thirtysomething...

Heather got me a ride & drive kinda thing at Brands Hatch for Christmas, and today I finally got to use it! The weather forecast for today was brutal. High winds, extremely heavy rain. Luckily none of that happened until we were on the way back home.

Brands Hatch is a very cool track. Lots of elevation changes with a few blind turns. The at the end of Brabham Straight the track has a dip right at the turn-in point for Paddock Hill Bend, which is just that. A somewhat blind hill into a right hander. It upset the Megane just a bit, but it really made the Formula 3 twitchy. Everything else is nice and fast. :) The single seater has only 4 gears and is rev-limited to 4000rpm. Which kept me down to below 90 mph for most of the track except the straights where I was bouncing off the limiter all the way down (~95mph). I could have gone faster in the Renault, (6 gears & no imposed limiter) but the instructors said No. Only use 4 gears to "prepare" us for the single seaters.

I was a bit nervous about driving the single seater. Never done that before. Once I got the car off pit lane (after 3 near stalls :noes: ) and past the first turn, it was such a natural feeling driving like that. Essentially you're laying down with your head sticking up. F***ing Brilliant. I felt more at home on the track in the Formula 3 that has no power steering, ABS, a suspension that barely moves, etc. than I did in the somewhat brand new, road legal Renault.

The Jag in one shot was driven by a track employee, giving "Hot Laps" for £35 to people wanting just to ride on the track. Only got passed by him once during each session. I passed at least 3 cars in each session, and lapped 2 cars in the Forumla 3 session. Go Me.

I'd SO give up autocross to do club racing in a formula. Brilliant. Just Brilliant.

Oh, BTW, I had the 2nd fastest lap of the day, and came in 1st out of my group of 25. :yea:


Clicking the photos will show a larger version. Special thanks to Chris Brier for shooting the pics!!!

Brands Hatch




The Track Layout


My Renault Megane Sport




Waiting in line on the pit lane




Coming out of Graham Hill Bend into Cooper Straight, about to pass on the straight.




Leaving Surtees going into McLaren then on to pass #7 on the entering Brabham Straight




My Formula 3. I happened to be #3 in both cars. :)




Me stalling the car.




Graham Hill Bend




Cooper Straight




Cooper Straight




More Cooper Straight




And again...




Entering Surtees getting held up by lap traffic. (Just got passed by the track's Jag)




Aaaand I'm done. It's much easier getting into the car than out of it.