Track Day at Castle Combe
15th September 2009 by: Moshe Moses
On September 4th a number of the Seddons team, clients, contacts, friends and family headed towards Castle Combe race track in Wiltshire for what is now an annual event. The track day is organised by partner Clive Robertson to raise money for charity and give a few clients and staff the opportunity to frighten themselves silly by testing their cars out on a race track or risking a ride as a passenger with any one or more of a number of fairly seasoned racers.
The weather was fantastic, the mood was good and much like last year there was a great selection of cars on display including a 1934 Alvis, a Caterham 7, a pair of AC Cobras, a Mercedes 280 SL and a Ferrari 328. This year however, there was an extra special car gracing the track, my Alfa Romeo! Yes that’s right, I drove down this year and disregarding any feelings of conservativeness I took my car out on the track.
Let me set the scene, my first lap on the track included Andrew Jacobs, Head of Property, and corporate partner Alex Egerton as my passengers all wearing our safety helmets of course! I am not going to lie; I almost skidded out twice on the first lap. The look on the faces of my passengers could only be described as sheer terror and I could just see them both thinking ‘this is not a good idea’.
The first lap ended abruptly when I was frantically flagged down by some of the track staff. In the briefing the staff had told us that they would only flag down a car for three reasons, 1) your car is on fire or there is a problem with the car 2) there is a problem on the track i.e. an oil spill or debris etc. 3) dangerous driving. I assumed my flagging down was because of the 3rd reason. However I was shocked to find out it was because I was not allowed to carry two passengers! Alex and Andrew did not waste any time and jumped out of my car at the first possible opportunity!
Later on in the day I was fortunate enough to be given some tuition and drove around the track with one of the driving instructors working at the track. This was a brilliant experience as he literally guided me through every bend telling me when to put my foot down and when to brake.
Perhaps more importantly we managed to raise some money for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and provide a good day out for clients and staff. Looking forward to next year and some more competition on the track… once a certain partner’s hands have stopped shaking that is…!
The weather was fantastic, the mood was good and much like last year there was a great selection of cars on display including a 1934 Alvis, a Caterham 7, a pair of AC Cobras, a Mercedes 280 SL and a Ferrari 328. This year however, there was an extra special car gracing the track, my Alfa Romeo! Yes that’s right, I drove down this year and disregarding any feelings of conservativeness I took my car out on the track.
Let me set the scene, my first lap on the track included Andrew Jacobs, Head of Property, and corporate partner Alex Egerton as my passengers all wearing our safety helmets of course! I am not going to lie; I almost skidded out twice on the first lap. The look on the faces of my passengers could only be described as sheer terror and I could just see them both thinking ‘this is not a good idea’.
The first lap ended abruptly when I was frantically flagged down by some of the track staff. In the briefing the staff had told us that they would only flag down a car for three reasons, 1) your car is on fire or there is a problem with the car 2) there is a problem on the track i.e. an oil spill or debris etc. 3) dangerous driving. I assumed my flagging down was because of the 3rd reason. However I was shocked to find out it was because I was not allowed to carry two passengers! Alex and Andrew did not waste any time and jumped out of my car at the first possible opportunity!
Later on in the day I was fortunate enough to be given some tuition and drove around the track with one of the driving instructors working at the track. This was a brilliant experience as he literally guided me through every bend telling me when to put my foot down and when to brake.
Perhaps more importantly we managed to raise some money for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and provide a good day out for clients and staff. Looking forward to next year and some more competition on the track… once a certain partner’s hands have stopped shaking that is…!
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