You can induce slides that will have your eyes out on stalks
❝
❞
dab on the brakes to a prolonged lift to ‘half a lift’ that I hope didn’t slow me at all but I just needed psychologically. The double-apex fourth-gear right at Druids was also an eye-opener, with the tail-happy Ka squirming all the way through.
I built on my qualifying pace, both by remembering Ben’s tips and latching on to faster drivers. And here’s the thing: while there are of course novices, there are plenty of experienced racers out there like Ben, and in the previous race at Snetterton (where our car retired before I got a go), I shared a garage with former BTCC ace Tim Harvey. Le Mans 24 Hours winner Nick Tandy has given it a bash, too.
There’s no wondering about where you stand, because you’re in near-identical machinery; the bloke ahead is going faster because he’s doing it better. Chances to measure your driving ability like this, and to learn so affordably, really are few and far between.
The racing was fair but intense, particularly because it’s so important to maintain momentum. I found myself in some highly exciting situations, including two bits of midbend contact and heading into that fast fourth-gear first corner three abreast – where I was second best at not chickening out. It was non-stop and, to be honest, for 80 minutes on a fairly hot day, pretty exhausting.
When I was called in, we were running in a respectable 11th position, but I’d also missed a oneminute stop-go penalty, forcing Ben to take it; I felt dreadful. He then got his own minute-long penalty for exceeding track limits (the Ka’s playfulness and Oulton’s speed make this such an easy infringement) and so our genuine challenge for a podium began to unravel.
We ended the race 13th, but I cared very little, because it was one of the most enjoyable days of driving I’ve ever experienced. I’ll be back out at Brands Hatch later this month.
L
Max Adams recommended a 30kwh Nissan Leaf as an affordable EV for a 90-mile, mostly motorway commute (Readers’ questions, 29 July). I own a 2011 Leaf with a 24kwh battery; it now has approximately 80% of its original capacity, and I reckon on 30 miles of range in winter and 40 the rest of the year, or less at proper motorway speed. I’m therefore very sceptical about this recommendation. I asked on the Speak EV online forum whether Leaf 30kwh owners would agree, and the responses backed up my thoughts, with people thinking at least the 40kwh battery is needed.
My wife and I have been MercedesBenz drivers for more than 35 years. We’ve just replaced our 66-plate B-class and S-class, both fitted with Comand infotainment systems, for a new B-class and GLE, both with MBUX. The cars are fantastic, all bar this new system.
Gone is the central twist dial of Comand, replaced by a scratchpad that was fine when demonstrated in the showroom but is worse than useless in real life. Every time you reach for the cupholder or to operate centre console switches, the radio station or on-screen menu changes.
Then, to increase or decrease the scale of the map for the sat-nav, you need to place two fingers on the pad and open or close them, as you would with your smartphone. This is nigh on impossible with your left hand when travelling at any speed over less than perfect roads while driving and looking at the screen to see what has been achieved – which in my case is usually that the map orientation has changed from ‘north up’ to ‘uppish’, with no way of setting a preset scale.
MBUX is a real step back, because Comand was so easy to use. I feel it must have been designed in a classroom by tech geniuses to go into left-hand-drive cars that never move.