A WALK IN THE PARK
Most good stories start in the pub, and this one begins in The Albion in Kingston-upon-thames. I was having a drink with Gary Watkins (98 tracks) and, as is often the case, the track list and the subject of who would be first to 100 cropped up.
I’d identified a hitlist of potential tracks that would take me to the mark, but was struggling to justify a reason to drive all the way to Lincolnshire for a Cadwell Park clubbie, which was when the idea to race there was hatched.
Over the next week or so I’d reached out to the MSA, which sent me the Blue Book, arranged my ARDS at Thruxton, and opened conversations with a couple of friends who own racing cars. Ex-motorsport News deputy editor Robert Ladbrook kindly offered up use of his Ford Puma, but ultimately I decided to take the opportunity to borrow a Toyota MR2 from Will Powell of motorsport marketing and media consultancy Motus.one.
It’s prepared by Hurley Race Engineering and I knew they’d run a good car, which would be one headache fewer for me to contend with.
Through pure serendipity, an invitation arrived from Darren Cox and Millennial Esports to partake in a trackday at Bedford Autodrome. This was both a brilliant and humbling experience. I’d tested racing cars before – including driving a late-1980s Tyrrell at Mallory Park – so felt pretty comfortable on the morning of the day.
After 10 laps in an Ariel Atom my confidence was shot. I can’t remember how many times I spun it, but it was a lot. Suddenly the prospect of actually racing at Cadwell – probably the trickiest and least-forgiving track in the country – seemed daunting. Of course,
I knew that I was going to be at the back – I’d long reconciled my aims to ‘respectability’ – but if I couldn’t even get around the lap without binning it, well, what was the point?
Fortunately, the Clio Cup car we were up in next restored a bit of confidence in so much as I didn’t spin it and, when I turned in a half-decent time in the Jaguar prototype, I could feel the desire starting to return. The final car of the day, the BMW M4, was the nearest in characteristics to the MR2 and just so happened to be the car that I was most competitive in. Perhaps I could drive after all…
Sagely, Powell and Sean Hurley advised/insisted that I test the MR2 before racing it, so a trackday at Snetterton was arranged. Earlier in the day I’d paid a visit to the good people at Fyshe, who kitted me out with a very smart Adidas race suit, gloves and boots, as well as an Arai helmet. I might not be able to pedal for toffee, but I at least looked the part!
After a quick sighting lap to get used to the clutch biting point, the pressure required to stop the car on the non-assisted brakes and the general feel of the thing, we embarked on a series of 20-minute runs. “SUDDENLY, AFTER DRIVING THE ARIEL ATOM, THE PROSPECT OF CADWELL SEEMED DAUNTING”
This is basically a race distance in the MR2 Cup.
There was a wide range of cars at the trackday and strict rules regarding where and when passing could take place. An onboard camera gave Powell a chance to assess my lines, braking points and inability to heel-and-toe.
After a few pointers, I was gradually piecing a lap together when overconfidence got the better of me and I had a high-speed spin at Hamilton. Basically I turned in too hard, too early. I was lucky that
I didn’t hit anything. “You won’t get away with that at Cadwell,”
Powell observed, and that thought remained in my head during the month between test and race.
I dug an old set of gaming racing pedals from out of the shed and spent a couple of evenings heeling-and-toeing as I watched TV. I finally caught up with the latest gen of gaming consoles and downloaded
Project Cars 2 to learn Cadwell (it’s even harder in real life).
The 750 Motor Club had very kindly sponsored my entry into the Roadsports race, and Ryan Insurance had covered the premium for the car in exchange for a couple of well-placed stickers. Fortunately, there was a test day ahead of the race, so the Hurley crew pitched up on Thursday evening and erected the awning, and had the car ready for Friday’s running.
I’m usually a very organised person. You can’t oversee three magazines and a host of websites by winging it. But faced with the lingering nerves and apprehension ahead of the race, my mind went to jelly. I had arrived at the track minus my race gloves, which I’d left 300 miles away at home. There’s a very friendly atmosphere in the 750MC paddock and a spare pair was sourced before I took to the track. I gingerly worked my way up to speed, but was happy to end the day having improved to a 1m51.1s.
After the longest dry spell to hit the UK since the Triassic Period, the mother of all storms arrived that evening. Hailstones the size of walnuts and hurricane-strength winds gave the paddock a battering. Fortunately our awning had withstood the elements and the team had already softened the car up in anticipation of a wet qualifying and/or race. Great!
The green track meant everyone was struggling to match their times from testing, so I was (very) pleasantly surprised to learn that my 1m53s was good enough for me to be 25th of the 29 starters.
Such was the adrenalin coursing through me that I could barely hold my arms on the wheel as I sat in the assembly area waiting to form the grid. I’d been warned that the gap between the five-minute board and 30-second one would be negligible and so it proved – we were off for the formation lap in a blink.
I’d barely lined up in my grid slot and was still looking for the lights when the car in front of me set off! Luckily, I’d been at more or less ideal revs, so I dropped the clutch and set off, passing two cars off the line.
A bit of overcaution through the second corner cost me, but then I settled into a decent rhythm and started catching the cars in front. Another MR2 and a Caterham were having a nice little dice and I was homing in! A sound bit of coaching from Powell meant I had a good line into the Gooseneck, and my heel-and-toe practice meant I was pretty handy on the brakes into Mansfield.
And what’s more I was enjoying it. The fears that the Atom spins and that off at Hamilton had put into the back of my mind were gone and I was racing. And then the leaders came through…
The MR2 is a good Class C car in Roadsports, but in my hands it’s 15-20s per lap slower than the quickest Class A cars around Cadwell, so it didn’t take long for them to lap me, and when they did it really hurt. Not wanting to spoil their race, I was too eager to jump out of their way and I honestly think the yellow novice cross gave a couple of them the incentive to pull off moves they otherwise wouldn’t have. The divebomb at the hairpin I received gave me the option of basically running off track or hitting them. The six seconds I lost ended the nice little battle I’d been having.
The race was 45 minutes with a mandatory one-minute stop. The team planned to call me in when the pits were clear and this played out as intended. I had a quiet second half of the race. My lack of race and physical fitness meant I was tiring, and I can’t recall when I had to concentrate for that long uninterrupted (the curse of the smartphone).
All of which meant that the rain that started splattering on the screen was a most unwelcome distraction. The team told me beforehand that just because there was rain on the window didn’t mean there wasn’t grip on the track, and they were right! But as I went under the trees through the Hall Bends, they must have dumped all their retained water onto the track and I had a massive moment that I only just held on to.
A quick look down at the timer in the car and it was on 44m30s, meaning this was probably the penultimate lap. A glance in the mirrors showed there was no-one close and I decided to back off and stroke it home. Back on the pitwall nerves were rising. There were waved yellows and I hadn’t come by at my usual pace. Surely I hadn’t binned it on the last lap… Nah, I was just knackered, on the verge of being sick and delighted to have pulled it off, and in P20 too.
I celebrated in style that night and the next morning I was a bag of aches and pains. But what an experience! I can’t believe I left it so long and I sincerely hope this is not just a one-off, although the twin perils of being both time and cash-poor mean that I think it’ll be a while before I lose that novice cross.
Finally, I owe huge thanks to all the people who helped make this possible. In no particular order: MSA, 750MC, Thruxton, Motus.one, Hurley Race Engineering, Fyshe, Ryan Insurance, Motorsport Network, and to Steve Jones for the pics. Check out the Autosport Youtube channel for a video summary of my racing experience.