Video: Jonny Dangerous takes on British touring car champ Fabrizio Giovanadi

Jun 14 2009 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

EVERY young lad, and probably some older ones as well, fancy themselves as a bit of a racing driver.

Secretly they swerve through roundabouts a little faster than they should, imagining they were careering around Monte Carlo or Le Mans – being pursued by Michael Schumacher.

I’m certainly no different which is why I set off down the pit straight at Croft Circuit in County Durham in the same position as I drive my beaten-up old Skoda: One hand gripping the top of the steering wheel, the other permanently fixed to the gear stick.

My tutor and rival for the day, British Touring Car Champion Fabrizio Giovanadi, corrected me straight away.

The 42-year-old Italian looked at my amateur driving style and laughed as he said: “What is this?

“You can’t drive like that, one hand here one had there. You have to have proper control of the car.

“This is not a Sunday afternoon, come on!”

Both hands on the wheel, I pressed the throttle down and the 225bhp Vauxhall Corsa roared into life. But my boyhood dreams were not backed up by my technique, which lacked a little ­finesse.

I went round every corner too fast and wide, or was forced to change gear mid-bend and speed up.

After a couple of tortoise-slow laps, the Italian maestro decided to show me how it was done.