Hands up, the recent RMA track day wasn't my first run around Silverstone GP. But a Sunday Service parade lap was a rather different experience to that of going flat out in a Caterham all day.
The diminutive, nimble and fairly quick Caterham felt like the world's best sports car on the drive up
to Silverstone
but I was in for something of a shock on arrival at the paddock. RMA of course caters for all track day goers but the Caterham didn't half look feeble amongst M3s, GT3s and other Sevens with 'R' and large numbers in their names.
The drivers briefing did little to calm my frayed nerves. RMA's boss Graham doesn't pull any punches, speaking to adults like adults and being fairly blunt in his 'screw up, sod off' approach to driver error. Only a little ruder. Great if you're a track day regular, less so if you still struggle to clip up a helmet.
After a few sighting laps with Dan, I ventured out in the Caterham solo. RMA's open pitlane format means you can be out as much or as little as possible but a three lap stint seemed a sensible place to start. It probably took nearly a quarter of an hour. On the road the little Seven feels quick but on the vast expanse of Silverstone it's totally overwhelmed. Down the Hangar Straight there would have been time to plan the weekend had I not been glued to the mirror scanning for (much) faster cars; what appeared a distant dot on leaving Becketts can become rather more prominent by Stowe. Graham's briefing told us to stick to our lines and allow the faster car to overtake but panic set in the first few times and I stayed wide to avoid an abrupt end to the day.
45 cars and big circuit meant clear runs
But with a few more laps and some experimenting with
lines and braking points
, I began to feel a little more confident. With only around 45 cars the 3.6-mile GP track was never too densely populated, meaning more time could be spent looking forward rather than fixed on the mirrors.
With a race at the National circuit later this year, a bit of practice at Silverstone will hopefully come in handy. That there are only 15 minutes practice for the upcoming races at other circuits is rather daunting though given how much I was still learning after lunch. But surely I can't be overtaken as many times when all the cars are identical? Right?
So that's probably how not to drive Silverstone GP. Nathan was lucky enough to experience how it should be done from the passenger seat of Tom Oliphant's Century Motorsport Ginetta G55. See the video here.