Should I have been excited? anixous? nervous? I don’t know, but I definitely was none of them. When I was invited to experience a drive with a Guinness World Record-holding racer, first I was excited, but soon I was unusually indifferent.
“Madam, would you be test driving the new tyres on the Audi TT too?” said the manager of Dubai Autodrome. Before I got here, I assumed I would be driven on that smooth tarmac by Lebanese motorsport racer, Abdo Feghali. But here I was being asked if I wanted to be in the driver’s seat, to which I replied without second guessing, “Yea, I could”. First thing that passed through my mind was, you’ve said the words, you can’t chicken out now.
The experience
So I went with the group to a spot where three Audi TTs were parked. Each was fixed with a different set of tyres – Michelin, Bridgeston Potenza Adrenalin RE003, and a third one which I didn’t quite get the name of. In pairs, we were asked to get into the cars, drive through activities which had us swerve the car around cones at 40, 60, 80km/hr.
Before I got into the driver’s seat, I just made sure with the instructor, “I’m not a really fast driver, should I still be getting in the car?”Again my thoughts wandered to you tried and there’s no chance you can get out of this situation. Just drive on. Of course, I was assured that all of us would be safe, and we just had to follow the instructor’s commands.
To my otherwise anxious mind it came as a surprise of how calm I was at the wheel. Following the instructions I veered at speeds high enough to yell “Mamma”, to which my partner freaked out and reacted, “Relax”. Clearly now adrenalin was pumping. Screeching tyres, deep bends, dodging cones, I didn’t know if I was coming or going. It was all too exciting. For a new driver in the UAE that can be pretty overwhelming.
“Wow, I have never screeched a tyre in my life…until now”, was the highlight of my day when I got off the Audi TT. The heat kept the thermometer busy at 43+ degrees Celsius, a little sickness did crawl in, but nothing beat experience of that beautiful ride. I did try all three cars with all three different tyres, and hands down Bridgeston Potenza Adrenalin RE003 got my vote.
This post first appeared on khaleejtimes.com (Photos are not mine)
