I am driving a vintage silver Aston Martin in the Pembrokeshire sunshine, the heatwave tarmac shimmers ahead and in the passenger seat a man is urging me ‘put the pedal down, drive faster’.
No, we are not in some James Bond scene or dream, but rather at Car Chase Heroes’ three-day stint at Withybush Airfield, where they have transformed the airfield into a track where anyone van drive their favourite supercar, movie mobile or muscle car.
Based in Cowbridge, Car Chase Heroes describes itself as ‘a bit of a traveling circus, but for cars’, offering rides in everything from Porsches to police cars.
The company’s Nick Hughes said: "We run events all over the UK where people can come along and drive some amazing cars and vehicles.
"It’s not just supercars either. You can drive everything from the latest Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin, right through to movie cars, classics, muscle cars, police cars, trucks and even the Italian Job bus.
"The idea is simple. We give people the chance to drive the cars they’ve always dreamed of, without needing to own one."
I bring along the car fanatic teen, asking if he can drive something fast and flashy while saying that I would like something quirky and classic.
We arrive on a sunny Sunday afternoon, luckily there is a cooling breeze, shade to wait in when you get to the front of the queue for your ride and petty decent porta loos, essential for a nervous mum!!
We are greeted by super friendly staff who help us fill in the necessary forms and check our booking, then we are off to track side, joining a crowd of car fanatics with phones at the ready and the sound of the Atom whizzing round the track. There’s a mostly male clientele with a scattering of girls and women and mostly male instructors.
We don’t wait for long as the teen’s name is called and he hands in his race card. His first ride, and in fact his first driving experience ever, is in a Mercedes AMGGT.
A friendly instructor comes up to him and leads him off to a natty white and black striped number as I watch on, thinking how cool it is that the first car he has ever driven is a Mercedes but also feeling slightly terrified.
There was really no need to worry, all the cars are fitted with a second brake and the instructors are calm and patient.
We didn’t do an orientation lap, I think the info about that got lost in translation, so he ends up doing four laps instead of three and comes bounding over with a huge smile on his face when finished.
“That was so fun,” he says. “The instructor was nice. We went ninety on straight, the guy said accelerate so I floored it.”
We don’t have long to wait before the teen gets his second drive, this time in a shiny red Ferrari 488.
I still haven’t had my first drive, but patience is the name of the game here; treat the experience as an afternoon out and don’t have fixed deadlines.
I try and get some pics as he zooms round the track but it’s not a great spot for unless you have a really good camera. However, Car Chase Heroes does provide professional pics at extra cost.
The teen says that the Ferrari was ‘quite fun’. However, he preferred the Mercedes as it was ‘easier to control’.
Then I’m on to my first drive of the day, the above-mentioned Aston Martin ‘Bond car’. I settle into the walnut and leather interior peer out of a tiny windscreen.
My instructor is friendly and communicates clearly telling me how to get the best out of the car. The side mirrors are angled so that he can use them and he tells me when to let other faster cars past and when to follow them.
The gears are tight and the steering wheel slippy in the heat. Perhaps because I have missed my orientation lap, I find the course dizzy-making; there are long straight parts but also chicanes, a very tight left hand turn and a couple of other big turns.
‘Trust the car’ my instructor urges and by the third lap perhaps I do. It’s a great car to drive and I’m amazed at how much it will tolerate without constant gear changing.
My next ride is the enormous 1969 Doms Charger, a beast of vintage American motoring with a huge steering wheel and a chassis you could land a plane on, the first automatic car I have driven for 25 years.
There’s a turbo charger attached to the bonnet and the car makes a very satisfying chug- chug sound as its driven. It needs a huge amount of time to react to the turns on the course and my, again very patient, instructor sometimes has to give a helping hand on the steering wheel, taking the corners wide and sticking to the outside to get it round.
It’s a bit like driving a tank and feels like an upper-body workout. Its quirks make it fun to drive and quite the experience.
The teen then has a go in a lime green Lamborghini Huracan. This is his favourite drive of the day. Whizzing round in the convertible with the top down in the blazing sun he says the car handled well and had the nicest steering and instructor.
Each instructor scores your ride and for this one he gets 85 per cent and a comment of ‘wow well done’. I am ashamed to say that the teen’s highest score beats mine.
My final drive of the day is the Ferrari 488, low and sleek with paddle shifters, I am instructed to use racing car steering and not feed the steering wheel through my hands. Rather, keep my thumbs hooked in the grips in the steering wheel and use my arms, crossing them when necessary.
It's a hard habit to unlearn and I have quite a few 'argh' moments on the turns!
My instructor tells me to floor it and the turbo kicks in, exciting ands scary. I get six laps in this and by the final few am starting to feel more confident, the instructor’s mantra of when to brake, when to change gear is again calm and well communicated.
Our last treat of the day is a high-speed passenger ride; a lap in a sports saloon driven by a professional driver.
The teen bounces along after his, full of adrenaline. I find it a wind-whippingly , thrilling, experience full of fast spurts and sudden braking. The driver chats as we zoom round but, holding on for dear life, I find it difficult to keep up my part of the conversation.
The afternoon at an end, it is strangely comforting to get back in my bumpy-bottomed banger and drive home at a fairly sedate speed.
As you can probably tell, I’m not a car fanatic but I have had a very pleasant afternoon, the smooth organisation and friendly, calm and kind staff definitely helped.
It is a super experience to be able to drive cars that you could never afford or access in real life and a great idea.
The teen is buzzing for days afterwards and is already planning which cars he will drive next year.
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