Many months ago I asked Paul Golding, boss of Lotus On Track and the Elise Trophy, whether I could get behind the wheel of a racing Elise. I am lucky enough to drive a Mk 1 Elise for the On the Road column, so it seemed like a good idea to try a car raced in one of the most oversubscribed championships in the country. Almost immediately Paul said he could do that, no problem, and asked how a race at Brands Hatch sounded in July? Of course I said that sounded brilliant. It went straight in my diary and I took a lot of pleasure in reminding everyone in the office about my upcoming race. As you can imagine, they were ecstatic…
Fast-forward to today, and I am writing this after testing the car (kindly lent and prepared by Essex Autosport) on the Brands Hatch GP circuit ahead of this weekend’s meeting. A meeting, I may add, that the World Touring Car Championship and Formula 2 series are headlining. To say that I am a little apprehensive is a bit like saying that England suffered a ‘little wobble’ in the World Cup. The Elise Trophy is extremely hotly contested and includes drivers who have done a lot more than amateur racing, something my talent has never allowed me to go beyond.
It took a while to get up to speed yesterday, but by 4pm I was at least getting close to where I was supposed to be. That said, my speed was “about good enough for mid-grid qualifying” according to Fulvio Mussi, a Clio Cup driver, who sat beside me for a few laps. Whatever happens I’ll be in for an exciting couple of races, in which my main aim is to bring the car home in one piece – something Jake Humphrey found quite hard when he got behind the wheel of the same car a few months ago for the BBC’s F1 coverage!
If you’ve got tickets to the meeting then do come and say hello. If not, then Motorsport Vision has kindly given us two pairs of tickets to give away. In order to win one pair, simply watch the video below and answer the following question:
What team does Rob Huff drive for?
A) Chevrolet
B) BMW
C) SEAT
Please e-mail your answer to info@motorsportmagazine along with your ‘phone number so that we can let youy know if you’ve won. The winners will be selected at random from the correct entries on Thursday July 15.
The video
Formula 2 championship leader Jolyon Palmer traded places with World Touring Car front-runner Rob Huff at Brands Hatch this week, in a unique ‘car swap’ challenge to see which driver performed best in each other’s race machine. The experiment was a warm-up for the FIA World Touring Car and Formula 2 championships at Brands Hatch on July 16-18.
