Today I popped upto Bruntingthorpe for a 20 min session in a Westfield. Didn't start too well as I was on track for 9am, meaning a 5:30am leave from south London (after all, needed to stop for a decent coffee on the way).
On top of that, the weather was manky all day long, with light rain most of the time.
Lastly, the 20 mins quoted actually came in at more like 10 mins each max, can't say I was too impressed, but I can't see Westfield doing anything about it, so I'll complain on a forum instead.
The drive was around a very short course, never getting out of third. The cars were stripped down track versions of the car, with no lights, indicators, etc, meaning that your average pack of pringles probably weighed more. To drive, frankly it left me somewhat underwhelmed. Whilst I could forgive the very heavy brakes (which are appropriate for a track car), the long throw indistinct gearbox wasn't good. I definitely missed more gear changes than made them. Please bear in mind that I've been driving for 23 years, and forgot how many different cars I've driven (a LOT of which were pretty rubbish), so I know about good and bad gearboxes.
What I expected to be impressed by was the acceleration. Whilst I "know" that it was fast, it simply didn't feel that much faster than my MX (which I know it would kill completely), just missing in the sensory stimulation I think. Lastly, I've never driven anything that was so easy to lose the back end of. Even pro karts on ice were easier. Once you'd overcooked it a little, just didn't seem to be possible to recover it. Maybe it was on semi slicks for the track, but it most certainly wouldn't inspire me to drive one quickly on the road in the wet.
So overall, a lot of demerits for the day. Having said all of that, still enjoyed the event as I got to learn about a new car, had a lot of fun driving there and back, and lastly it helped me appreciate even more just how briliant the MX5 is as a compromise as being sensible enough to be a real all weather car (which the Westfield will never be) and yet still be far more interesting to drive than virtually any normal car.
On top of that, the weather was manky all day long, with light rain most of the time.
Lastly, the 20 mins quoted actually came in at more like 10 mins each max, can't say I was too impressed, but I can't see Westfield doing anything about it, so I'll complain on a forum instead.
The drive was around a very short course, never getting out of third. The cars were stripped down track versions of the car, with no lights, indicators, etc, meaning that your average pack of pringles probably weighed more. To drive, frankly it left me somewhat underwhelmed. Whilst I could forgive the very heavy brakes (which are appropriate for a track car), the long throw indistinct gearbox wasn't good. I definitely missed more gear changes than made them. Please bear in mind that I've been driving for 23 years, and forgot how many different cars I've driven (a LOT of which were pretty rubbish), so I know about good and bad gearboxes.
What I expected to be impressed by was the acceleration. Whilst I "know" that it was fast, it simply didn't feel that much faster than my MX (which I know it would kill completely), just missing in the sensory stimulation I think. Lastly, I've never driven anything that was so easy to lose the back end of. Even pro karts on ice were easier. Once you'd overcooked it a little, just didn't seem to be possible to recover it. Maybe it was on semi slicks for the track, but it most certainly wouldn't inspire me to drive one quickly on the road in the wet.
So overall, a lot of demerits for the day. Having said all of that, still enjoyed the event as I got to learn about a new car, had a lot of fun driving there and back, and lastly it helped me appreciate even more just how briliant the MX5 is as a compromise as being sensible enough to be a real all weather car (which the Westfield will never be) and yet still be far more interesting to drive than virtually any normal car.
