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Alfa Romeo Cloverleaf Club Driving Experience

 

Watch out Lewis Hamilton!

It’s easy to think you’re as good as the professionals. But the reality is quite different…

Written by Simon Charlesworth:

"In the space of a few hours and a dozen or so laps at the recent Cloverleaf track day, I was transformed.

No longer a damp-behind-the-ears novice but now someone who feels, and looks, like a racing driver. I no longer feel like a moth drowning in a pond – flapping about, missing apexes or braking too late. When it clicks, it flows, it’s automatic and I really start to enjoy myself.

During that ultimate two-lap session around the fast, flowing Thruxton circuit in a new 2.2-litre Alfa Brera S, I was perfectly positioned through Allard, I nailed it through the Campbell, Cob and Segrave complex with perfect steering lock, entry speed and accuracy. I even remembered to turn in late at Noble and I was practically a school-swat through Goodwood and Village. A dab of the brakes and a perfectly dispatched apex at Church followed by a delicious line through Woodham Hill and Club meant that I thought I was destined for greatness.

Actually, no. Seeing the two ‘hot lap’ Alfa V6s and their drivers sitting idle, I jump in and buckle up for a ride. My elevated personal opinions aren’t just crushed they’re practically freeze-dried, because the professional drivers are the real deal.
Allard is taken with such immense force and speed that the Alfa drifts elegantly sideways. Then we slice through Campbell, Cobb and Segrave with such vigour that I’m no longer savouring the car’s exhaust note because my main priority is self-preservation. We make it through, albeit sideways, complete with yet more screaming – but this time from the tyres. By this point, my own mental commentary has ceased transmission.

The fast, left-hand ‘curvy’ straights like Noble, Village and Brooklands are taken so fast, that my eyelids just want to hug one another. Surely what you can’t see won’t hurt you...?

Understandably, the sight of the pit-lane entrance comes as an almost blessed relief. Tense sweaty palms and aching biceps relax, the view out of the windscreen returns to a more familiar, more human speed.

Then all that’s left is to smile, attempt a glib remark and exit the car with a modicum of decorum. Get it right and hopefully you won’t reveal the quivering mess that lies beneath the calm, if slightly sweaty, surface.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, I need more practice…"

Book an Alfa Romeo Driving Experience now!

It’s just £110 for a half day session full of driving brand new Alfa Romeos. There are limited spaces left for the following dates:

3rd September              Brands Hatch
11th September            Oulton Park
17th September            Croft Circuit

You have to be a Cloverleaf Club member to book – please see the insert included in this month’s AROC magazine which gives you the opportunity to benefit from 1-year free of charge.

www.cloverleafclub.co.uk