Was absoferkinbloominlutely incredible!
For anyone that didn't know, a prat marshal at PVS in June directed me away from the roadway and straight into a ditch which ripped the front splitter from my Vec and left it in 3 pieces The same company provide marshals for lots of events so as compensation they offered me a free session in an Exige. Anyway...
The Exige is, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable car I have ever sat in, and likewise, the most difficult thing I have ever had to get into and out of (oo-er! )
But all of that just became irrelevant when I turned the engine over. I have no idea what engine is in these cars, but Lotus clearly haven't bothered with unneccessary trivia like silencers and it sounds the steering wheel is really small and it has a very short gearstick, it only moves a couple of inches from top to bottom of the gate.
I had an instructor in the passenger seat who was both a help and a hinderance IMO - he gave me plenty of encouragement to push the car much harder than I would have otherwise done around the bends, which, even on a damp track, showed just what phenomenal grip the car had. However, I'm sure he had dual controls in his footwell and was telling me to brake far earlier than I thought was necessary at the end of the straights
Clearly, driving on a track is totally different to driving on the road, but I was suprised when I was told to hold the wheel at the ‘quarter to nine’ position, hook my thumbs in the spokes and not to move them under any circumstances!
Sadly, it was only 15 minutes, which was over all too soon The instructor asked if I’d done it before, I said no and he told me that I’d done well I’m sure he says that to everyone but it made me feel good!
I felt like I’d given a good account of myself, which I was surprised about in a way, because the only remotely similar thing I can compare it to is karting, which leaves me at the back of the pack and lapped every time without fail… I only lost the back end once but managed to correct it smoothly and quickly and made it well over 90mph on the fairly short straights
Maybe I can drive after all?...
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