Well folks you won't be disappointed!!
It really was a fab day. There were lots of people there - huge in comparison to the AMG days I've attended. Not a problem though, as the 90 minute session I attended had 37 participants and 33 cars!!
There's a 'bus stop' style sign for each model of car along the pit lane. Jump straight in if there's a car waiting, or queue for the next one to return. Some people queued for specific cars - why I don't know - I just jumped into a car without a queue, which meant I was probably driving for more than eighty of the ninety minutes!!
The Vectra VXR (280PS) seemed to attract queues most, believe it or not. It did feel incredibley quick though. Meriva was predictably least popular, followed by the Zafira. Next the Corsa, then the Astra and VXR8, with the Vectra most popular.
That wasn't my preference though - I would find it difficult to pick between the VXR8 and the Corsa. The Vectra was very close behind though, and was probably the best real world proposition - for me at least. Very refined, and very strong throughout the rev range - which is what you might expect from a turbocharged 2.8 V6!!
The Corsa was fantastic fun - make no mistake it's a quick car - easily capable of keeping up and even passing anything else on the track. I lost count of the number of VXR8s I passed in the Corsa - if you carry the speed through the corners you can make good progress.
The VXR8 didn't feel as quick as I'd hoped - less noise than I imagined - but it was quick. It was the only car that I managed to pass multiple cars between bends with - it was still accelerating as the others were starting to run out of puff which made all the difference.
I had a go with Tom Chilton at the helm of a Vectra. To make it more fun he was very agressive and lairy in style which almost certainly slowed him right down. The ease with which he passed everything else was staggering though - especially impressive when passing other traffic. He was giving it muchos-beanos and remember there were 33 novices on the track throughout!!
A further 90 minute session doing autocross and handbrake parallel parking is great fun too - Paul Swift being the tutor (Russ Swift's lad). Great fun to do and pretty good to watch.
I drive like a daisy and Senior Dazzler makes me look like boy racer - he is incredibley slow. But blimey, he wowed the crowds in the parallel park. I would go so far as to say he was inch perfect in two of his three parks. On the third he pirouted (spelling?) the parked (inflatable) car through exactly 270 degrees!! I have no idea if he knew he could do it, or whether he's just a natural - but I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Shame it was me lined up in the other car - nothing like a bit of pressure is there!!?? Sadly I was useless in comparison!!
Tom Walkinshaw had a demo VXR8 with the supercharger conversion taking it up to 540PS, all for £7k inclusive. Very tempting.
Going on an AMG track day at Brooklands next Sunday though so best not get the cheque book out just yet!!
