F1 Driving School

EXCITEMENT TO THE POWER OF ONE

Ever wished that you could be on track at the wheel of a Formula One car like Lewis Hamilton? Well maybe you could be. Jonathan Crouch attends the world's only Formula One driving school.

Driving a fully-fledged Formula One car is something you'll never get to do. Not this side of an extremely vivid imagination anyway. It's a twilight zone reserved for the likes of Sebastian Vetel and Jenson Button every second Sunday. Something you can dream about before bumping back down to earth. So what am I doing here at the wheel of one of these machines, 600bhp under my right foot and an open track beckoning ahead?

There's no room in the cramped cockpit to pinch myself but a quick shake of the head is enough to confirm that if this is a dream, then it's a pretty remarkable one. True, I don't have the 850bhp developed by Herr Vettel's current F1 Mercedes powered Red Bull at my disposal but with a power to weight ratio of 1,200bhp per tonne, this AGS racer is as close to it as makes no difference. Let's get that into perspective. The fastest roadcar you can buy is arguably Mercedes' McLaren SLR and that manages a power to weight ratio of just 350bhp per tonne. In other words, drive an F1 car and every inclination you've ever had to exercise your right foot will forever be satisfied.

And AGS? It's not a familiar name on the current F1 grid but it was in the l...