The Rovering Member
Well-Known Member
Quite a while back l got a voucher to one of these come & try a car events as a present, the car being a Caterham 7.
This weekend the event took place at Wattisham Airbase in Suffolk, a lot of cars were there to be tried but on booking in l was told the Caterham wasn't available due to mechanical difficulties & l was supposed to have received an e-mail with this information. Suffice to say l hadn't received one & this was one of the outcomes of the organisation of the event that were less than satisfactory. I could have re-booked but we'd had a weekend away to coincide with the outing so l said l'd choose another car & get it done. l've always wanted to try a Lotus/Caterham 7 but most of the other machinery was modern fluff that l wasn't interested in, including the Aerial Atom funnily enough which to me is an ugly thing & l wanted to drive something l liked the look of. The GT40 wasn't available, broken down for the third time apparently & it was outside with an open bonnet & a couple of guys pondering over it.
Anyway you can see what l chose & it turned out to be a highly enjoyable beast of a motor with a bonnet that's a pleasure to sit behind. I didn't ask any information on the drivetrain but it's obviously been breathed on in various ways. When you plant your right foot it wails like a banshee & leaps forward in a very impressive way indeed, despite the automatic gearbox & feels a heavy, very sure-footed machine. I used my normal two-feet method that l use with both my auto V8's & with the instructor's prompts floored it at every opportunity. I got the impression he rather enjoyed it as he took me round a fourth time when l only had three on the card. It's a short, mostly circular track, about a mile & it can get a bit congested as you also have youngsters driving too at limited speeds, but the instructors signal when to overtake so as not to hold up the more experienced drivers too much. I must say though the bl**dy Batmobile was baulking me a bit too, it's not a fast car.
I did enjoy it though despite the organisational cock-ups of the two companies involved & l was seriously impressed with the Aston though it's a shame l didn't get the six laps that were originally booked, kudos to the instructor for giving me the fourth one free of charge. He did comment that it was a far more driveable car than some of the other more modern motors there on the day & l probably wouldn't have enjoyed the Caterham quite as much, the track being wet & a bit stony. I didn't disagree, he may have been right.
This weekend the event took place at Wattisham Airbase in Suffolk, a lot of cars were there to be tried but on booking in l was told the Caterham wasn't available due to mechanical difficulties & l was supposed to have received an e-mail with this information. Suffice to say l hadn't received one & this was one of the outcomes of the organisation of the event that were less than satisfactory. I could have re-booked but we'd had a weekend away to coincide with the outing so l said l'd choose another car & get it done. l've always wanted to try a Lotus/Caterham 7 but most of the other machinery was modern fluff that l wasn't interested in, including the Aerial Atom funnily enough which to me is an ugly thing & l wanted to drive something l liked the look of. The GT40 wasn't available, broken down for the third time apparently & it was outside with an open bonnet & a couple of guys pondering over it.
Anyway you can see what l chose & it turned out to be a highly enjoyable beast of a motor with a bonnet that's a pleasure to sit behind. I didn't ask any information on the drivetrain but it's obviously been breathed on in various ways. When you plant your right foot it wails like a banshee & leaps forward in a very impressive way indeed, despite the automatic gearbox & feels a heavy, very sure-footed machine. I used my normal two-feet method that l use with both my auto V8's & with the instructor's prompts floored it at every opportunity. I got the impression he rather enjoyed it as he took me round a fourth time when l only had three on the card. It's a short, mostly circular track, about a mile & it can get a bit congested as you also have youngsters driving too at limited speeds, but the instructors signal when to overtake so as not to hold up the more experienced drivers too much. I must say though the bl**dy Batmobile was baulking me a bit too, it's not a fast car.
I did enjoy it though despite the organisational cock-ups of the two companies involved & l was seriously impressed with the Aston though it's a shame l didn't get the six laps that were originally booked, kudos to the instructor for giving me the fourth one free of charge. He did comment that it was a far more driveable car than some of the other more modern motors there on the day & l probably wouldn't have enjoyed the Caterham quite as much, the track being wet & a bit stony. I didn't disagree, he may have been right.
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