If in doubt, flat out!

Today I've had the day off from work as I've been down to Banbury for a tour around the Prodrive Factory where the Aston Martin sportscars are built and prepared, and where the Subaru rally cars were also built.

I've always been interested in rallying and sportscar racing, and I jumped at the chance to go on a factory visit. The visit started off with a look around the heritage collection which included various rally cars including a Metro 6R4 Group B (it even had indicator stalks like in my first Metro, although I think that's where the similarities ended) a selection of Subaru rally cars including ones driven by Richard Burns, Colin McRae and Ari Vatanen , and then there was the 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours GT1 winning Ferrari 550 and the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours GT1 class winning Aston Martin DBR9!

I was amazed when our tour guide said that we could open the doors and sit in the cars, with a couple of exceptions! I tried the Ferrari 550 out for size, and it was extremely complicated trying to climb through the roll cage and get seated. You are sat so low in the car that I could hardly see over the steering wheel, let alone over the bonnet. I think I would need a booster seat for that one.

I also tried the 1996 Subaru Impreza as driven by Colin McRae in the the Rally d' Catalunya, which is one of the most iconic rally cars every built. As you can see from this blip, it was a much better fit than the Ferrari!

We were told about the work that Prodrive does for other car manufacturers, and we were taken through the workshops where parts for cars were being made, we saw engines and gear boxes being built and tested on the dyno. We also went through the engineering bay where parts are milled out of solid aluminium. We also saw how the basic car shells are received and then worked on to reduce weight and install roll cages etc.

We then finally went into the preparation bays, where we saw 3 of the GTE Aston Martin Vantage's being prepared for the first round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone at Easter. I was surprised at how much work was still to be done this close to the race meeting. Two of the cars didn't have any engines installed yet.

I have really enjoyed the day, it was good to see some of the cars in the heritage centre, and it was very interesting to see how the cars a prepared and assembled, but it was also interesting to learn how much more the company does other than build and run race cars. And to be allowed to sit some of the cars was the icing on the cake. I'm looking forward to seeing the Aston Martins on the track in a week and a half. Here's hoping for an Aston Martin win!

A selection of photos from the day can be viewed here

I'll catch up with peoples journals tomorrow, when I will have a bit more time.