Hitching a lift with Kova and Gene...

Hockenheim has a Saturday night tradition which I think should be adopted by all circuits: Hot laps with F1 drivers.

Heikki Kovalainen took me around in a Lotus Evora with my initials on the number plate. It's low weight and perfectly balanced chassis was silky smooth, but as I told Kova: "Gimmie the full hooligan experience". F1 drivers are used to keeping wheelspin to a minimum. When they're on the clock, getting the tail sliding is a bad thing. So when it's after hours, they love being let off the leash.

After the Evora, I got a lift with Marc Gene. The Ferrari 458 Italia is without doubt one of my dream cars and it didn't disappoint. The sound was sensational. Faster in a straight line than the Lotus but slower around the corners, Marc gave it full beans around every turn, tyre smoke bellowing behind us like the jet stream from a Jumbo.



Thanks again chaps, I thoroughly enjoyed it.