Mini
Cooper S Driving Experience at Rockingham
Date:
Saturday 9th April 2005
Location: Rockingham Raceway, Northamptonshire
Vehicles: Mini Cooper S
Author: Beck
My
driving experience was bought for me as a birthday present,
I was 19 at the time and was really just getting in to driving
and all things car related, but had been a fan of motor sport
from a young age. I had stated on one of my school leavers
forms that one of my goals was to do track driving and to
really learn what a car can do when pushed to its limits.
I think I was really supposed to put a sensible career related
idea in this section, but that didn't enter my head, at the
time I was more interested in getting my drivers license and
getting behind the wheel. I guess this was my parents way
of helping me to safely achieve this.
So
about a week after my birthday in November I phoned and booked
the day of the event, and a few days after that I received
the confirmation letter with all the information about the
day:
"A
supercharged Mini adventure around Rockingham's challenging
infield circuit. The experience includes full briefings before
taking to the wheel of the sporty 6 geared MINI Cooper S,
with an expert instructor by your side, push the car voted
'best hot hatch in 2002' to its limits."
Sounded
perfect and I was really excited. Slightly worried too, as
in big bold letters at the bottom of the letter it stated
"dependant on weather", and we all know what the British weather
is like!
Anyway,
the day finally came round, we set out early, it took us about
an hour and a half to get there, my parents came along too,
with the camera of course. As we had arrived early we got
chance to sit in one of the hospitality suites and watch all
the other experiences going on, there was a Lotus Elise one
and a Ferrari passenger drive
going on too. Many of the experiences had places available
at 50% off on the day too, my dad was itching to get in on
one of them, but resisted so he could watch mine.
Suddenly
we were called to head to the briefing in another section
of the stand. We were told all the safety aspects of the day,
use of flags, overtaking, basic cornering procedure and general
dos and don'ts. We were then organised into groups as to who
would go out when, and taken to get helmets sorted. At this
point I was getting a little bit nervous as I had never done
anything like this before and there were far more experienced
drivers there.
It
was decided I would be the first one to go round in my group
so I put my helmet on and marched down to my Mini. My instructor
was called Pete and was really nice, he had a few bits to
fill in on his sheet before we could set off. The experience
was scored on several factors: preparation, braking, gear
change, technique, looking into the corner, steering (turn
in), turn in point, throttle balance, steering (through the
corner) power application, clipping point and exit. With a
percentage mark at the end, he explained.
Then
it was time to head out, we had been allowed to use part of
the outfield circuit or oval so our circuit length was extended
slightly to include a longish back straight, we had one or
two slow laps to get the bearings of the track and for my
instructor to point out the areas I could improve on, one
of which being not to get us thrown into the wall on the entry
to the oval where there was a bit of a flat area where the
infield track and Oval tracks met, if hit wrongly it could
send you off into the stands. Having sorted out that little
problem, I was told "go on girl, give it some now!"
It
was brilliant, I was smiling ear to ear the whole time. We
were told the emphasis wasn't on speed but more so technique,
so I was consciously trying to do as I'd been told, approach
the corner, squeeze on the brake, turn in, clip the corner
at the right point and then accelerate out. Compared to my
car at the time (a 'lil ole 1.1 Peugeot 106) the mini felt
so responsive, and grounded round the corners, each lap felt
smoother and smoother as I really got to know the track layout.
We were on track for about half an hour I think, but it flew
by, and I was soon given the instruction to go back in to
the pits for the next drivers turn.
Pete
marked all the elements of my drive, and wrote a few comments
down, my overall mark was 93%, I was thrilled! He did mention
that perhaps more braking would have helped in certain areas
but overall he said it was a good drive. I headed to the de-briefing
room, where they looked over our score cards, and of course
told us that this type of driving was to be done on the track
only, however some elements could be helpful in day to day
driving, they then gave us information on future days, and
further track driving tuition.
I
had thoroughly enjoyed my day, I'm sure I wasn't pushing the
car totally to its limits, and probably wasn't the fastest
driver on track, but I felt that I had really got the most
out of the experience. And knew that this would be something
I would have to do again. It wasn't long after the day that
I was looking into doing more driving experiences in a range
of other cars. I can recommend a driving
experience to anyone, whether a motor sport enthusiast,
or a nervous driver looking to boost their confidence, I'm
sure everyone and anyone could learn something from the day,
as well as have a really great time.
Skip
ahead to the present day, and I've done the odd track day,
in my own car and others, done my bike test and am looking
to get out on track on that as soon as I can, and have been
to various motor sport events. I have yet to get round to
any of those sensible career goals though...
This
was a Driving
Experience review by Beck
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