UK's Fastest Blogger

I was invited to take part in the UK’s Fastest Blogger Competition through Buy a Gift. My husband was also lucky enough to get invited (http://thecaravanplace.blogspot.co.uk/) so we got to spend a day together too, bonus!  I was really looking forward to the day and keen to do well. As you may know I love my cars and I love speed and adrenaline!

 We arrived at 8:30am for our Silverstone Driving Day to get signed on ready, the cars were all there waiting to go, so quiet and still, later in the day they would be whining with exhaustion! The briefing explained that we were taking part in the Caterham 7 Drift Experience. We had a demonstration by the instructors round a simple course which consisted of a large sweeping corner and a doughnut round a cone. I was so excited, I have always wanted to drift properly having seen them do it on Fast and Furious.

The caterham 7 is ideal for drifting. Rear wheel drive, 1.6litre, 150bhp and weighing in at around 500kg. The tyres on the back were designed so that they don’t get hot and sticky and the front tyres the opposite making drifts quite easy as the back end gets really loose.

I started off the day really well and found the Caterham an easy drive. My doughnuts were fab and I got out of the car on each occasion buzzing with adrenaline! The instructors at Caterham were really helpful, we would have two laps at a time and the instructors would give us hints and tips after each lap. Once everyone had started to get the hang of it, the course was changed to two sweeping corners and the ‘doughnut cone’ was removed. I did struggle with the longer drifts and this gave us a really good opportunity to really practice getting the car going sideways!

 Drifting can be so tricky as it’s all about forgetting what you have always been taught – keeping the acceleration when you start to slide, normally your instinct is to brake and stop a skid not apply more acceleration! So it can be quite tricky.

After a yummy buffet lunch we were re-fuelled up and raring to go again! Caterham set up their “Uber Drift Course” which consisted of a slalom, doughnut, another slalom and a 1 ½ doughnut. I was struggling with the doughnuts, just couldn’t seem to get the car sliding all the way round, I seemed to manage about ¾ and then lose it. We had a few practice runs and then our final two runs consisted of another practice and an assessed run. My last practice run was awful so I really had to step up my game for the final run. I am a competitive person and when it comes to cars I do always want to show that women can drive too and it’s not just men that can!

They assessed our last run by giving us a score of 100 as we left the starting gates, they knocked points off for things like spinning, knocking cones etc. I drove round and didn’t think I got the car drifting overly well but I didn’t lose control at all, it was probably the best run of the afternoon for me though. Everyone else did really well and I waited with baited breath to see what my score was.

The results were announced and Mark and I were both in the top three! Wow what a team! I ended up 3rd with 90 points, 2nd place had 91 points and Mark won with 95 points, he did a flawless practice lap but on his assessed lap just didn’t continue his drift round the second doughnut so was docked 5 points.

We had an absolutely fantastic day, it was a great adrenaline buzz. The Caterham team were so patient, encouraging and helpful. I was really pleased with a podium place, think I would have been a bit gutted if I hadn’t been up there and to top it off I came away with a suntan (okay a bit of sunburn then)!

Take a look ay Buyagift’s website for more experience days, perhaps with Father’s Day coming up this may be an ideal present? Or just a treat for yourself, I know Mark and I have both got that racing bug and we want to do more!! I think a track day in one of these would also be great fun, perhaps a birthday present for me, anyone?


Here's a video from the day: