Adventure group are first past the post

Adventure Group’s latest trip took them to the Apex Racing Centre near Cullompton. We were told we could have access to eighty-five different cars on over a hundred different tracks and full instruction and support to use the state-of-the-art racing simulators.

Eight of us were ushered into a darkened room where there were four car seats with steering wheels and pedals, each surrounded on three sides by large computer screens. We were given an introductory talk and then it was time to choose our cars and circuits for the first race. We took the advice of our instructor and went for an entry level car – the Honda Civic – and a shortened version of the Silverstone track. The first four people took to the chairs and soon they were heading out on track. I was a spectator this time but it was still exciting to watch the overtaking and the crashes.

Soon it was my turn and I climbed into the seat, donned a headset so that I could communicate with the other three racers and the instructor but not be distracted by the rest of the room, and gripped the steering wheel. There were only two pedals to use – the accelerator and the brake – so I pressed the accelerator and steered on to the track. The screens around me showed the track and its surroundings as well as information about my lap times and I had a rear-view mirror so that I could see other cars coming up behind me. The track had a path of green arrows on it which showed the racing line and at the corners the arrows went red which gave me a hint that I should be slowing down. I didn’t always take enough notice of that and soon I was spinning round and crashing into the barriers. Fortunately, I was unhurt and any damage to my car miraculously repaired itself and the green arrows were very helpful in reminding which direction I should be facing as I headed back into the race. I sped off and could see one of the other cars up ahead of me. The label said it was Michael. I chased him down but he was determined not to let me overtake and eventually he got away from me when I crashed again.

At the end of a thrilling race, we were told that we had been driving at speeds in excess of a hundred miles an hour! Dave had done the fastest lap in one heat and Barry in the other.

Some of us felt a little bit queasy after our first race and even with the side screens turned off, one of our group decided to opt out of the second race. The rest of us had another exciting time on track, this time racing a Nissan car around the Brands Hatch circuit, with Barry taking the honours.

Once we had returned home, we were each of us sent our individual telemetry. The email told us that professional drivers can spend as much time looking at their race data as they do driving, as this is the key to continuous improvement. To be honest it was a lot of complicated graphs and didn’t really mean a lot to me. We were also sent the overall results of our championship. Congratulations go to Dave and Barry who took joint first place with sixty-three points each.

I really enjoyed this adventure but I don’t think I will be challenging Lewis Hamilton for his Grand Prix car anytime soon!

Deborah

Adapted from blog post at Episode Ninety One – Motor Racing – What Deb Did Next