Being a racing driver — almost

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It's taken me a while to post about it, but Thursday 23rd October saw my first step into the world of competitive racing. Well, a potential first step. It was my first round date for the Michelin Renault “Be A Racing Driver’ competition.

On arrival at Elvington, I got my first bing of the season from the Mini as it announced the temperature had dropped to 3°C. Things didn't really get much better weather-wise, as rain clouds came scooting across the plains and drenched the airfield, leaving standing water everywhere. Despite this, the day was great. My instructor was none less than last year's winner, Martin Brackenbury, and he loved the wet. Good job, really.

The qualification was split into 4 sessions on the cone-marked track. First were 2 laps with the instructor to learn the circuit layout. Next, it was his turn to take the students out for a few flying laps, showing the lines and the sort of pace you can hold. The last two sessions were yours to show what you're capable of. Or at least, how you're capable of improving. Speed wasn't to be the final arbiter.

The first two sessions were over before I knew it and then it was time to do it for real. Things went reasonably well in the third session, although I was trying too hard to be steady and was told I needed to carry more speed into the entry of the corners. With this in mind, I set about my final session in completely the wrong way. Actually, no, I started it reasonably well. Everything was going fairly smoothly, except for one chicane I couldn't get right. On one of the corners, I was told I was getting it “perfect” lap after lap. And then I got carried away.

Remembering the advice to carry more speed into corners, I started braking later. I should've just braked less, not later. Instead, I was now arriving at the turn-in points still thinking about slowing the car down. Rather than calmly looking to the apex and exit of the corner, I was looking at the turn-in marker and trying to scrub off speed. I would then lurch the car in before having to ease off a bit of lock when I looked toward the apex and realised I'd turned too much and was heading for a very wide exit. What a cock-up. The more I did this, the more rattled I got. Before I had time to calm myself down again, the session was over. Given that you're meant to improve over the course of the day, not get worse, this was not the best impression I could have left.

All I can hope now is that they still want my money enough to put me through to round 2. If I have screwed it up, well, let it be a lesson to me. I should find out their verdict in the coming week. Fingers crossed.

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