Good Golly Miss Molly sang the blues band
performing opposite the queuing area.I’m in the car now, and they are my thoughts exactly.It hits you like an ice pick in the forehead,
and punches through your organs as if one were drawing heavily on a Lambert
& Butler Superking at half six in the morning, first thing after
waking.We accelerate from rest at the
end of the pit lane, passing through 60 mph after just four seconds and onwards
to 130, before braking hard for the first corner.I’m now starting to wish I had gone for a
fast passenger lap in something more sedate, such as the Ferrari F355.
To
be honest,I had started the day with a
decision that, of all the incredible machines at Bruntingthorpe today, the 355
was the one I had most yearned to sample.After all, hot laps in one of these a few years ago around Thruxton
would have cost ninety-five quid a go, and here at Asda’s On Your Marks charity event, they are merely a fiver.
Cerbera at Bruntingthopre Proving Ground
After
disembarking a hot and noisy Cerbera 4.5, I notice an XKR smoothly passing down
the pit straight. This could have been a more sensible idea, but only in that
valerian root aids restful sleep in the same way as brandy does.The Jag plays a Boots Family Pharmaceuticals range to the TVR's Courvoisseur, triple distilled for
strength.This is a potent and harmful
car that delivers a powerful blow to both kidneys and psychosis.It fools you temporarily before you climb in,
as the little button under the mirror politely pops the door open for you, and
the swooping instrument pods clothed in fine stitched leather lull you into
thinking this must be some sort of civilised GT.My driver hits the throttle and the roar
prevents any conversation from continuing inside the cabin.Forget any notion of V8s being bubbly and
warm; this sounds like a ragged, classic in-line four with no air filter.It snarls like an abused animal, one that has
just been allowed temporary leave of it’s rusty cage after weeks of being poked
with a white-hot branding iron.You are
on the menu, certainly, if you take too many liberties.
TVR Power
I
have no doubt in my mind that this ludicrous level of berserker rage is of
little use on the public road.I am
fairly confident that the Cerbera could blast through the national speed limit
with arrogance during a mere reversing manoeuvre off of it’s owner’s
driveway.I have forever been an
advocate of small-engined, lightweight sports cars, which have always seemed to
me to be best suited to the corrugated and Gatso-enshrined road network upon
which we commute, but, like a politically-incorrect and life-threatening
nuclear arsenal, it feels good to know the capability is there.I then elected for a ride in a helicopter, to
calm down.
Asda:On Your Marks, Bruntingthorpe, 10th of August
2008
Whatever
type of motorised mayhem flicks your switch, Asda’s event at the Bruntingthorpe
Proving Ground delivers.Supercars,
modified street cars, low riders, ‘copters, planes, stunt riders and even
articulated lorries.The latter afforded
a drive around the outer bowl for a cost of just five pounds.The event is always well attended and is
renown throughout the Midlands for being a must-see event.All those who offered supercar rides did so
at their own expense, and all proceeds were divided between Loros, Acorns
Children’s Hospice and CLIC children’s cancer charity.Even the ubiquitous burger stall forgoes the
four-pound formality that one associates with Silverstone, and charges just two
pounds, courtesy of Butties of
Lutterworth.This is a local event with
national appeal.
Bruntingthorpe Final Impressions
For
those who have never been to Bruntingthorpe, the scale of the place overwhelms,
yet the whole day was well organised, safe and offered everything a petrol head
of any age or inclination could dream of.Not only does On Your Marks
offer the best value day in the automotive calendar, after it’s six year
gestation it is now also one of the best.
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