On top of the world!

Dear friends and family,

Yesterday was my second day of interviewing/training at the Bedford Autodrome with the Palmer Sport racing school. Because the day started 45 minutes earlier than the program last week I had to rent a car to get there on time. This day would present a spectacular opportunity for failure considering I would have to travel half way across the UK, on the wrong side of the road, with only an address as my guide! The only glimpse of hope on my side was a GPS navigation device which I purchased the day before. I bit the bullit and spent a couple of hundred dollars knowing that a navigation device will be a massively valuable asset in this land which is very foreign to me.

I left the appartment bright and early with the navigation on my side and a hire car which I hoped would be able to make the journey! Somehow, someway, against all odds, I made it to the autodrome hopefully unscathed. I say this, because around the UK there is an incredible number of speed cameras which capture the speed of motorists over the limit. I think I maintained a reasonable speed, but hopefully my race driving tendencies didn't push me over the limits when I passed these speed cameras! I suppose in a few weeks I will find out if my big right foot got me in trouble.

Once I arrived on scene this day was very different than the previous day. There were loads of bright red Palmer Sport jacketed instructors standing around and I stuck out like a sore thumb in my blue sweater. The day got under way and it was another fast and furious affair. I spent my time working with the same chief instructors I had worked with the day before and we more closely learned about the school. I got to do about 20 laps in the Caterham cars and really started to get a feel for the cars! The track was dry (as opposed to wet last time) but I managed to take off seven and a half seconds from my best time! There is definitely more time to be found but it will take some time to get acclimated with the Caterham machine.

Mid-way through the day they gave me a great omen when they took me to have me fitted for Palmer Sport instructor gear. The afternoon was filled up with a deeper look into the courses and a training course on instructing in the palmer sport way.

At the conclusion of the day, expectations met, they lead instructor presented me with the fantastic news tha that I could work for Palmer Sport as a racing instructor.

As you can imagine, this is an opportunity I am truly over the top about with an organization which stands above its competition, literally on a world-wide scale. In many ways the Palmer Sport group has changed the way motorsport works in a very positive way and to work with an organization like this will be phenomenal. I believe it will provide me with opportunities to grow and move towards my personal goal of racing in Formula 1.

On a side note, I found out during the day that the Palmer Sport instructors had found a link to this very blog. The link was passed around the office so there is a chance they are reading these words right now. So to the Palmer sport guys, hello, and thank you for the job!! To everyone else, hope you are doing very well and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely yours

Michael