I can safely say this is the most ill-prepared I have ever been for a motorsport event. In front of me is what is the Goodwood hill, fast becoming the most famous hill climb in the world, and next to me is PHer Sean, our competition winner. This isn't a competitive run, but it's still daunting; there are 50,000 pairs of eyes waiting for the next car up the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill, and that car is us in the Nissan 370Z Roadster.
The rumour mill among first-time drivers suggests that the left-hander after the bridge crossing, Molecomb, is the trickiest corner up the hill. This has claimed far more distinguished drivers than me, such as John Cleland and Nigel Mansell. Some claim that, if you have seen the corner before braking, it is too late.
But being entered into the supercar run up the hill is certainly a privileged experience and the whole procedure puts you next to some very famous motoring names. In the Dunhill driver's club we sign in next to legends and heroes and, as we get into the 370Z there are enough experts around to aid the learning of the hill. Luckily, as we get into the car, motoring journalist legend Steve Cropley ambles to the car beside me and I pick his brains.
Steve helps alleviate some nerves by talking me through the course and I at least feel I have a handle on which way the corners go. Talk of off-camber turns through the grandstands and braking points rattle around my head as we settle into the 370Z Roadster and slowly make our way out of the supercar paddock. Having the PH Fleet long-term 370Z Coupe as my everyday car, I feel like I know the car already, which helps my nerves.
As we reverse into the assembly area we parallel park behind Murray Walker who jokes "don't crash into our car" and pull alongside Jaguar test driver legend Mike Cross. I shout across to Mike and ask, "so how do you drive this track?" Mike is one of the nicest men in motoring and has no hesitation helping me out. "You have room to play on the bottom of the track, but once I get to the wall I usually take it easy."
The man in white on the start line gives the wave to go and the nerves dissipate as I red-line the engine and drop the clutch. I weave a little wheelspin for the crowd, but I am mostly concentrating on the first few corners.
It's a slight lift into the first corner, a double-apex right-hander, and then I accelerate through the second apex clipping a bit of dust on the inside. Then I keep the foot flat to the floor and head for the notorious Molecomb.
The 300-metre board passes and I glance at the speedo, which shows north of 100mph, then the 200-metre board flies by and I gaze at the scattering of hay bales and access roads in front of me. I start to wonder where the corner actually is, worried that I might be able to see it and everything is too late. I slam on the anchors - and then I see the turn-in point. I have braked far too early and, as I coast into the corner, I can almost hear Nick Heidfeld's sigh of relief - his hill climb record of 41.6secs record is definitely safe...
I take the next part easily as I power up the hill towards a brick wall. A quick flick right-left around the curved brick wall leads to another open area before the final left-hander and the finish line. I then take what I think is my first breath since starting 1.16 miles ago on the start line.
As we approach the top paddock I suddenly notice a massive grandstand full of people - that's the first time on the whole run I've seen the massive crowds surrounding the hill. I turn to Sean and ask him if he had been looking at the crowd. "Nope," comes the answer. "I was focussing on looking up the hill."
The surrealism then returns as we park next to Jake Humphries and spot Jenson Button signing autographs. Ferrari test drivers swap stories about slower cars in the way and tales of flat-out corners can be heard from Porsche's Andreas Preuninger. Murray Walker meets and greets various other stars. For a moment Sean and I have a flat each in Monaco and a private helicopter waiting to whisk us to an after-party, but the whistle goes to get back into the car and the illusion vanishes as we settle back into the Nissan 370Z for the return leg back down the hill.
Rolling gently back down the hill it becomes apparent how big the festival of Speed is. The crowds that had vanished into a blur on the way up are now gazing at us with cameras pointed and the spectators are at least three people deep from the top of the hill to the bottom. A gap develops in the cars and, not wanting to be rude we spin the back wheels for the final time on the hill. I may have been ill-prepared for the run, but I am most certainly prepared to do the whole thing again.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)