interesting as the cars
are left-hand drive. A bizarre feeling when you've never been
in a left-hand drive car before, let alone being told to drive
quickly on a mixture of tarmac and gravel! The actual car
itself doesn't feel that fast, although due to the course
your driving on and the instructors telling you the best lines
and when to pull the handbrake up they are a laugh to drive.
One thing that I did find very handy, and was pointed out
to me by the instructors, was that the principles for driving
on gravel are very similar to driving on the kind of slush/ice
we get on roads in the UK, so you do come away with more skill
with regards to your road driving and also you always have
the thought that you are being scored by the instructor so
you do try to take everything in and really improve your driving.
Once
the driving in the VW's are finished you move on to the next
car (a Peugeot 205 GTI), again driving on the same tarmac/gravel
course but although there is an instructor with you, he doesn't
give you as much information about what to do. It's more about
you showing what you've taken in when driving the polo, then
the instructor helping you to refine your stronger points
and also work on the weaker points of your driving. Although
this is one the of the best parts of the day you always have
the same thought in the back of your mind, especially when
you've done all the other driving activities already. That
thought is one thing and one thing only 'I wonder what the
Evo is going to be like after these.......?'
The
good thing about that thought is once you get out of the 205,
you're about to find out, and in my case drive one of your
dream cars.... So then, what is the Evo like to drive? Well
to be honest I'm not going to tell you yet! The course you
drive the Evo round is all tarmac meaning you get to feel
the full performance of the car, the track itself is very
tight and twisty meaning you really have to work hard to drive
it, its mainly 3rd and 4th gear corners, a 2nd gear hairpin
and one long straight where you can hit 135-140mph if you're
really pushing it. You then have to break for a tight S-bend
that you take at about 40-45mph, and as the instructor pointed
out 'you can use the same line to go over a roundabout quickly,
as you can on this corner' and after some 'experimentation'
I can confirm that he is indeed right... After the S-bend
you then accelerate to a long hairpin bend before accelerating
again to another tight 90 degree right then left before a
long straight and hairpin back to the start. Anyway, back
to the car itself, there are in-fact to Evo's that they use,
one left-hand drive and one right-hand drive. Luckily I took
the left-hand drive out in the morning, then for the second
run later in the car I took out the right-hand drive car when
we were all being scored by the instructors on overall pace,
and skill. Speaking of pace, the Evo has it in bucket loads!!!
It really is an awesome car to drive and without question
the highlight of the day. I have still yet to drive any car
that comes close to it in terms of acceleration or grip! Every
single second in that car made the every penny of the £150
worthwhile.
After
all that in the morning there is a quick break for lunch before
back out in the cars again, driving the cars in the same order,
only this time the instructors are there to score your driving
and nothing else. Which certainly makes things a lot more
interesting, and for me resulting in a spin whilst driving
the VW. You can't beat a bit of pressure to suddenly make
things a lot more difficult.
There
was one big difference though in the second half of the day,
instead of another session in the karts you all get taken
out for a few laps as a passenger in either an STI Subaru
Impreza or a 280bhp Seat Leon Cupra R, I was taken out in
the Leon as the Impreza was broken. This is possibly the most
depressing part of the day, a real thrill because you can
see what the car can really do, but depressing because you
suddenly feel very second rate as a driver. You certainly
gain a lot more respect for any racing or rally driver after
doing a rally driving experience!
As
a day out and an experience I really couldn't rate this highly
enough, it'd run in a very professional and organised manner,
and you certainly get as much track time as you possibly could
which also makes it great value for money, I would, and have
recommended this to quite a few people as ideas for a driving
day if they do one. And I will be going on another Everyman
Driving course very soon, I quite fancy a go in an Audi R8.......
This
was a Driving
Experience review by Dan
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