Bedford Part One

Hugh and I spent today at Bedford Autodrome driving an exotic mix of fast cars. We traveled down last night to make sure we could be at the circuit for the 8am start, and arrived at the circuit in the pouring rain. Apparently, the south east has been getting it's wettest May for years, even though there is officially a drought.

After the obligatory safety briefing, delivered with some good humor by Martin Brundle, we headed out for the first event. So if it's pissing down, what would be the worst car to start in? Yep, the FPA single seater. It was OK for me, but for most other people it was a bit of a leap of faith - No babysitter/instructor to help, no grip, cold tyres/brakes, and for most, not knowing where the track went. Still, we gave it a go and all did pretty well. There were a couple of off-track excursions, but no damage and everyone enjoyed it. Then it was onto the off road course which I'm usually pretty bad at - no change today. Then back to the still damp West Circuit for the Jaguar JP1s. We were still on wet tyres, and after 3 or 4 laps you could feel the tyres squirming around as they overheated - Luckily, we were the last to use them before lunch and Nicky, my instructor, thanked me for killing his wet tyres - I raced against Nicky in my half season in FPA 2003, so it was nice to be out with someone who just sat back and let me get on with it. The kart circuit has been lengthened this year , but with all the rain, there were 2 big puddles on the track, so it wasn't a timed event, and most decided to give it a miss. However, whilst some of my team were out in the JP1s, I gave it a go and got totally drenched - Still good fun but you could see why they cut it from the day.

After lunch we headed off to the North Circuit for the Clios and the Nissan 350zs. I'm always amazed just how well the 350z, in standard road car trim, copes with the demands of circuit work. And the Clios, 900kg, 185bhp and a sequential gear box makes for a really quick little car - within half a second of the much more powerful 350z.

New for this year is the Porsche 996 Carrera 2 - Well that's what they started out as - Palmersport have done some major work on the suspension which has made it more akin to a GT3 (so I'm told). On the challenging South Circuit, I was expecting a car that wouldn't turn in, quickly followed by snap oversteer - I couldn;t have been more wrong - The car was really neutral and very quick - Yes, demanding to drive, but not out to throw you off at every opportunity. My favorite event of the day!

Then it was off to the twisty East Circuit for the Caterham Superlight. 10 Laps in one of these really gives you a work out as I doubt all four wheels were pointing in the same direction for more than a few seconds. Great!

Hugh and I both had a great day and we're both looking forward to our visit on Aug 3rd with 20 of us heading down for a day of automotive excess :-)