A Day at Thruxton Circuit
Today Steve and I went to Thruxton on a ‘work plus hangers on’ trip. Steve, Russ and Terry all drove a Porsche, a Ferrari, and then a single seater racing car, while the rest of us watched. Terry’s sons and I all had a fast lap as passengers in an RX-8 because it was an opportunity we couldn’t miss! It was a great experience, Steve loved it, as did the others too I think! They were scored on their drives, and I won’t go so far as to mention numbers, but suffice to say Terry did the best, and we will be making sure his certificate ends up on the workshop wall somewhere! We had dinner on the way home, too, making it a really nice day out. Many thanks to my sister Esther who looked after most of the children at home (one of them is at a sleepover with a friend), making it possible for me to go and take photos.
The full set of photos is here 
August 31st, 2007 at 6:46
You see this makes sense to me. Fast cars + fast track = fun. Fast car + driving round day-to-day = doh!
So why were you left out? Aren’t you part of the business any more or don’t they trust ladies in their expensive cars.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:54
lol, you know, I don’t think I would have wanted to do it in that situation, particularly (not that I was given the choice!), but no – I don’t work there that much at the moment anyway!
One of the things we commented on actually was how much the spectators were included in the day – we went to the briefing, could pretty much follow the drivers through the pit lane as they changed between cars and talked to them on the way, so as a spectator you didn’t feel left out at all.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:58
Really? I thought your competitive streak would have had you salivating at the chance to whip their arses. Or was it like bowling?
August 31st, 2007 at 7:09
Not *quite* the same as bowling, as actually I love driving fast and in some ways would have liked to have a go but I know it would take me ages to be able to do it at all, even they all said that three/five laps in a car wasn’t enough. And this is driving we’re talking about, which although I enjoy and am ok at, I’d never beat Steve at something like that! There was too much to concentrate on with lines, corners etc, not to mention other traffic on the track – it looked like hard work as well – so I’ll stick to thrashing the Alpina down the motorway for a couple of seconds instead. When it’s mended, of course.
August 31st, 2007 at 20:41
Marcus used to work for someone who had a 911T Carerra. Silverstone do Open Days where you can take your own car around the track, but of course your insurance isn’t valid when you do that. He’d been a number of times and got a bit overconfident on one occasion and overcooked it (Marcus’ expression!) and the back end got away from him, he got into a spin, easily done in a 911 as it is rear wheel drive. Anyway wrote the car off. He said afterwards it was the most expensive day out he’d ever had!