Fords Galore: My Time at the Ford Driving Experience by Car Chase Heroes

My driving experience was at Abingdon Airfield in Oxfordshire, but is available throughout the country.

I arrived at Abingdon Airfield on a cloudy August morning, excited for what was coming.

The preceeding Christmas, I recieved a Ford driving experience day at Car Chase Heroes. A variety of cars were available from Aston Martins to Ferraris, but I wasn't coming for those. I was looking forward to getting behind the wheel of some of Ford's most iconic cars, past and present: An Escort rally car, a Gran Torino, and a V8 Mustang Convertable.

I had no idea how the process was going to run, or how the cars were going to drive- but I was going to find out.

Abingdon Airfield is a great place to host such an experience. Once a military base, it's now a long strentch of open runway surrounded by the English countryside.

Check-in was straightforward, if a little hectic. A man and his son who had travelled all the way from Yorkshire for the day and had done this before, told us in the queue that it was not usually this busy. Even so, it didn't dampen my excitement.

When I arrived at the desk, a lady gave me an itinerary of my drives, along with an SD card that recorded them on video, and automatically took photos around the track.

I then walked through to the track and waited to be called through to drive the first car.

FORD ESCORT RS1600 (RALLY SPEC):

This was the underdog. If I am being perfectly honest, I did not pick this one for any particular reason, other than I had to.

Even so, it was a bit of a revelation. Lightweight and raw, it was an eager little machine. Once I got used to the short-throw gearshift and the slightly twitchy steering, it really came alive. Not the fasted car of the day by a long shot, but its chuckable nature and old-school rally feel made it the most fun through the corners. It didn't purr- it barked. And that was great!

FORD GRAN TORINO (STARSKY & HUTCH):

Let's be clear: this thing is a tank. A glorious, chrome-wrapped, land-yacht yank-tank. Big old American cars have always appealed to me, so I was most excited by this one.

When I sat onto the big, squishy bench seat and gript the oversized, yet very thin steering wheel, I knew that this was not going to be an MX-5.

The throttle response was, shall we say, non existent-with a noticeable delay. The overly boosted power assisted steering was devoid of any road feel whatsoever. It wasn't particularly quick either, and rolled about like a boat through the corners.

And yet I loved anyway!

Ford Gran Torino

FORD MUSTANG GT CONVERTIBLE:

My final drive was in the latest generation of the Ford Mustang. The iconic muscle car that is now in right hand drive.

My first impression of it was the interior. The plastics felt flimsy, the seats were hard, and once I set of, it felt like any other modern car. Bland.

But my instructure wanted to drive it quick. This wasn't like the other sighting laps. This was to put the mustang to its limits.

Ford Mustang GT Convertible

I dont want to blow my own trumpet or anything, but I will. Overtaking Ferraris and Lamborghinis, it was a hell of a thrill.

Like all muscle cars, it did not have the precision feel of a European sports car, but it certainly held its own on the track.

So good, I paid to go around again.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable day, and one I would do again. It's not the cheapest activity to do at the weekend, but if you, or anyone you know loves cars as much as I do, this is a great gift for someone.