FROM C-types to F-TYPEs, road cars to racing cars, over the two and half decades I’ve been writing about cars for a living, I’ve driven all kinds of vehicles on all kinds of racetracks. But the one variety of car I haven’t driven on a circuit is my own.
I’ve often thought about using my XK8 for a track day; with 270bhp it should certainly be fast enough. But the idea of putting too much stress on the now 22-year-old coupe as I pound round and round in circles or crashing Nicholas Latifi-style into the barrier has always deterred me.
And then I remember hillclimbs. Offering all the thrills and excitement of a track day but with less pressure to drive flat-out over long periods of time, they seem the perfect compromise. With JEC TrackSport organising an event at the Harewood Speed Hillclimb in North Yorkshire, it was time I added my XK8 to that long list.
Two things strike me when
