02 Aug 2012, 21:42
![[Image: MillBrook_letter_002.jpg]](http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/MillBrook_letter_002.jpg)
“In a second we’ll turn into the bowl, take this time to adjust your seat, mirrors and steering wheel position, you need to be comfortable in the car to get the most from it. As we turn in you’ll see speed limits painted on the lanes, 75, 100, 125 etc; these are MINIMUM speeds for each lane. I need you to accelerate as fast as you feel comfortable with and don’t move into the next lane until your exceeding the minimum speed. The lap speed record is 257mph. Are you ready?”
Said the Stig….
![[Image: millbrook-proving-ground.jpg]](http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/millbrook-proving-ground.jpg)
Heart pounding in my mouth, I pressed the crystal emotion key into its dashboard socket and the monster that is the new (most powerful car they have ever made) “light weight” Aston Martin DBS, gently took the fob from my grip and it motored into the console activating the instrumentation lighting. Pressing the Start button the V12 burst into a symphony of hydrocarbon bass. My heart raced to almost match the beat of the leviathan, as I pulled away.
![[Image: smmt07_bowl02_use2.jpg]](http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/smmt07_bowl02_use2.jpg)
“Faster!”
“Mirrors, change lane”
“Mirrors. Faster, Change Lane” came the cry of the Stig.
100, 125, 150mph and we hadn’t even reached the ½ mile marker.
Car lurched.
“Sh*t what was that?”
“Rev limiter” said the Stig with a smile as I barely finished the Shiiiiiiii.
“Keep it going. DO NOT LOOK at the Armco Barrier!”
160 mph and rising. 18” from the Armco on the top peak of the famous Millbrook Bowl. The Armco was like a Siren willing me relentlessly to look at it, starting with a glance from the corner of my eye, it would try to hypnotise me like looking from a train at a parallel track rise and fall as it moved closer and further away from the carriage.
“KEEP your vision clearly to the left of straight ahead!” said the Stig sternly.
“Relax your arms”
Quickly glancing down at my arms I saw the tension of white knuckles on the wheel. The car was hurtling around the bowl, I hit 160 before the first lap and it was only 8:30 in the morning.
“Try not to steer to the left.”
Eh? I’m at light speed on a 2 mile perfect banked circle going anti-clockwise and you want me not to steer to the left. Can’t you see I’m a little pre occupied here? I thought.
“The bowl was specially built with the right camber to hold a car in a straight steering position at a given speed, hence the minimum speed limits marked on the surface”
“OK” I said. So, now if the dizziness of going around and around in circles at silly speed and the lure of the hypnotising Armco wasn’t going to get me; I was ignoring my brains natural instinct to steer slightly left.
“Right, just relax and take in a few more laps” said Stig.
Easy for you to say matey, my heart had beaten so fast it must have leaped out of my body (since I had other more pressing considerations and had forgotten about it) my brain was being suppressed and my vision was being taunted. It was like that moment before unconsciousness while being gassed at the Dentist.
“Ok, happy? Right…..LET GO OF THE STEERING WHEEL”
Now at over 165mph, 18” from the Armco, in a brand new Aston your asking me to do what?????
“Come on, let go of the steering wheel” said the Stig, whilst reaching over to gently ply my death grip from the rim.
“You are kidding me right?” as if my senses hadn’t enough going on at this moment in time, you want me to totally freak out.
“Ok, these cars are so well engineered and the chassis so stable at speed you can stick it in cruise control here and now and climb into the back seat for a nap, it’ll stay firmly in lane……trust me”.
So, I thought I was driving this DBS at light speed, holding it out of the Armco and instant death, fighting my senses to not steer left, being hypnotised, not looking straight ahead and melting my brain with sensory overload; when you tell me it’s driving itself!
“Come on, let go of the wheel, FOLD your arms, and keep the speed constant”
Now, between you and me, I have had only a few memorable occasions where you genuinely offer your life to someone else’s judgement.
What would you do?
So ok, rationalise Darren, think, think (oh yes don’t forget your hurtling towards the horizon at 165mph)…ok, this is the Stig, yes the real Stig, he’s a factory Aston Test Driver and I’m here to see what the new range of Astons can do. He’s unlikely to kill me, as ultimately they want to sell me a car, think, think. Oh Fu*k it, if I’m gonna die today it’s a hell of a way to go.
“That’s it, now fold them”
Ok, yes I’m now sat arms folded in hyperspace, this is a new meaning I have found for the word “surreal”
“Right, what I’d like you to do now, VERY carefully is steadily ease off the accelerator by just a few MPH, you’ll feel the car start to change lanes. KEEP your hands OFF the wheel…..ready?”
Toes suddenly feeling unusually cumbersome in my shoe, I nervously only very, very slightly let off the pressure, sure enough the car started to change lanes. My arms rose instinctively to the wheel.
“NO”
“Keep em folded” said psycho Stig.
“Ok, can you feel the chassis contact and relationship with the road?”
“Yes”
“Well lets practice this a few times, lets move slowly back up the bowl”
“SLOWLY” his voice raised emphasising that as jolly as all this was, you know, we could actually hit the Armco and die.
“That’s it, settle the speed so your about 18” off again. We’ll do it a few more times and then change the suspension settings so you can feel the chassis response in each mode, it’s the only way to truly understand the soul of the cars engineering”
This was some test drive I can tell you!
“We’re going from comfort to sport. Hands on the wheel, watch your speed now, this function not only changes the suspension setting on the car, stiffening it to a more old fashioned conventional sprung feel, it changes the relative throttle positions and response, drop down into the next lane and reduce to 125mph. Ok ready? 3…..2…..1”
“Bloody hell, feels like someone’s just rear ended us”
“Ha ha, that’s the throttle position increase I told you about” said Stig.
The cars stance changed, the road surface became ragged and juddery, every imperfection rattled your teeth, this was not a nice experience. The car jumped and bounced, scaring the sh*t out of me at 150mph, the white knuckles returned, ok I don’t like this at all. The slightest change in throttle pressure caused the car to lurch, this really was a “no time to talk, brains busy hanging on moment”.
“Feel the difference?”
“Ummm” I squeaked quietly.
“Not nice is it? This bowl was built by General Motors as a test facility in 1968 (when John Z DeLorean was at the helm!) it’s been repaired many times since then and you can feel every bump at high speed in Sport Mode. A good demonstration no?”
“Ummm” I squeaked and nodded, not enjoying this bouncing and lurching coffin at all.
“Ok enough of that, lets put it back in comfort.
3….2…1, back in comfort”
Phew, that really showed how much computer trickery plays a part in the new DBS. I’m really, really not a fan of the “PlayStation” generation of cars, preferring good olde fashioned driver skills overcoming machine; but for once in my life it was most welcome.
“Ok. That’s the Bowl, we’ll be taking several new Aston models out today so you can get to understand each cars character. Right, lets go back for a quick coffee, then we’ll do the Alpine Pass Circuit in the Vantage S” said Stig.
“Great”
“Watch the exit markers here, they’re every ¼ mile. Look, 1 mile, ¾, ½, ¼, BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE………comes around quick at 170mph doesn’t it” chuckled the Stig.
VIN 4532
DOC-574
DOC-574
