He had a +1 for another admin member but I tagged along and somehow managed to get a back seat for the whole day.
The chosen car for the day was a MK6 Golf GTi
There were 6 cars. 4 white manual 3-door and 2 silver DSG equipped cars.
We were assigned a pro driver, in fact he was the 1600cc gravel rally champion, he guided around the amazing milbrook facility. We were told we were not allowed any recording devices and our cameras had to be handed over at the gate, but a photo opportunity would be presented later.
First up the Alpine road course, this is just as it sounds, a road that is twisty and plenty of hills. They were encouraged to drive very quickly round here and a pro photogragher took pics. It was pretty scary but amazing, thrashing the ass off a brand new car at a top test facility! We saw Tiff Needell doing some filming up there with an Aston too.
Next up was the famous Bowl. a perfect 2 mile round bowl. Our driver took us into lane five, the highest lane at a peculiar angle! We sped up to 135mph, those 2 miles soon disappear and you lose track of how far your going. Then Chris' turn, due to certain rules he was only allowed in lane 4 and took the GTI up to 70 mph and let go of the wheel - hands behind his head LOL. At the right speed set, the car will travel endlessly around this circut without steering input. Staying in lane 4 we then accelerated up to 110mph and cruised for a while.
Next, we moved to a handling course and the pro took us for a spin. Amazing car control, and with 4 people inside, handles at full bore round a tight twisty undulating road. Pretty hairy!
Then we moved to a mile straight, wide piece of tarmac. BRAKE TEST.
We took the car up to 100 mph and did an emergancy stop, must have topped in about 5 feet, thats what it felt like. And for it to be constantly abused all day and still perform this test was brilliant.
Lastly, Mr Russ Swift was also there doing his normal stunts that he performs all over the world, but with a difference, each stunt he took a different person out as he did J-turns and parallel parks between 2 GTI's!
Back to the base for lunch and some snaps when they'd bought our cameras back. There was an unreleased Lotus driving around this day which is why we'd had to wait til he was off circuit. Out the front were mk1 to mk5 lined up, all in mint condition (the mk2 only had 167 miles on the clock!)
Here are some pics and vids anyway. Why do the vids always look slower on playback?!
Line-up:
Overview inside and out:
Russ Swift Parallel parking: (camera phone)
