ALL THOSE CLICHÉS ABOUT MOTORSPORT being an emotional rollercoaster: they’re all true. By the time our first race weekend with the Ginetta G56 is through, I will have see-sawed between jangling nerves, espresso shots of adrenaline, mild terror, sheer elation and a few tears, too.
It all begins early Friday morning, test day. Tomorrow is the opening round of the Ginetta GT Academy season at Oulton Park, with three races on the support bill for the British GT Championship. While the pitlane fills with topflight GT3 and GT4 cars, we’re in the adjacent paddock, under a smart awning adjoining one of Ginetta’s race trucks.
Our car’s being run by the Want2Race team, Ginetta’s in-house racing organisation, which looks after drivers new to the championship. Fresh from the Garforth factory, every surface on the car is spotless, the body panels pure white (apart from a few home-made evo stickers slightly wonkily applied by yours truly). I’m desperately keen to keep them
