Ingmanthorpe

This morning started off early as we were off to a race track! The alarm went off before the sun started to rise (which isn't saying much since it rises at about 8am currently.) We got our stuff ready and hopped in the frosty car and warmed it up.

It was a short drive to the track, which is fortunate because it wasn't too obvious where it was. Eventually we got there though and signed in, ready to do some laps!

Trouble was that it was -3°C and the track was frozen with patches of black ice... Eventually they started driving the cars around the track in an effort to warm the track up a bit. It must have worked well enough because after an hour and half they finally started putting civilians on the track.

After a bit more waiting Phill found himself sitting in the driver's seat of an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. While it took a minute to get used to its gearbox, eventually he was on the track and putting the petal to the metal (as much as he could when it was still sub zero and icy.) The track was good, about a mile long with some interesting turns! As quickly as it started, it was all over and back to waiting for the next car! (I only stalled it a couple times -- oops)

Next up was the one he was most excited for: the Lamborghini Gallardo! A 560 HP 5.2-liter V10 BEAST. I've never felt anything quite like putting the pedal down on that car. Three laps went by in the blink of an eye. The saddest part was getting stuck behind a slower driver... Putting the foot down in those straights though... Wow.

The third and final car that I took out for a test drive was the Caterham 7, a super lightweight sports car typically sold as a kit. While only a drop in the bucket in terms of power compared to the other two cars, the half-ton Caterham was great to drive. Since you were so close to the road the apparent speed you felt was still really quick! It was missing creature comforts like power steering... Or a proper seat... But who needs those anyway! The laps were great, it was probably the most fun of the three cars to drive just because of how raw the car felt, and the feedback it gave as you drove.

Last up for the day was a hot lap in a BMW for the both of us with a racing driver. I didn't realise i could get away with corners like that in those conditions! The guy was able to rip through the track while casually discussing his driving methods as well as all of the places he's raced in (his personal favourite being Bathurst!)

As we were walking back to the car the sun finally came out and started defrosting the track.

All in all it was a fantastic time out, thank you very much to Dad, Michelle, Tom, Steph, Jenny, Nan, and Pop for the birthday present!!

There was no way to top that, so after we defrosted in the car we went to a local town and walked around to get our step count back up, before heading back to the hotel and watching another movie.

The night ended with us getting dinner via the app we used to get cheap food about to be thrown out... This time was a huge haul!

Step count: 11.3k

PS. The greggs haul was actually only 5aud, not 10! Insane

PPS. We got a professional photographer pack for the cars, still waiting for them to come in the emailRead more