Today we head from the hotel to the first event at Elvington Airfield. This is the location where Richard Hammond had his near fatal accident. As co driver I hope we have better luck.

After lining up for scrutineering and a briefing, along with meeting the other participants, we were set the first test. This required my compatriot to drive from a start line, down a runway, round a set of cones and back at an average speed of 43 mph. The run is timed and the event organisers will use this for a calculation to see how accurate we are. With a classic mini speedo it will be more luck than judgment. The other handicap is the fact my compatriot can’t see the digits on the speedo. We will let you know the results when we find out.

The next event was manouvering through cones, parking in a garage, driving around a roundabout and squashing plastic cups before then driving back to the start, all in exactly 50 seconds, with penalties for almost any misdeameanors.  Reverse is apparently very difficult to find when in a hurry and 50 seconds passed during this manouver.

Forgetting the last two events (or trying to), after an excellent lunch, we queued up for the final event which is a drive down the runway, over a measured distance, trying to average 48mph. We will again see when the results are published.

We then did a mass drive up the runway for the cameras and a motoring journalist.  

The day ended on the airfield, and using a tulip road book, we were to navigate back to the hotel. This requires my compatriot to work three peddles, a gear stick, steering wheel, indicators and wipers (occasionally) and do mental arithmetic using the mileometer to calculate the distance to the next turn. I will leave you to work out the probability, but to help there is as much chance of a divorce.

The day finished with an excellent dinner and instructions for tomorrow’s event.