VIDEO: I was probably the worst passenger ever
Wearing a shirt and tie, and more interested in holding still my video camera, I would have been the worst and most unlikely rally car navigator thinkable.
But still this was the rally stage on the Goodwood estate for the Festival of Speed, so it was all about giving us journalists a taste of the real thing at the launch of the annual event.
Having been strapped in tightly in the 1970s yellow Fiat rally car, I realised at the last minute I might need to readjust the strap on the video camera so I didn't lose it.
The countdown began and from there on in it was the closest thing I've ever experienced to being on a tearaway wooden rollercoaster.
Haring through the trees on the chalk track you could quite easily have been forgiven for feeling a little tense.
But luckily I preoccupied myself by trying to keep the video camera steady and watching the car eat up the track through the viewfinder.
The frightening speed I was taken down the hillside certainly puts you in your place as a normal road user.
There was so much concentration and skill involved in taking each turn that bit faster than necessary, to the point where we curbed a bank and flattened a wooden sign post which we left for dust.
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Weather for Chichester
Monday 13 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
