Today we have to get up early to drive two and a half hours to a place near Birmingham. I booked a movie car experience that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but only now did our holidays fit the date. On the race track at a former airport at Prestwold Hall, there is already a lot going on when we arrive.

The Lamborghini Aventador is the car met with the greatest interest by many, and I’m sure my godson Dario would like it the best. But I’m not here for the Aventador today, nor for the Ferraris, McLarens and Aston Martins that are waiting to be driven.

But first, there is the safety instruction for the drivers. The instructor explains the track and the rules of conduct while driving. Above all, it is important to follow the instructions of the co-driver clearly.

On a demo lap we get to know the track. It’s convenient to have cones everywhere indicating where to brake and where to turn, and where the apex of the curve is.

A little later I get into the first car: K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider. I’ve had the opportunity to sit in one a couple of times and to ride a short distance as a co-driver, but I’m all the more happy to be able to drive one today. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say how fast we’re going. The digital display shows fantasy values of over 300 miles per hour.

This is followed by a black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: I put the pedal to the metal in the car from “Smokey and the Bandit II” with Burt Reynolds. It’s a shame that the (male) instructor on the passenger seat doesn’t look a bit like Sally Fields.

Then the A-Team van waits! I was really looking forward to driving this car. So that’s how B.A. Baracus must have felt when he drove the van! But it’s a miracle that the A-Team was able to escape the military police again and again. I pity the fool who put a tiny engine in it, leaving this replica heavily underpowered. I guess we’re hardly doing 100… kph. Nevertheless it is a lot of fun to sit at the wheel of the A-Team van!

I then conclude my movie car experience in the fourth car that I’ve chosen: The General Lee from the “Dukes of Hazzard”. And of the four cars, it’s the one that’s the most fun to drive. The seats are very comfortable and the big block engine’s growl sounds fantastic. And it’s really powerful too!

Also available would have been a Nissan Skyline and a Toyota Supra from “The Fast and the Furious”, the yellow Camaro and the police Mustang from “Transformers”, Eleanor from “Gone in 60 Seconds” and an Aston Martin from a James Bond movie, but not the beautiful classic one. All cars are of course only replicas and unfortunately I have to say: they look good from afar, but if you get closer… All of them are in a bad shape, the inside panelling broken, parts are missing, none of the speedometers works, the windshield has cracked on two of them… And as a real fan I immediately notice that they disguised the wrong Dodge Charger as General Lee, not the 1969 model, but the 1970 model with a slightly different front.

But I’m even more disappointed by the recording quality: two cameras per car film the track and the driver while driving. When I look through the footage, however, it turns out that most of the time it didn’t work. Only one camera filmed, and most of the time the video is lying on its side or is upside down. Because a logo is burned into the video as an overlay, it looks very funny when I flip the video around. And also the quality is bad. If I had known that, I would have attached my GoPro cameras to the windscreen. It’s a good thing that I strapped on a GoPro for a third viewing angle. Too bad, but the experience was still nice.

Because the café on the race track is also quite shabby and it’s colder inside than outside, we drive on despite a growling stomach and eat something at a motorway service area, on the way to Bicester Village. Christmas has already arrived in this Outlet-Centre. There are big reindeers, lights and Christmas trees, and a brass band plays Christmas carols.

Unfortunately, I search in vain for the nice Clarks shoes I had an eye on online. Bummer. At least Gabi finds the leggings she is looking for at a greatly reduced price, and we buy an Asian dinner (sushi and gyoza) and donuts to go, which we eat back at the hotel.