MOTORSPORT
Boasting a sixspeed paddleshift gearbox and hi-tech Duratec engine, the latest driving experience at Brands Hatch quickly unleashes your inner racing driver, as reporter
be limited to 5,000rpm but the machine is a true racing car. Overtaking is not allowed – apart from on the left down the straights – but the F4 car, for 15 minutes at least, made me feel like a proper racing driver. Paddock Hill Bend was as daunting as it looks but I pushed on through the tough right-hander, letting the car satisfyingly run onto the kerbs on the outside. After climbing Hailwoods Hill into Druids, I braked as late as I thought possible each lap, hugging the inside line at the hairpin without touching the kerb. I found it easy to run wide at Graham Hill Bend, before taking the Surtees swoop flatout as I gained confidence later in the session. Spotting the apex at Clearways was tough but – with the help of cones marking the braking, turn-in and acceleration points – I found the line quite quickly and picked up the throttle as soon as possible before starting another lap. After completing 14 tours in 15 minutes, I took the chequered flag flat-out in sixth gear along the Brabham Straight and returned to the pits. “It is a different experience being in a cocoon on your own in the car,” Tom said, as I clambered out. “In my job as an instructor, I have got to work out what people want but as long as they walk out of the car with a smile on their face, that is my job done.” I was certainly grinning but my smile got even wider when I picked up my now-treasured lap time sheet during the debrief. My quickest was recorded at 56.19 seconds, 0.3s shy of ex-Formula Renault racer Archie Hamilton, who has driven at Le Mans in the past. The Brands Hatch PR team say their F4 Master experience is the most modern and sophisticated open-wheel driving sensation available in the UK and – after somehow producing a lap time like that – I will always find it hard to disagree.