Palmersport GT Half Day, April 2015

Had a fantastic birthday present of a half day Palmersport GT experience, absolutely loved it and it makes all the difference that each event is timed and you are allowed, well, encouraged, to go fast!.

I drove a Caterham, Ariel Atom and BMW M4 as well as having some fast laps in the Palmer JP-LM which was great although it tested my neck muscles!!

Anyway, the day was fantastic, I started in the Caterham where I spent so much time going sideways that I forgot it was a timed event until the instructor said over the radio 'this is all very fun mate, but you have one lap left to put in a decent time', so, playtime over, I concentrated on keeping the thing in a straight line, ended up coming 4th out of 20 with atime of 52.57 seconds, 1.3 seconds down on 1st place!!

Next up was the Ariel Atom, what a fantastic car, so responsive to every driver input, throttle, brakes and steering, so adjustable. Really enjoyed this car, and finished 1st out of 20 in this with a time of 53.38 seconds, over a second quicker than second place on 54.51 seconds.

Last up was the new M4, unfortunately it was a DCT rather than a manual but as it was on my radar to replace the 997 Turbo, was really looking forward to driving it. I got talking to the instructor and it turned out we'd met previously at my first trip to the 'Ring in 2007 when he'd taken me and some of the turbobungle crew out for a lap in his E39 M5. Really enjoyed the M4, felt really heavy after the Caterham and Ariel with lots of understeer (though it was running n Pirellis, I've never had any understeer at all in my M4 on Michelins (SS, PS4S & Cup2)) and lots of oversteer too! Managed to bully the thing around in a time of 65.59 seconds to take another win, also earning me the title of Driver of the Day. Well chuffed :-)
Bungle