I had an errand day on Tuesday 10th July to take the
Exige to Hofmann's of Henley (~ 30 miles) for
its pre-track-day check-up.
Then - on Friday 13th - a drive up to Huntingdon
Racecourse Holiday Inn (~90 miles) - this is a good Holiday Inn: modern,
out-of-town, good parking - mostly importantly for me, I had a couple of days’
worth of free nights to use up, and I didn’t fancy any of the Holiday Inn’s
near Norwich.
On Saturday 14th, the Lotus Exige returned to its
birthplace, to Hethel (~75 miles). The weather was excellent - a very beautiful
day. As always for a Lotus-on-Track
event, the standard of driving was very good (good manners and etiquette - not
talking so much about speed here, but there were some very fast drivers, not me
though.)
Not sure how many laps I did, I’ll need to remember to
start counting (I missed the first 90 minutes or so because I drove into Norwich Halfords to get a tyre compressor, since I'd bought with me one with a mini-cigarette lighter attachment that is too small for the in-between seat socket). It’s a challenging track. I was very happy they put a temporary
chicane on Chapman before Windsock Corner (even with the chicane I still didn’t
have the balls to go flat out.)
And on my very last run, very last lap (cooling down
lap), loss of concentration and I went off in the Graham Hill curves. I knew I
was going too fast (too fast for me anyway, a better driver could probably have
managed at the speed I was going), but fortunately it turned out to be very
minor since I just went straight on doing some cross country across the gravel
and grass. And the car has got me back to home so I’m sure it’s pretty okay. I
had the yellow flags waved for me!
The temporary chicane mini cone did get knocked over a
few times causing red flags (not by me). There was one off which incurred a red
flag, only minor damage was inflicted.
I returned to the Holiday Inn after the track-day, then
back home on Sunday (~105 miles). Again I forgot to check the mileage, but it’s
roughly 5800 miles now (5300 + 30 + 90 +
75 + 50 + 75 + 105 + 10).
Image 1 of 4: My
Signature Orange Exige back home at Hethel
Image 2 of 4: My Signature
Orange Exige back home at Hethel (before my off-track whoopsie)
Image 3 of 4:
Hethel Circuit (with my off location circled)
Image 4 of 4: Parked
at Holiday Inn Huntingdon Racecourse after the track-day (notice bits of hay in
the number-plate and splitter)
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