A Quick Drive in the Country

I was given a supercar driving experience by my son and daughter for my 60th birthdaylast year. I finally got round to booking it at Oulton Park in Cheshire this month! I had the choice of numerous Ferraris including an F430, a

Californian and a 458 Italia, Lamborghini’s included a Gallardo, a Murcielago or a Hurracan. The British contingents were an Ariel Atom, a Jaguar F Type and a McLaren. My brother Andy decided to come with me for the day out and

I managed to get him a drive in a V10 Audi R8. Whilst driving down I had a phone call to tell me that the McLaren was broken so I had to go with my second choice, the Ferrari 458 Italia. This proved not to be an ideal choice, if ever I win the lottery please

remind me that 6’2” blokes don’t fit very well (especially when wearing a crash helmet) into a Ferrari.

Before we got to drive the cars we had a safety briefing and were driven round the short circuit in a minibus, this was worth the trip in itself as I never knew a Diesel Vivaro could go so fast! Then on to our chosen cars, when I eventually got squeezed in with my head wedged into the headliner off we went for our four laps. Brilliant noise from behind and an amazing paddle shift gearchange the six mikes that you get (four laps) fly by.

One slightly embarrassing moment was when a Fiat 500 Abarth (I hasten to add it was driven by a pukka racing instructor) came flying past me and went on to pass Andy in his Lamborghini engine Audi as well. All in all though a brilliant experience driving something worth £200,000, obviously they don’t let you loose on the long circuit because they don’t want you going too fast on the long straights. We had a great laugh and Andy was quite taken with the headgear we were given to wear under our helmets.