Forget your typical supercar driving day. Rory Reid has a taste of what life is like for Formula One racers in a single seater Ford as part of a Virgin Experience Days package at Silverstone.
Unless you were the really annoying kid who had rich parents at school, most of us probably never had a chance to get into racing driving. It is, after all, a bloody expensive hobby even at a karting level – and that’s before things get serious.
But while it may be too late in the game to give Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton something to worry about, you can still get a taste of proper single seater fun at a Virgin Experience Day – the kind that can seperate the men from the wheat from the chaff.
Admittedly, the Ford car (modified specially for Silverstone but essentially based on a Formula Three car) is less powerful than an F1 car but it weighs just 450kg, hits 0-62mph in under the five-second mark and will top out around 120mph.
That’s more than enough to make things challenging, especially when you consider everyone has the same car. That makes nudging the apex and being smooth in and fast out at the Stowe Circuit essential for those who want to emerge victorious.
And yet the Virgin Experience Days activity is actually about fun. One safety briefing and a few pace car laps later and off you go at the speed you fancy. You may get lapped, but it’s about putting a grin on your face because there’s no previous experience required.
As you can see from the video, Top Gear presenter and Recombu Cars editor-in-chief Rory Reid was grinning from ear to ear. As he says at the end of the video, there’s really no excuse for not giving it a go.
Head to the Virgin Experience Days website to book a day in, or maybe treat a loved one with a voucher.
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