Within 30 minutes of arriving at the track I realise I have thoroughly underestimated the amount of faffing and form filling required to actually get moving.
I only achieve five laps out during daytime. And they were a bit of a blur to be honest. I didn’t manage to pick a quiet time and it felt like more serious racing machinery was constantly coming up in the rear view mirror and I was always off-line letting things pass and not quite learning the track.
Night time soon comes and we head out on track. There were around 25 cars taking part in total, split into two groups. I was in the first group. As I exit the fully lit pitlane and emerge onto the track I begin to understand the size of the task at hand. After a few corners, the bright, clear, warm iridescent lights of the pitlane seem a lifetime ago.
The light sources are now harsh, unfamiliar and flickering. If they were a film they’d come with an epilepsy warning.
The first few laps were done behind a safety car, and once that pulls in things improve. The faster, more serious machinery gets away and leaves the slower stuff (including me) behind. I get past a couple of slower cars and within a few laps I’m on my own.
I thought this might be the toughest, but the truth is that this was the best. The cat’s eyes dotted around the track were easy to follow, softly improved by the lights of other, distant cars ahead. I fell into a flow, and really, really enjoyed it.
