As I felt the Deputy Editor of Fast Car flinching from the passenger seat, I realised that nothing much had changed since Brands Hatch Racing School.
I was at the wheel of the 8-Port Project Mini in the middle of Snake Pass at Chobham test track,when I saw Adam Oliver's foot reaching out for an anchoring point in the footwell; his white
knuckle grip tightened on the seat belt ... and it immediately brought back to me the classic signs of stress that were all too familiar to my instructor at Brands Hatch.
I am one of the few people I know to .have actually failed the initial trial at Brands Hatch's 'Once in a lifetime' experience, for driving too fast (and, they claim, out of control).
It takes a while to get over the shock of something like that, but I did eventually manage to swallow my pride and enrol for some proper Saloon Car lessons. Luckily, I was working for a
motoring magazine at the time,so it didn't cost me anything at first. But when my instructor actually wrote to the editor of the magazine,pleading with him to switch me to another instructor,and
preferably another school, I knew the clock was ticking on my prospective racing career. The trouble was,my method of driving fast didn't fit in with his text book style.lf I missed a bend or two,it
wasn' t the end of the world and I usually got back onto the circuit eventually, so I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Here was an experienced instructor,used to facing a grid of 25 competitors
every weekend without a qualm,yet a couple of laps with me would render him almost completely speechless. Even the most inept race driver will respond to instruction in time though,and I suppose it was
predictable that I would soon learn boring things like braking points,apexes and racing lines,to eventually join the ranks of average drivers, who drive averagely fast around racing circuits. So it was quite a
comfort to reflect that I must have been drifting back into my old habits,because Mr Oliver was definitely turning a whiter shade of pale as we brushed by the kerbing off turn 3 of the snake. The reason for this
apparent recklessness on my part,was that the handling on the 8-Port was so totally forgiving. I had experimented with it earlier, taking it progressively to what I thought was the limit, only to find that there was still
another 20 MPH in reserve. And even when I changed my mind about the line halfway through a corner (an endearing habit of mine, guaranteed to send my instructor into apoplexy), the 8-Port still refused to be
shaken off course.With a minimum of driver input,it would simply nurse me back on line and through the crisis. By the time the Fast Car journalist had joined me,it was becoming more of a battle of wits
betvyeen me and the car.1 was determined to push it into doing something really BAD,but it simply refused to let me. I quite fancied emulating Peter Newton, then Editor of C.C.C., who lost it on Golf Club Bend
some years ago. Simply flew through the undergrowth and ended up on the putting green, ten feet from the pin. I never did manage to lose it that day,which must have been a great relief to Keith Dodd,who
was a reluctant passenger during one of my earlier runs. Come to think of it,Keith did go a bit quiet,but not as quiet as Adam Oliver. He tells his tale next. All 4 pages are reproduced from Fast Car's June 94 issue,
with their very kind permission.
Graham Austin.