Nestled deep in the Bedford countryside is RAF Thurleigh, a former Royal Air Force station used throughout the Second World War by British and American bombers. Following the war it helped in the development of a number of planes, including the Harrier and Bristol Brabazon. While the airfield closed in 1997, it’s now home to vehicles that are no less noisy and no less interesting – racing cars.
Bedford Autodrome, as it’s now known, is home to PalmerSport – a trackday experience launched by ex-Formula 1 driver Jonathan Palmer. Calling itself “the world’s greatest driving event”, it offers guests the chance to get behind the wheel of a wide variety of cars to push the limits in an event like no other.
Your writer attended the event in July, and the day started with breakfast. There were eight of us in the group, six of whom were work colleagues and another guy on his own, all of us slightly nervous and excited about the day ahead. We were introduced to our host and pro driver who would be looking after us (we had Steve Morris, a former Formula Ford racer), watched a briefing featuring F1’s own Martin Brundle, grabbed a balaclava and name tag, and then it was outside into a minibus to be shuttled to our first events – Land Rover Defenders and Caterham Pursuit.
Unlike the rest of the day these elements are more about precision than outright speed, testing your ability to place the car where it needs to be. They’re a reminder that, while fast is fun, accuracy and car control will win the day.
Once everyone had finished the two events it was back to the shuttle and onto our next part – the JP-LM. The Le Mans-style car offered us our first experience of downforce, and runs on the 1.85-mile West Circuit. This taste of grip and speed would also help to prepare us for the upcoming ‘F3000’.
Not only was the JP-LM our first car with downforce, it was the first with an instructor at speed. Knowing that race car engines are much too loud to shout over, PalmerSport has equipped their cars with two-way radios to connect driver and instructor. The instructor came through loud and clear, coaching me through each corner, though my microphone was scarcely used – I was much too focused on little things like not crashing (though I did manage a “whoops, sorry” when I completely blew a corner).
Source: Autosport