To say I was over-the-moon to get out in the car again might be an understatement. After a ruptured Achilles tendon (me) and a blown head gasket (the car) I couldn’t have been happier to see the sun shining over Snetterton race circuit.
Oh my jolly goodness what a marvellous day! It was great to see so many friends there. When I think back to this time last year, I was preparing for my first sprint, totally nervous with no clue as to what I should expect, I didn’t even know one other Lotus driver, and now, now I feel like part of a really welcoming and supportive community. It’s absolutely ace!
I spent quite a lot of time hanging around in the ES Motorsport garage. Yes they had race cars in there, they also had a tea machine. I love a cup of tea.
It was sunny, but cold. I’m not very good at dressing myself appropriately at an early hour, and Adam has to sort himself out, so I, for some reason, turned up wearing leggings, two dresses, a jumper and a scarf! Then I embarrassed myself slightly by exclaiming ‘I’ve got oil on my cashmere!’ whilst squatting in the corner with my camera.
When the hail started to fall I was worried it would act like icy marbles and decided to err on the side of caution (- you’ve seen Home Alone!) A bit later a fluff of snow passed over. I did some pointing.
At lunchtime a famous person was supposed to turn up and drive their Maclaren F1 round while we had our sandwiches. That didn’t happen. I had chicken and ham pie. We sat with Xavier, King of Sprinting and some other non-royals. The nice dinner lady picked the carrots out of the mixed vegetables for me so I didn’t have to have peas. I don’t like peas.
I had a brilliant day, it felt awesome to drive the car, and I think I drove it well, for me! I was pleased that my embarrassing (but not so embarrassing now) disco injury didn’t slow me down. (Apparently the ‘running man’ is actually popular with cool young people at the moment. Sadly I fear that by the time I can actually bust out my best hip hop moves again they’ll have moved on). The physio is working, I’ve got no excuses there!
On the last lap of the day Adam did an epic spin, probably caused by me and my distracting commentary. 90mph to nothing in just a few seconds, and two directions – clockwise, then anti-clockwise. I would have liked to have seen it from outside the car, but I was treated to a front seat view instead.
They day went really quickly, it was an absolute blast and I am so glad to be back out in the car. Lotus on Track days are the best.