I’m strapped into the car and fastened tight. “This is the buckle that will undo everything,” a member of the pit crew tells me. “But if the worst happens, it’s probably better to wait for someone to get you out, in case you’re upside down and you fall on your neck. The only exception is if you see smoke, fire or feel burning: then it’s every man for himself.” I’m briefed to brace my knees, and press my head against the back of the seat to avoid whiplash. At this juncture, I recall I have forgotten to fill out a Telegraph risk assessment.
We’re wheeled on to the track for final preparation, the car is checked and then an explosion fills my ears, the air is sucked out of my lungs as we zoom… and then stop. Only part way down the track. Just a tester, to warm the tyres. That wasn’t even the main event. I’m dazed as the car reverses down the track to the starting line.
Ready to go
Thumbs up, looking good, ready to go. I can feel the car rumbling all around me. I don’t know where to look. The whole world is muffled in the helmet. My eyes fall on the “Christmas tree”, a traffic light system. Yellow bulb illuminated. I’m thinking of Mario Kart: how you have to carefully rev your engine just before the race starts, yellow bulb, in the videogame that’d give you a speed boost, yellow bulb, oh god, green bulb. Go!
The speed is like nothing I’ve experienced before. The families picnicking on the embankments to the sides of the track are a smudge in the corners of my eyes. Head back, knees braced, eyes spinning trying to take it all in, my whole body roaring with the engine. It’s too loud to hear anything, I’m moving too fast to see anything.
It’s over as soon as it starts. Eight seconds later the parachute has deployed and we’re rolling to the end of the track. Later I’ll discover I was travelling at “only” 165mph.
Paradoxically, the thrill comes afterwards. I pull off my helmet, unable to stop laughing, gulping in air, trying to recall the speed, fighting my mind, which is already slowing it down in retrospect.
“Brute force, ignorance and horsepower”? Possibly, but even so, it’s without a doubt the most thrilling experience I’ve had in years.
The Two-Seater Dragster Experience is available to book at Santa Pod’s official website, prices start at £530. By application only.