Doug & Jodie

For my birthday last year, Jodie bought me a Drivers Dream Day voucher, to drive an Aston Martin DB9 and a Bentley Continental GT. So, after a bad nights sleep in a small B&B near the race track, we drove our hire car to Bruntingthorpe rack track and proving ground. After registration and some additional insurance, I was ready to go.

Firstly, I had to jump in a Subaru for a familiarisation lap around the track. The track splits into 2 on the back straight. A section with a chicane and a long straight, to be used if the instructor has confidence in your driving.

I had a to wait for my turn in the Aston, but the time flew by, and I was ready to go. Jodie was worried that I didn’t look too excited leading up to the day, but once I was there I was like a 5 year old. I stood for a few photos before jumping into the Aston. The instructor gave me a quick run down on the car before we set off.

Aston Martin DB9 Facts :

All alloy quad overhead cam 48 valve 6 Litre V12
Rear mid-mounted ‘Touchtronic 2’, six-speed gearbox with electronic shift-by-wire control
19’’ alloy wheels, Front: 235/40 ZR19, Rear: 275/35 ZR19
Max speed: 186mph (300km/h)
Max power: 335kW (450bhp) @ 6000 rpm
Acceleration : 0-60mph 4.7 seconds
Max torque : 570 Nm (420 lb.ft) @ 5000 rpm

On to the laps… the car was like nothing I have ever driven before. It was really easy to drive and precisely finished in every way. I went round the track, pushing the car as much as I could (or felt safe to do). After one lap the instructor was happy to let me open up down the back straight, and in the blink of an eye I was at 150 mph (240 kmh). Another lap around and I took it down the straight again, trying really hard to push it as fast as it could go, but I simply ran out of race track, and had to brake to turn into the closing bends. Seconds later I was back in the pit and beaming with a huge grin.

Next, I had the Bentley. This car is much bigger than the Aston, and at 2385 kg, it’s not a light car. Thanks to the amount of power it produces, the weight issue is quickly overcome.

Bentley Continental GT Facts :

6.0L, twin-turbocharged W12 engine.
6-speed automatic transmission
Max Speed : 195 mph (314 km/h)
Max Power : 552 hp (412 kW)
Acceleration : 0 – 60mph 4.6 seconds
Max torque : 650Nm, 479 lb-ft @ 1600rpm

It was a great drive, but it was a lot more work to try and make it perform like the Aston. Because the car is so heavy, it has ceramic brakes, which means the brakes don’t get too hot and lose performance. When accelerating down the back straight the car felt like it was pushing the whole seat forward, and never let up. I ran out of road before I ran out of power.

During the day, an anouncement was made for pay-and-drive customers to sign up for a 3 laps for the price of 2 special… Jodie said I should have a go at driving something else. I chose to drive a Ferrari F430 Spider.

Ferrari F430 Spider Facts :

4.3L, V8 Petrol Engine
6-speed automatic transmission
Max Speed : 197mph (315 km/h)
Max Power : 360.4 kW (483 hp) at 8500 rpm
Acceleration : 0 – 60mph 3.6 seconds
Max torque : 465 N·m (343 ft·lbf) at 5250 rpm

The Ferrari handles like a go-cart. It had paddle shift, which was fun to drive. I overtook a few cars driving this car. I had better handling around the slower corners and managed to overtake a Lamborghini Murciélago and out ran a Lotus Elise on the back straight. While the Aston is still a dream car for me, the Ferrari was so much fun, as it bounced around corners with amazing grip. It’s really weird to be in a V8 that revs up to 8500 rpm… and who can dismiss the sounds it makes as it screams for a gear change heading out of the chicanes.

I had a fantastic day, all thanks to my wife and some high octane action !

Here is a gallery of photos which have been taken by our friends. As we receive more photos this gallery will be updated.

Our honeymoon was in the Maldives, at Coco Palm (Dhuni Kolhu – Part of the Baa Atoll). We arrived in the evening, and caught a bus to the nearest hotel (about 200m away), as the sea plane only flies during daylight hours.

We woke up and had breakfast at some un-Godly hour before being shipped back to the airport, for our flight to the island. This flight was on a little 12 seater sea-plane. We landed near a small floating sea-dock, before being taken by Dhoni (traditional Maldivian boat) back to the island. The singing trio which visited each of the restaurants during dinners, was there to greet us with their signature “Welcome, to Coco Palm” song. (Jodie hasn’t stopped singing it yet).

The resort was lovely, and very walkway was sandy and soft under our feet. We would soon realise that we wore our shoes the day we arrived, and then not again until we left. All the restaurants and bars had sandy floors, so no shoes we needed.

Out room consisted of a large four poster bed, the usual couches and chairs, but he bathroom was outdoors. A wall ensures it was private, but it had to showers, one was a normal everyday house shower, the other was an open air shower set in an outdoor bath. In front of the room / villa there was a fresh water plunge pool to cool down in. About 10m of sandy path separated us from the permanent umbrella and beach chairs where we spent most of our time. All through the surrounding foliage, especially around dusk and dawn, we could hear and see the hermit crabs moving about. The foliage also housed lizards and in the evenings fruit bats.

The water, which was crystal clear, was a few metres away. The start of the coral was 5m in front of us, which meant we could take a cool dip and see the amazing sea life right in front of us. Each day we tried to keep active and take walks around the island, all the while watching the rays and small sharks that swam in the knee deep water (nothing to worry about folks, all harmless).

Our other activities included a sunset cruise, which was complimentary as part of our honeymoon package. Also, as part of the package, was a dinner at the Cornus (thai) restaurant. We also decided to take a private dinner on a remote island, where Jodie ate lobster for the first time ! I had a couple of dive on the reefs near the island. The maldives was formed from volcanic activity, so a lot of the reefs fall away into the deep, blackness once you leave the reef surface.

We spent most of our days lazing around and visiting the cocktail bar on the beach in the evening. We ate in our room for 2 of the nights, but spent most nights in the Cornus restaurant. The other restarant called the Cowry, was a little more mainstream, and we found most of the other guests dined there. We ate there once, and decided not ot eat there again, except for the fantastic buffet breakfasts.

We had a fantastic time, in fact it was brilliant ! We didn’t want to leave, but eventually we had to, and the day came where we had to make our long journey back to London.

After the wedding we had a day in Singapore in between flight. Darren kindly offered to put us up in his place. Jodie has flow through Sing a few times, but never really visited the place. I took her to see just a few of the sights. We caught the MRT to the famous Orchard road and strolled around… however, unless you have some business in Singapore, there’s really only one thing to do… SHOP ! We perused a few of the malls, before taking her to Lucky Plaza for a some electronics shopping fix.

After we picked up a new phone for Jodie, and some supplies for the camera, we headed to Clarke Quay for lunch. We ended up having Japanese on the river… the Singapore river.

It was typically Singapore, around 30 degrees and humid. We headed back to Darrens before leaving for the airport… and Male !