A cold Sunday morning in January. Phone goes off with a text from my son’s WhatsApp group. They are at Donington Park Circuit in Derbyshire. They own a Renault Clio track car complete with roll cage shod with appropriate slicks for the track. An invite for me to join them. I did have other plans, but they could be shuffled around. Checked the map on my phone. Approx an hour’s drive. Loaded the car with some camera equipment and hit the road. The track circuit was easily accessible from the M1 although I did initially drive to the wrong entrance – the East gateway. After a phone call I found them.
Into the office. Read, completed and signed the admin/insurance form enabling me to be a passenger in a car on the circuit. Paid the very reasonable £10 fee, had a green passenger denoted wristband wrapped around my wrist by the admin lady, and went and located the Clio.




My younger son Lewis was just about to go back out on the circuit so I grabbed my GoPro, mounted it on the fixed mount in the car behind us facing forward, wriggled over the roll cage bar into the passenger bucket seat. Lewis handed me his spare helmet. Fastened the racing car seat belt harness and depressed the camera button for video recording. The rule is no mobile phones held in the car, so all cameras must be fixed.
Some of the pit garages in the pit lane were in use – handy on this rainy day if you need to do any changes to the car.
On entering the track from the pit lane, I raised my arm to show my passenger arm band to the marshal. Onto the track, immediately into a sweeping bend on a camber. It was raining and sheets of water were evident on the tarmac. Driving around circuit clockwise there were approximately seven other cars sharing the track. A selection of Renault Clios, variants of BMW 1 and 3 series including E36 and E46 M3‘s. A lone Mazda MX5 convertible with no doubt a wet driver and passenger onboard passed us. Most vehicles housed the single central rear facing red light which was illuminated due to the rain, boosting visibility of the cars.




An obligatory use of the right indicator and moving over to the right side of the track away from the racing line was the rule to allow a faster car to overtake.
What looked like a Marcos donning a very large rear spoiler overtook us at some speed. The Clio was running a four cylinder 2.0 16 valve DOHC engine with 182 BHP with two up. We were quick, but no match for the greater horsepower vehicles out there. I lost count of the laps we covered but each seemed quicker except where we slowed for overtaking cars. The long Wheatcroft straight in 4th gear regularly witnessed a 100 mph sprint and the rev counter showing a 7000 rpm redline.
A Skoda passed us, bellowing out diesel fumes – surely they cannot be good for the track if residue settled! A couple of cars span out off the track and the trackside red lights (previous years had marshals waving red flags) duly illuminated around the track stopping the race and causing us to exit the circuit whilst the cars were recovered.
Into the pits for a driver swap. Spectator viewing existed along the pit lane wall between the pit lane and the track. My elder son Lee now took the wheel for some laps. He had been out earlier and had a lockup on bend up an incline and kissed the gravel. No damage sustained. The recovery truck duly attended and pulled the Clio out of the gravel trap.




Multiple laps later, the track red lights illuminated. Time to exit the circuit again. Lee had covered enough laps, so time for a coffee and debrief at the on-site Garage 39 café. The boys then went out again on their own for some more laps. It was a fun day and next time I’ll take up their offer of driving the circuit but I will initially take the Clio out on a dry day first to discover its traits before tackling a wet track. The last time I was out on a track was many years ago at the Oulton Park Circuit in a Ford Sierra XR4x4. I don’t why I have left it so long..