On a very windy and changeable day four of us gathered at the Blyton Park circuit, a recent purchase by Ginetta cars.
In case you haven’t heard of Ginetta cars they are a road and race car manufacturer based on the outskirts of Leeds in Garforth. Ginetta have a racing background and pedigree, selling cars and competing in motorsport worldwide and have their own excellent race series’.
The day was broken up in to 3 x 20 minute sessions in the Ginetta G40 on the open and wind swept circuit. We started with a driver brief before heading out on track with one of Ginetta’s drivers, to get a feel for the circuit and the car. This proved very useful as they may as well have briefed me on the Nurburgring for what I remembered once I got on track.
The emphasis was on learning the track with gradual progression, building speed throughout the day. Soon our instructor was giving us guidance on braking, throttle control and steering inputs as we started to explore the limits of the G40, although I wouldn’t say troubling them, especially not with the £7K excess looming overhead.
By the end of the day we had all improved our speed around the track considerably and had a brilliant time with it. I went to sleep that night mulling over where I had lost time and how I would approach the various corners differently next time they let me loose on the track.
A few days later and behind the wheel of a customers Ghost, I started to see where racing and driving for speed actually also relate directly to driving for comfort and the security chauffeur role.
Although there are many ways to drive, slow, fast, progressive, there is a common thread throughout. The more we pushed on the track and explored the limits of car, the more important the basics became, smoothness and accuracy of steering input, balancing and smoothness of the throttle.
It is the same now, driving with an emphasis on comfort, the smooth use and application of throttle, steering and brakes delivering a much better ride. While the lines we take on the road vary to that of the track confident and accurate vehicle placement is very important.
There have been many benefits from our day at the track which will now be incorporated in to our driver training program. A big thanks to the Ginetta team for providing a safe and fun environment in which we could further hone our driving skills.
