I had booked my place at the MAC sprint school last October just after finishing the Mojo, at this time it felt a long way off, but it soon came around. The school is run by MAC (Midland Auto Club) and based at the Curborough sprint course, they also run one at the Shelsey Walsh hilclimb venue.

The Day

Firstly I must admit to taking the soft option and taking the Mojo by trailer, largely due to the inclement weather we had been experiencing, rather than worrying about the Mojo not getting there!. Having loaded up the night before I left home about 7.15 expecting to get there in about an hour. The traffic was a lot heavier than expected so it was almost 8.45 before I arrived. I quickly unloaded and registered in time for the 9.00 briefing.

At the briefing the lead instructor Jim Robinson introduced us to the clerk of course, and his two fellow instructors. All of them are successful single seater sprint and hill climbers with years of experience. We were given an overview of the day, a talk on equipment, how to start sprinting, and shown sketches of the course depicting the lines we should try and take. The basic plan was to split us into 3 groups, walk the course with our instructor, then follow him on a parade lap in our cars, after that we were on our own. The driving went as follows:

2 runs with cones to help us find the lines, then feedback from the instructors.

2 runs without cones, then feedback and lunch.

2 runs with feedback

1 last run, then park up for presentations.

In total there were about 22 cars including, 4 Caterhams, 2 Morgans, 2 BMWs, 1 Ferrari, and MGB, TVR, Porsche, 3 Lotus Elises, and a Suburu impretza.

The laps

First time out it was a blur, you are trying to remember what they told you, follow the cones and do the gear changes all at once. My gear changes were all wrong but most importantly I stayed on the track, the second run felt better, although the first bend at flagpole was wrong, but the molehill and the hairpin were better, the debrief agreed.

Run 3 was the first without the cones so not visual aids for the lines, but went OK and felt faster. Run 4 was a double lapper requiring you to slow down at the end of the straight and turn right for the second lap, you then start your second lap on completely different lines to the first one. It was now feeling better and the feed back was that improvements had been seen, Lunch.

Run 5 was more aggressive with more cutting of the apexes and rumble strips, the double lapper for drive 6 was the best of the day, leaving me more confident for the final session. Then there was final presentations the top awards going to two Caterham drivers.

I can completely recommend the sprint school, its an opportunity to test the handling of your car safely, and learn more about the driving closer to the limit. I had never driven on a track before and really enjoyed it. I was pleased with the Mojo and how it performed, the only hiccup on the day was the alternator giving up, luckily I had taken the trailer!