Were there some way to capture my facial expressions under the balaclava and helmet, I’m sure I’d give the best of actors a run for their money. Because over that sole lap around the Sepang International Circuit, I experienced everything from anticipation and joy to fear and eye-widening panic. Sitting shotgun in a two-seat Formula Le Mans car with a racer going for it has that effect. Welcome to the Michelin Pilot Sport Experience. It’s an annual event where the French tyre maker flexes its rubber muscles and gives Michelin partners and a few lucky contest winners an opportunity to really experience some of the race machines that come shod with its tyres. I say ‘some’ because Michelin is involved in everything from Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship, to the World Rally Championship, Formula E and Moto GP. And that’s just to name a few.
For participants, it’s a day to partly live their racing fantasy. Slip into racing overalls, tighten the laces on your Sparco race shoes and get handed a helmet with your name on it – it all happens just as it would for the lucky guys who make their living racing hard on any given Sunday. My first driving experience for the day was in a 130hp hatchback. Lest you are underwhelmed, know that the car had a full-spec roll cage and rally tyres. It was a proper Citroën DS3 junior rally car and I was to pilot it on a rally course that had just lost the little traction it had thanks to heavy overnight rains. Awesome! After a slow sighting lap where I was shown the lines, my instructor sitting besides tells me to attack. “No braking” is the next instruction. I’m not sure I heard that right so I abide by the late great Colin McRae’s ‘If in doubt, flat out’ motto. Late apex, the instructor yanks the handbrake (we weren’t allowed to) and the car pivots into the hairpin. What a feeling! I could feel the tyres scrabbling for grip and was pushed to be more aggressive with the controls to get the most out of them. A few laps in, I got the hang of the lines and using the throttle to steer. Full lock, opposite lock, half lock…it was incredibly intense in the cabin. Pity the video footage from the outside didn’t look half as dramatic as I expected it to be. Rally drivers really are a different breed.
We moved to relatively more familiar environs for the second experience. We were to drive a 220hp Renault Clio touring car on a section of the main circuit. Once again, a yoga asana or two was required to get past the scaffolding in the car and onto the seat. It should have been straightforward thereon. Accelerate hard, shift up when the last of the rev lights on the steering is about to glow, and downshift and brake before turning in to the corners. Except I wasn’t accustomed to the grip from the racing slicks so was braking way too early and correspondingly wasn’t using the width of the track. And that’s one of the things I loved about the event. The instructors weren’t matrons there to keep a check on speed, but rather were coaches who highlighted where we went wrong and what we needed to do to go quicker. As I got faster and faster, my appreciation for the circuit, the tyres and this highly strung version of the Clio just grew.
