Two weeks ago, I received an email entitled “CONGRATULATIONS… you are a winner!” and so on.
Usually, this are spam/scams and the get ignored, however this one claimed to be from the BBC and Nissan, didn’t appear to be asking for any money, and was offering to “spend an entire day learning to drive like the Stig, at Dunsfold Park where Top Gear is filmed!”
Well, scam or no, I wasn’t going to pass this up, so I checked the existence of person sending the email, replied and it all seemed valid.
Moving forward, yesterday morning, I find myself rolling up at the Top Gear studios in Rosie, spotted the hanger, that 747 that’s always parked out on the runway, and getting a bit of tingle up the spine.
I ventured into the plush (ie, a shed) production office where I was immediately not killed or robbed, but asked to sign waivers and other things, then given a grey (Clarkson Team) hat and offered breakfast.
There were 20 winners in total plus half a dozen Nissan people, so quite crowded, and a little noisy with chatting and eating, then, The Sting came among us. He (it?) stood there in his characteristic folded arms pose, then one of his handlers asked, “so who’d like a photo with The Stig?”
So off we went to the hanger (where TG audiences go) and we queued. Some people tried to look cool, make jokes, do the rabbit ears thing, one even tried to hug him. I thought I’d go for The Stig pose, but mostly looked awkward and not a picture I wan’t to share… but here we go anyway 
The day was split up into a series of events.
Track time in the Nissan 370Z (with GT pack), an “old style Le Mans” auto test, some time with a Batak machine and Gran Turismo 5, then a drive out into the local countryside in 370Z roadsters.
As it would turn out, I was lucky enough to be in Clarkson team that went out on track first, then Le Mans, Batak and road test.
So, donning a hard hat, jumping in the 370Z near the start/finish line I had two familiarisation laps with the instructor driving. I had done some preparation for this: watching all the TG re-runs on Dave and studying the satellite imagery of the track, but nothing quite prepares you for the awesomeness of actually being on that track. More spine tingling, and perhaps not enough listening to the instructor, as I then had two practise laps for myself.
The Crooner Curves don’t really count as a corner, but the turn in to Wilson is hard to spot, and I had forgotten the lines, but picked up pace, past the tyres and right into Chicago, again not really getting an appreciation of the space.
Then zooming down to the Hammer Head, more or less getting the entry right, but fairly slow out. I knew the corner opens up, but until you’re there, you don’t really get how wide a runway is.
Flat out then, and in to The Follow Through – “did you lift?” as Clarkson always asks, well in the Z you break a bit before entry then…. I got lost. My greatest fear for the day. The problem is that the track is a figure of eight, so I’d been here before and thought I needed to go around again :-S A bit of correction, then past the tyres and to the left into Bentley Bend and onto my favourite part of the track. Again, hard to spot the turn-in, but traveling quite quickly here, break then turn hard into the Second To Last Bend. If you get it right, it’s brilliant. Brief jab on the brakes, then into Gambon and across the line.
( A good track guide is here )
My second practise lap was not much better, but my three timed laps were showing a little improvement. I’m sure after another ten laps or so, I’d get the hang of it, but that was that.
A note on the Z. It’s quite sporty, very grippy and seems to turn in well (very well), but for 328PS, seems a little underpowered. It’s quite civilised in low gears, has really nice syncro rev match, and at no point did I feel it was going to kill me. Rosie, in contrast is a veritable rocket, fidgety around 2500-3000 rpm and demands a lot more attention, so I suppose engaging in different ways. The RS4 is about two seconds faster around the track in the hands of The Stig, has twice as many seats, more luggage space and costs about as much…. so I don’t think the day was good for Z sales
Right, next event, an autotest around cones, with old style Le Man starts, that is, you run to the car, get in, drive off, do a stint, then park, run out, tag the other driver, then she does her stint. Lots of fun. Traction/stability off, wet track.
The Stig joined us for the Le Mans thing. He got in as a passenger for one of my team’s practise run. How much pressure is that? Driving the Stig? Well apparently he has a sense of humour, fiddling with the radio and knocking the car out of gear.
On my turn, however, there were two problems.
1. It was an automatic. One of those olde worlde torque converter types and bloody awful. Compared to Herman’s DSG it was a joke. Horrid thing.
2. After my stint, I began to run to tag the other driver when something in my leg snapped. Big ouch.
On the positive side, I’d done what I’d come here to do – drive on the TG track, but I was now unable to walk, so had to be looked after by the event staff… and I’d like to say they were all great people.
I sat out the Batak thing and couldn’t even get into the Gran Turismo contraptions, so a bit miserable, then one of the event girls asked if I’d like to sit in with an instructor in the GT-R on the drive out (local country roads).
Yes Please!
If I was at all wavering on the desire for a 370Z it was completely shafted from being in the GT-R. Even faster than Rosie and the DSG transmission makes for smooth progress around the twisty roads. It doesn’t sound as nice as Rosie’s V8 but there are certain compensations. The instructor reckoned it was comparable in experience to an R8 V10 (as aspiration of mine) so there’s something to look forward to
At the end of the day, I still couldn’t walk, didn’t win any prizes (I think my times were middle of group, certainly nothing to shout about), so thought about leaving. I really couldn’t walk (and still struggle today) so wondered how I was going to drive home. Fortunately, moving my right ankle was painless, so unless I needed to brake heavily I should make it home and did so.
Big smile on face from the experience, slightly dampened by the injury.
And like the TG/Nissan website says, only twenty people will know what it’s like, and I was one of them.
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