Hethel is the home of Lotus Cars, manufacturers of some of the best handling sports cars on the market. This reputation has been earned following years of development work on chassis engineering with no doubt, countless hours of testing at the Hethel Test Track.

It is therefore no surprise that the track has been designed to test all aspects of chassis performance. The track layout that the event uses consists of a series of 3 sweeping curves that then feed into a medium speed hairpin. Another series of 3 sweeping curves of increasing speed are then followed by a tight right left right sequence that then open out onto a long straight. A chicane in the distance, barely visible at the start of the straight, is soon upon you, followed by a medium speed hairpin leading to the finish line. The track is fast, with an excellent grippy surface that naturally tests car and driver alike.

Strangely, this venue fails to attract a full entry and this also applied to the SpeedMog entry, consisting of David and Ella Frow, Paul Bryan and Simon (The Baron) Baines.

The organisers had been watching the weather forecast and with rain forecast early in the afternoon, it was decided to take 2 timed runs before lunch, followed by a brief lunch break. A further 2 timed runs would follow in the afternoon.

The 1^st practice run didn’t go smoothly for the Baron with a wrong gear selection at the chicane on the long straight resulting in a spin. Whilst a time was recorded it did cause a red flag for Paul Bryan who was then granted a re-run.

The 1^st Timed Run went better with representative times for the Frows and the Baron, but Paul returned to the paddock with a sticking throttle. This was soon rectified and in good time for the 2^nd Timed Run.

After Timed Run 2, the Frows were getting into their stride with Ella in a commanding lead, whilst David was just ahead of the Baron.

Timed Run 3 and with everyone having to push harder, this resulted in David spinning at the 1^st hairpin. Improvements from The Baron (1.4 secs) and Paul Bryan (2.5 secs) closed the field up leaving one more timed run.

David was the first to run and due to taking avoiding action due to a pheasant crossing the track, his time didn’t improve. With all the remaining drivers improving their times, it was necessary to resort to the laptop to calculate the final scores.

As predicted due to her pace throughout the day, Ella was the standout winner. The remaining spoils went the Baron in 2^nd place and David in 3^rd place.

The SpeedMog field may have been small but the competition was no less fierce. A great day and well worth the journey.