My two week motor racing European Odyssey was scuppered by several unforeseen issues. The first of which being that my chosen chariot for the trip, the wondrous
E28 M5
, seemed unlikely to compete the entire journey without some fettling. Added to that, I needed to be back in the UK for a few days and therefore had to separate the two trips.
The other Harris chariot for the weekend
This now gave ample opportunity for vacillation on the subject of what to drive to the 'ring. Initially, it was a no-brainer - the
512
needed a good run and I just love knocking about in it. I'd agreed to collect my old chum and Aston team-mate Dickie Meaden from Dusseldorf airport Wednesday lunchtime, and I reckoned with a bit of comedy squeezing we might both fit - but then I looked longingly at my new Brompton-shaped best friend and realized I didn't want to be without it for the N24, so the 512 idea lost momentum. Bike plus all those bags and crash helmets just weren't going to fit.
Then on Tuesday two of the Aston media team asked if they could bag a lift over and it looked like the FF was the answer. I know, I sound like a knob saying these things, but using them as intended and enduring the agony of choice makes the finance payments less hurtful. Looking back, I have no idea why I didn't use it the whole time. It was made for exactly these journeys, and I won't own it for that much longer.
Brompton a priority for Chris
The spanner in the works was luggage space - or rather the lack of it. Four adults can travel in real comfort in the FF, but the boot is pretty small, so when you have big bags of photographic kit, you begin to struggle. Three-up, with the Brompton along for the ride, we already had a bag on the empty rear seat. It didn't look like Dickie would fit - even accounting for his simply crazy weight loss regime for 2014.
All concerns for accommodation were resolved when the Chunnel went technical and we waited for ages, only to be shunted onto another train. And then waited some more. Aston dispatched someone to collect His Royal Meadenness from the airport and we remained three-up for the trip the 'ring. I suppose this was the first time I'd really munched the motorway miles, and I shouldn't have been surprised how good it was - but I was. It's simply the best super-fast missile I've driven, both slowly and, er, not-so-slowly.
The transmission is smooth in auto and intuitive on kickdown, you can flick a paddle to go manual and the 'bumpy road' damper mode gives decent ride comfort. All I can say about the rear cabin is that photographer Drew fell asleep for a few hours. I still think the exhaust is just too noisy, and the rear tyres make a racket on bad surfaces, but the stability and speed are completely majestic. And that engine, well, words fail me. You just can't resist opening it up.
That's a fair set of journey stats!
It was not my impish intention to arrive for an Aston Martin drive in a Ferrari, but I like using my cars, and this is one of the better trips of the year.
Now off to have the first team meeting for the race. I saw the N430 in its final Castrol livery last night - it looks superb. We have a strong driver line-up of Oliver Matthai, Andy Gulden, Richard Meaden and me. I will be comfortably the slowest having only covered two laps in one of these N430 racers, but the speed should come. I hope.
The race meeting is building nicely, there's a decent buzz about the place and I can't wait to drive the car in free practice at 2.30. Qualifying is tonight, I think from 6.30pm.
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