Drive round Millbrook proving ground

[Markarina]

Had to go to Millbrook today to drop off a car for some emissions testing, my colleague and I were asked if we would a tour round the test tracks ..... like we are going to no to that offer

Anyway our host arranged for one of the racing drivers that works there to drive us round in a Vauxhall Monaro .... all 5.7litres of it, some of the tracks we covered were:

the straight mile, exactly what it says one mile of dead flat road with banked entry and exit,

high speed handling track all sorts of bends in it with plenty of run off area - boy could this guy drive he goes round bends at speeds you wouldn't believe

low speed handling - pretty boring designed to simulate city driving.

high speed bowl - now this was freaky, 4 lanes each lane witha different neutral speed (speed at which you don't need to steer you just stay at the speed banking and physics take care of the rest), really freaky to have the guy set the cruise control, then take his hands and feet of the controls and turn round and talk to us , then he floored it and we were belting round at 155, he wouldn't go any faster as it was one of the directors personal cars, complete with kid seats in the back.

Hill track - OMFG bends, adverse camber hairpins and steep gradients and this guy just hurled it round my neck and shoulders ache from the experience but WOW

And now the best bit - I haven't completely checked it out, but the guy basically told me that anybody can hire the tracks by the hour and the cost is around £50 for an hours track time, not sure if this is limited to one car or not .... could be a possible idea for a forum meet.

[Sidspud]

high speed bowl - now this was freaky, 4 lanes each lane with a different neutral speed (speed at which you don't need to steer you just stay at the speed banking and physics take care of the rest), really freaky to have the guy set the cruise control, then take his hands and feet of the controls and turn round and talk to us

I read a while back in Evo about 2 guys who took a Bentley out on the bowl and set the cruise control and then climbed over into the back!

Nutters!

[Greg_S]

That sounds like an excellent days work! who would we contact about hiring some time there?

[alg]

I did a Porsche 993 day some years ago. The highlight being the DTM driver taking me round the single track handling circuit mainly sideways !!

[andrewd]

I've had a couple of visits there, it really is car testing heaven

As a passenger I've had rides around the high-speed handling course and high-speed bowl in a Tuscan S, Phaeton 3.2 and VX220. I've also had the pleasure of driving the hill-course and high speed bowl in a number of cars including an 3.0 S-Type, Vectra 3.2 GSI, Saab 9-5 Aero ... oh, and a Fiat Multipla.

They used to run "test days" there a few years back, only cost about £40 for the day and you got your pick of a load of new cars to drive or to be driven in. There was supposed to be a speed limit of 50mph on the hill course and 100mph on the high-speed bowl ... but we saw an indicated 140mph on the S-Type before my nerve went! We also managed to get it airbourne over the infamous hill-course yump

[Markarina]

That sounds like an excellent days work! who would we contact about hiring some time there?

I have to go back to Millbrook next week so I will do some digging and let you know, if it comes off then I will also see about getting some timing kit from work and see if we can do times for the mile as well

[Ian Simmonds]

In 1994 I took my (much modified) Audi GT on the bowl at Millbrook and did a 146.2 mph flying lap... It's probably the most frightening thing I've ever done in a car.