You have to be ARD to race

Well, maybe not ARD, but definitely ARDS. That's the Association of Racing Driver Schools. That's where you have to go to get your racing car license, and without that, you can't legally race. And that's why we were at Mallory Park race circuit very early on a Wednesday morning with the sun shining. Bizarrely, the race car that Kate had on the track had air conditioning. Everything else had been stripped from the car, except the air conditioning. Squeezed into the car was roll cage, bucket seats, four point seat belts, plumbed in fire extinguisher, awesome gear change, and air conditioning. Kate was very pleased to have it. It probably reduced the car's BHP a little, but probably reduced Kate's BP a lot as she tore round the track on the first (and perhaps the only) day of Summer. The engine sound was awesome. I know it was only a Citroen DS3, but I could hear her changing up and down the gears a mile away.

And she was absolutely beaming when she climbed out of the car after the first session. "She's good" her instructor said. And Kate went on to pass her test with straight As (which included a very serious written test).

Another 60 minutes of driving on the track with her instructor Hayden (just for fun), and then the day was sadly over. Back to Stoke uni for Kate, stopping off at Specsavers to get her eyes tested (a mandatory requirement to get her racing license), and a long drive back to London for me.

Now that Kate is a tough and ARD racing driver, she'll be testing a Radical SR3 on the Brands Hatch GP circuit on 27 April with Racing Women. I can't wait!