This thread about old Vauxhalls brings back a memory.
A lifetime ago, my first “proper” job involved me and two other likely lads being recruited on the same day by a large company as graduate entry management trainees.
It was at a time when it seemed that everyone whose job was graded above that of an office cleaner got issued with a company car.
The then fleet manager was a cynical old ex-army type who greeted us with some commentary about how he knew we were almost certainly going to drive them like blankety blanks. So, he had arranged for us to have some training at a racing circuit so that at least we might drive them like partially informed blankety blanks.
The training day involved being sent repeatedly around Snetterton race track with an instructor in Vauxhall Chevette Ecosses, which were, at the time seen as fairly sporty things.
We had to get down to lap times within a ten percent margin of a time set by the instructor.
Having got through that bit, they put overinflated racing slicks on the back (driven) wheels while keeping treaded road tyres on the front. This of course made the cars ludicrously loose at the back.
In this set up we were then put on the skid pan in the Chevettes and had to learn how to control the cars around that and again, get close to a target lap time.
In fairness it was great fun, and I suppose I/we probably learned a few tricks that in my case anyway, have occasionally proven very useful especially when dealing with slippery conditions.
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