A Car Chase Heroes Drive Part 2

As I make my way through the paddock after driving the General Lee, I notice a car at the back of the paddock that appeared to be looking back at me.

I found my dad and Maddi, both were happy to see me and also stay on a little longer than originally planned. I was shown the photo's and they all looked good.

I then went to find Tom, the owner to ask him about the car I had walked past earlier.

The car in question was this.

A MkI Ford Escort RS2000. 

Tom told me that he had bought this the day before and that he would be using today as trial run to see how the car would drive and how people took to it. His plan was to respray the car to make it look like the car that Paul Walker had driven in the Fast & The Furious 6. 

Having been given the green light from my dad and Maddi to stay on a bit longer I took the plunge and asked if I could take it for a spin. 

Making my way back to the paddock I was greeted by Amber and Michelle who were not overly surprised to see that I had come back for more. We chatted for a while I waited for my turn in the Escort.

This MkI Ford Escort RS2000 comes with a 16 valve, 2 litre DOHC engine that produces 100 BHP and a top speed of 110 mph. It has a 4 speed manual gearbox and weighs around 915 kilos.

My name was called and I made my way to the Escort. Once inside,  I put the seat belt on and got used to being inside the car. The first thing I noticed is that the pedals are tiny and offset to the right. This would make for an interesting drive as I have big wide feet.  

My instructor got in and introduced himself, his name was Oak. Oak took the driver card from me but informed me that as this was a recent purchase, they had not put in a camera to film the drive. We chatted briefly and then it was time to go onto the track. 

As I turned the key, the 2 litre engine barked to life, I put the car into gear, made my way around the paddock and towards the track entry

With a clear track  I accelerate hard and moving up through the gears I make my way to the hairpin corner. I then begin to break change down a gear and take a wide line through this corner. There is a little amount of body roll as the car makes it's way through the corner. Back on the power to change up and I accidentally push down on the brake and clutch another attempt and the gear change is completed. Down the second corner where a hard right hand corner awaited me. Once through it was time to accelerate up to 4th gear before making my way through a chicane. I was then overtaken by the white Audi R8. Time to break hard and change down for the left hand hairpin corner. Back on the power and back to 4th gear, through 2nd  chicane that heads towards the last corner which required another change to 3rd gear. Through this then back on the power for the second lap. 

Ahead of me in the distance I spot a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, I decided to see if I could catch and overtake it before the end of the second lap. I rapidly made my way through the corners and get closer to it. Half way through the lap I close in and overtake just before the chicane. With the overtake completed safely I make my way around to finish the lap and start the final trip around the track. I made the most of a clear track in front and really got into the swing of driving this Escort.

It was then time to pull into the paddock and hand the keys back.

Professional Photo's

Once back in the paddock, Oak handed me the driver sign on card I thanked him and got out. 

It's easy to see why the Ford Escort was so good as a rally car, it's light, quick and fairly easy to drive. It’s a small car with a big heart. Making my way back through the paddock, I bumped into David da Costa, I again thanked him for the sighting laps and he took a look at my sign on card and seemed to be impressed. Moving on through the paddock, I saw Amber and Michelle and thanked them for their help.

I found my dad and Maddi waiting for me and it was time to get the photo's and head home. On the way out I spoke to Tom again and thanked him for a brilliant morning of driving.

If you ever get the chance to do a drive with Car Chase Heroes I really do recommend it. They are very easy to talk to and helpful. I would like to thank the following people for all of their help.

Tom Roche, David (safety briefing), David da Costa, Amber & Michelle (Paddock), Matt and Oak (Instructors) and finally April Essom (Office).

For further information about Car Chase Heroes, please visit

https://www.carchaseheroes.com/index and book a drive with them.

1966 Chrysler Town and Country Station Wagon

My next door neighbour recently bought and shipped to the UK a 1966 Chrysler Town and Country Station Wagon as a restoration project. When he received the Chrysler, it was drivable but needed a lot of work doing. So far he has replaced the fuel tank, the brake servo, some of the suspension. It now also has a UK number plate. Still to work on is the paint work and some of the electrical items, he has all the parts it's now a matter of finding the time to do the work. The interior all around is in good condition as is the dashboard which has the biggest speedometer I have seen. This car is a monstrous 19 feet long and comes equipped with a 372ci Edelbrook Small Block V8 engine that produces 274BHP. The gearbox is automatic with a column shift gear selector. It has leaf springs and drum brakes. It weighs around 2.5 tonnes. So what is this car like on the road? This car was not built for speed, it was built for long distance cross country driving so the seats are very comfortable. In the case of speed bumps you barely notice them and the engine sounds great as you cruise along the road. The acceleration is not the quickest and its best to plan corners and take them slowly due to the size of the car. There is a fair amount of body roll and squealing tyre's if taken with moderate speed. Braking is also best done slowly due to the size and weight of the vehicle. Below are more photos of the car and these will be updated as more of the restoration is complete.

D-Type Jaguar Driving Experience with Mithril Racing.

It's a crisp spring morning and I'm on my way to Mithril Racing at Goodwood to drive their D-Type Jaguar. Naturally any chance to drive this kind of car is met with much excitement and it's a good job I'm not driving as I would probably be driving far to quickly. 

We arrive in good time and are welcomed by the Mithril Racing staff who are friendly and knowledgable about all of the cars. We have a cup of tea and wait for the other drivers to arrive while the car is collected from where it is kept. When it arrives it looks stunning and sounds great. We are given a quick talk and we are taken to the cars we will be driving. The doors on the D-Type are tiny and open upwards. To climb in you raise your leg over a high sill onto the seat position your legs either side of the steering wheel and lower your legs to find the pedals. Once in I am greeted with a large and comfortable leather seat. My guide then gets in and hand me the key. My instructions are simple: put the key in the ignition, turn the key and press the starter button. I follow the instructions and when the car fires up I am greeted with a lovely rasp of a twin cam straight six engine. I am then asked to rev the engine a few times and then let the car idle for a couple of minutes while the other drivers get to grips with their cars. While this is going on, I soak up the view I have, the wooden steering wheel, the dashboard, the little windscreen and the sound from the straight six engine I then chat with the man from Milthril about a few things. He will give me hand signals to speed up and slow down. When he pushes his hands away from his body I speed up, when he does the reverse this means slow down. This was first used by Stirling Moss's co driver Dennis Jenkinson during the 1955 Mille Miglia. There are yellow cones around the track. These are placed at the apex of the corner and give the best point of the corner to aim at. Finally, he mentions that the D-Type has a four speed manual Gearbox and that once into fourth gear, the only place I will need to change gear is at the chicane. We are then given the clear to move off and get onto the track. At first steering the car at a slow speed is heavy going but gets easier the faster you go. My guide gives the all clear and it's foot down, up the gears. It's clear from the off that this car is fast and it's really does pick up quickly. It's light and the engine produces 300+ BHP. As we near Madwick corner the slow down signal is given so a light touch on the brakes and into the corner we go. With the yellow cones spotted, I steer toward the apex. No tyre squeal and not much body roll as we go through the corner.

It's then back on the power towards Fordwater and down towards St Mary's. This is more of a curve than a corner building up speed before breaking into Lavant corner.

 It's then back on the power for on the Lavant straight, which has a slight bend taken at full speed that is on a slight hill. On the first lap I reach roughly 85 before breaking and turning into Woodcote corner. A brief acceleration before braking and changing down to third gear for the chicane and we find ourselves back on the start\finish straight and flying towards the second lap.

While driving the D-Type. It becomes clear that this is a very easy car to drive, during the second lap, I find the corners better and get better on the exits. On the third lap again my cornering is better still and I reach 100 mph on the Lavant straight. The improvements in speed are down to increasing confidence as time goes on. The gear change is also very good. I have driven modern cars with a far clunkier change. The clutch is a little heavy but it does not feel like I have been to the gym. I know that I am not pushing the car anywhere near its capacity but you still get the feel of how far you could push it. Given a Le Mans gear ratio, the top speed of one of these is near 185 mph. When cornering the suspension does not feel like a car that is now 60 years old. I have driven those that do.

At the end of the third lap, it's time to pull into the paddock and hand the car back. Driving the D-Type has been a magical experience and one that will stay with me. 

If you do wind up taking the D-Type for a spin, I recommend that you take some goggles or sunglasses as the windscreen is very low and being hit by the wind at high speed could slow your drive down. If you ware glasses, they will be fine.

If you like Classic cars, you will find it hard to beat the ambience of going to Goodwood and being able to drive around the same track as Moss, Fangio, Stewart and Clark amongst others driving similar cars is a chance not to be missed.