A Day in the Fast Lane

Bob Salmon

 

 

I doubt there is a single male reader of the Age-Net site who hasn't heard of Sir Stirling Moss MBE., and I doubt if there are many of our lady readers who don't know of him either. Put simply, he was just the greatest motor racing driver of his era. My wife & I were at Goodwood in 1962 when he had his near fatal crash and at that time it seemed as though we had all suffered a great personal loss. In short, one of my all time heros!

So, when I recently won a competition for a day of 'hands on' motor racing with the great man - now 75 - as host, I just couldn't believe my luck. The competiton was in connection with a new Bayer Phamaceuticals campaign - sortED in ten - which Sir Stirling is supporting, to address the problem of male errection disfunction - ED.

The campaign's aim is to make men aware that their problem is not unique. Indeed, 50% of all men over the age of 50 suffer from ED. More importantly, the condition can now usually be dealt with simply by discussing it with your GP, hence the title sortED in 10 (minutes).

My prize, which I shared with nine other lucky men - ages ranged from 38 to 75 - from right across the country, was a full-on day of motor-sport at the world famous Silverstone circuit. Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, was a famous WW 2 bomber airfield but it is now far more than just a flat concrete circuit. Indeed, the complex is extensive and covers a number of different circuits plus a forest stage for rally cars, an off-road section for 4 x 4's, skid pan, autocross pan and so on.

On arrival at the circuit and over an early breakfast, our Team Instructor, Shane Bland, explained the ethos of Silverstone. It's all about competition! We were to be thrown in at the deep end and our instructors - a more friendly and laid back group of guys you are unlikely ever to meet - were there to see that we performed! When we were told about the background of those instructors - everyone was a professional race driver, mostly with a string of successes in various types of events - I am not sure if we were over-awed or terrified!

Frankly, the day passed in a blur of fractured memories. We were bussed from one discipline to another. Filled with essential information about braking points. best lines, where the gears were on this car or that, rev limits, torque bands, noise and yet more noise interspaced with quiet periods sitting in the sun waiting for our turn at whatever. For all the world like WW2 pilots in 1940 waiting for the bell and the next shout!

 

 

Nothing but praise for the instructors who put their lives on the line. I have one memory of a screaming works prepared Peugeot rally car heading for the trees at an impossible speed, me trying to steer it back on track, hauling on the hand brake and a voice in the intercom saying "Trust me Bob, FLOOR IT" I did, and the car twitched back onto the circuit and we continued on our way! On another very fast - to me - lap of the Club circuit in a new 3.2 litre Audi TT with paddle operated sequential gear change on the steering wheel, I got it horribly wrong at Chapel corner and went onto the grass. It was probably only the traction control which got us back onto the black stuff, still heading in the right direction. Shaken, I asked the instructor what I had done wrong. "You went in too deep, you were too fast and in the wrong gear" as though that was the most natural thing in the world................

What else? Single seater Formula First, the ones all the Formula One drivers started in, TT Audis, the latest Lotus Elise which really is a fun car. Caterham 7's fitted with a special tyre mix so you could throw the back end around in the Auto-test. Turbo diesel Land Rovers defying gravity with, seeming, nothing below us as I drove over a crest, then the gentlest of decents- at 45 degrees or more - into a tight muddy corner. Amazing.

It wasn't all speed & noise. We had a competitive challenge on the Audi skid cars, surely something everyone could benifit from. We had quad bikes in the woods, even had a trailer with an eight consol video arcade although perhaps that was even louder than the real cars!

 

 

And the day's highlight? It has to be during a very high speed circuit with Sir Stirling at the wheel of a Porsche Carrera as he leant across to me - the only time I wasn't actually driving -and said so casually, "You want to let her drift gently across to the left here and let her get her balance" before going through the chicane at the sort of speed I had been getting down the straight! Truely gifted and a real honour to experience that ride.

 

 

 

ED. Not a subject we have heard much about in the past but almost certainly one that has troubled men right through the centurys. All power to Sir Stirling then for associating himself with such a high power awareness campaign. And I have to say that if it takes Big Toys to interest Big Boys - something most wives and partners are well aware of - then this campaign has got off to a cracking start. As Sir Sterling says "if the car is damaged, you fix it". Surely a ten minute chat with your GP makes just as much sense.

 

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