Michelin Renault Scholarship: there’s always next year
Sorry, but it looks like I blew it in Round 3 today. Yeah, I’m gutted. No, I don’t actually know the result. But yes, I did balls it up somewhat. And, frustratingly, it was the driving rather than the fitness that let me down. I guess I should just accept I’m not good enough. Hard to bear. :/
Anyway, here’s a run-down of the day. The driving came first today, with the fitness test following after a lunch break. The first of three sessions on the airfield was an unassisted (by tutor) run around the circuit we were already familiar with. This time, however, the marker cones for braking points and turn-in points had been removed. It took me a few laps to sort out my lines, but I improved enough for there still to be a glimmer of hope.
After the second run, the glimmer had turned into a blinding light. I rocked in the second session. This time, we ran the track backwards, with a detour for an extra chicane and hairpin. Again, we were to get no advice from the tutor alongside us, unless it became clear we’d not picked up the line correctly. To my delight, my tutor didn’t need to say a word and was really quite impressed, telling me “Do that in the next round and you’ll do well.”
Shame I couldn’t reproduce it, then. :( The third and final session was a mock qualifying session, with just 2 flying, timed laps. Although I did my old trick of trying too hard, I was also put off by the car handling quite differently to the one I’d had in session two. Whereas I’d been able to chuck the previous car about happily, this one seemed intent on wagging its tail a bit more and never really settling down. Consequently, it felt like I was fighting for control under braking and didn’t dare put the power on again until things had calmed down. As a result, I slowed much more than I should have done and lost a lot of time. In fact, I got some of the worst times seen on the day, with my best lap being a full 4 seconds slower than the day’s best. That, frankly, is appalling.
And so, in a rather downbeat mood, I got ready for the fitness test: as many press-ups as you can in 2 minutes; sit-ups in a bleep-test style; and the standard jogging bleep-test. Some of the guys were awesome in the first two tests. Two or three were marginally worse than me. Pretty much as expected, then... until the proper bleep test.
The sixteen of us were split into 2 groups of eight. My group got second bash after keeping score for the first lot. My partner, who looked far fitter than me, had managed 4 lengths on level 10, so at least I had a target for motivation. Level 6 came fairly quickly and relatively painlessly. At reaching level 9, it started getting tough. At level 10, I really had to start breathing better. And then level 11 arrived. And level 12. Incredibly, of the eight in my group, I was now one of the last two going. Eventually, we both gave in as the bleep for Round 13 sounded. How mad is that? Mal Ross: supreme athelete! ;) If my addled brain recalls correctly, we even got applause and someone asked me: “So, are you a runner, then?” ROTFLMAO, as they say on that interweb thingy. If only they knew the truth — they’d be so ashamed. :) Mind you, 10 or 15 minutes later, instead of driving the Mini home, I was driving the porcelain bus. Mmmm... nice.
Ah well, even if I haven’t got through — and believe me, I haven’t — I’m still pleased I had a go. With any luck, this time next year I’ll be writing about how I’ve made it to the final stages. In the meantime, it’s back to the track practice. Croft beckons... :)