Early Renewal Prize Winner

A Trip to Bedford Autodrome (Palmer Sport)

It started one Saturday in February, when the Post Office put a card through the door advising me that a parcel needed to be collected from the Post Office in Yeovil. This caused me some confusion, as I hadn’t ordered anything, and therefore wasn’t expecting a parcel. However, I went along and collected a brown jiffy bag marked for my attention.

Upon opening said package I found a letter from George Copeland-National Treasurer of the British Motorsport Marshals Club advising me that I had won the Star Prize in the BMMC Marshal’s draw for those members who had renewed their membership before the end of January, together with a copy of the brochure for Palmer Sport, based at the Bedford Autodrome.

It gave me the opportunity to drive the following:

1). Formula Jaguar single seater-based on a Palmer Audi chassis with a 250bhp; 3.0 litre V6; 6-speed paddle shit gear change.

2). Palmer Jaguar JP1 -open top sports car 250bhp; 3.0 litre V6 engine; 6 speed paddle shift gear change.

3). Jaguar XKR - 420bhp; 4.2 litre V8 engine; 6 speed paddle shift gear change

4). Renault Clio Cup Racer – 205bhp; 2.0 litre 4 cylinder engine; 6 speed paddle shift gear change

5). Caterham Superlight – 286bhp/tonne (weight 490kgs); 4 cylinder engine; 6 speed gearbox.

6). Porsche 911 – 320bhp, 3.6 litre flat 6 engine and 5 speed paddle shift

7). Land Rover Defender- A well known all terrain vehicle.

And after all this I had to write an article for the BMMC Magazine.

So, in the immortal words of Frankie Howard in Up Pompei (for those old enough to remember it), “it came to pass” that I arranged for this experience to take place on 3rd July 2009, and this is what happened:

I arrived as instructed to 07.45 and signed in, then went for obligatory full English breakfast, followed by an introduction by one of the instructors and a video given by Martin Brundle of what was in store for the rest of the day. The 59 participants were then informed that we would be split into 3 teams, Schumacher, Senna and Piquet, I was in the Schumacher Team, the object of which was to create a team spirit and develop competition between the teams with a prize giving at the end of the day. We were to be given points on our performance based on lap times, the fastest over a 15 minute session, and the total would go towards a team score with the highest score being the winner. We were then told what cars we would be starting on and the Schumacher Team started with Go-Karts, open top sports cars and the single seaters.

We were then taken in a mini-bus out to the track where we where to drive our vehicles. We first started with the karts and did 15 minutes on these, my fastest time being 33.96 seconds; the fastest time was 29.07 seconds so I ended up 43rd. We next moved onto the open top sports car (Palmer Jaguar JP1) with an instructor strapped in alongside directing us when to brake, put power on, turn in, and generally get us used to the power and handling of the car. My fastest time in the 15 minute session was 91.57 seconds, fastest was 80.11, I therefore ended up 40th.

So up to now not looking too good, and I had to drive the single seater next, so it didn’t bode to well, and yes you’ve guessed, it didn’t go well. I was strapped in and we were shown how to pull away from the pit, rev to 3500, let out the clutch and pull away, and from then only use the paddle shift. OK, so away I went, following the pace car, and on the second lap behind the pace car whilst speeding up the driver in front spun and to avoid collecting him I spun in sympathy. It should be noted that the brake pedal is extremely hard and lot of effort is needed to stop the car. However, off I went again and managed 4 laps before I spun again, going too fast into a corner. At this stage I was black flagged (we had been told if we spun twice we would be called in and any time recorded would as disallowed). So in I went and by the time I was ready to go out again the chequered flag had been shown and the session finished. No times were issued for this so I am unable to assess how fast I would have been prior to my second spin.

We were then taken to the Caterham Pursuit which was an autotest type of event where we competed head to head, in pair, against the clock, in three timed laps, and yes you’ve guessed, I spun it again on my first lap. My fastest time ended up at 40.13 seconds which put me down in 40th place, the fastest time being 33.16 seconds. I then went over to drive the Land Rover Defender over an all terrain test which involved hitting 40 suspended tennis balls with the appropriate door mirror, or a target located in the middle of the windscreen which gave us the opportunity to collect 30 additional points (1 per ball) of which I missed 3 with a timed section to resolve any ties and which I completed in 40.71 seconds, I ended up 52nd, not very good really, but having not completed any such tests before, I suppose I couldn’t complain.

Then it was to lunch to compare notes on how the morning had gone, and I was surprised to find that I was not the slowest, which made me feel a bit better, so after lunch we went over to the Porsche 911 and Renault Clio Cup cars. The Porsche was much easier to drive than I had imagined and although we were pushed to go quickly I was able to control it reasonably well and for once didn’t spin. I suppose you could argue that as I didn’t I wasn’t pushing hard enough, but as I had always been told they were tail happy, so I kept this in my mind and succeeded in keeping it in a straight line, and I began to feel as if I was starting to get used to the lines required, the braking points and the general techniques for faster driving. My fastest time in this 15 minute session was 59.25 seconds, fastest was 57.48, which put me in 24thth place on the time sheets, but  I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed driving the Clio. place for this drive. Then it was over to the Clio Cup car which required a different driving style to the other cars I had driven; because it was front wheel drive I was instructed to brake in a straight line, change gear and then power through the corner. Having been on post when these chaps are racing I can now understand what fun they are to drive, and even though I only managed a time of 60.08 seconds, ending up in 46

Next car on the list was the Jaguar XKR, which apparently has traction control, but even so seemed very difficult to drive as it was heavy on the steering and needed a lot of effort to drive quickly through the corners, but having paddle shift must have helped as I managed a time of 74.54 seconds, which was my best result, ending up in 9th place, the fastest time being 72.56 seconds.

Next it was on to the final drive of the day, the Caterham Sprint, using the Caterham Superlight. With all my “experience” from the day, this turned out to be the most enjoyable drive of all. The car was so easy to drive, and you could slide it all over the place, which most of us were doing. I was complemented by my instructor for my lines through the corner, and he requested that I didn’t start racing as he felt that with practice I could be competitive. I managed the whole session without spinning, setting a fastest time of 52.36, leaving me in 48th place, the fastest time being 48.35 seconds, but I didn’t spin it.

It is worth mentioning that the Formula Jaguar single seater, the Palmer Jaguar open top sports car, Porsche 911, Renault Clio and Jaguar XKR all had paddle shift gear change, which I found surprisingly easy to get used too. There was no need to use the clutch to change gear, it was just a matter of pulling either the right paddle shift to move up a gear, or pull the left paddle shift to change down a gear. You couldn’t change up or down unless you were in the right rev range as the computer system would allow you to do so. Obviously the Caterham and the Land Rover had the normal H-box system where it was necessary to change gear using the clutch, but somehow it all worked well and I didn’t get any gear changes wrong.

After all this it was back for the presentation of awards, the final team scores being, Senna 277.75; Schumacher 255.80 and Piquet 190.42.

I must admit this was a wonderful experience and would encourage anyone lucky enough to win such a prize to make the most of it. I have learnt that I am not cut out to be a racing driver, but I can now understand the excitement, and thrill of driving fast and the exhilaration you experience when you drive quickly in a safe environment, and get it right, just like making the perfect golf shot and the ball goes straight and in the direction you intended.

Finally I must thank Dr. Jonathon Palmer for offering this prize to the BMMC, and Andy Wallace for pulling my name out of the hat, and giving me the chance of such a marvellous experience, which I will remember for many years to come.

Ian Harrison (also known as Harry, Cockerel, MFI GIT, and many other such names).

Flag Marshal.