That’s it, now look through the corner, where’s the exit? Lovely, and… LOOK! AN EAGLE!

There’s a short hill that ends with a sharp, blind, left turn, followed immediately by a right-hand hairpin. You touch 100mph before braking hard, really hard, and if you get it wrong then there’s no way you’re going to make it through. I’m heading in fast for another go, veteran instructor Don Palmer in the passenger seat, urging me on. ‘Brake, brake!’ he urges. ‘Now hint!’.

‘That’s it, now look through the corner, where’s the exit? Lovely, and… LOOK! AN EAGLE!’

For me, that ridiculous moment in which driver, instructor and bemused colleague in the back seat are staring at a magnificent bird of prey hovering over the lovely Anglesey Circuit while part-way through a tricky, high-speed, on-the-limit manoeuvre sums up two amazing days on what has since become the Octane Masterclass. We learnt a lot, we had fun, we had what felt like life-changing experiences – and I’d like to point out now that we have only since made this an Octane course because we were so impressed with it.

And the men who are going to knock us into shape? Octane contributor and world-class historic racer Mark Hales, plus engineer-turned-life coach-turned-performance driving instructor-turned-eagle spotter Don ‘Nod’ Palmer. The task ahead doesn’t seem to daunt them, but then they’ve been doing this for many years.

There were so many of these simple lessons; as is so often the case, it doesn’t seem that any are particularly revelatory until we take stock at the end of the two days (especially once we’ve been challenged to analyse a tricky series of corners and work out the best line through them, which we all do with surprising success). Learn we most certainly did. At the end of each day we were exhausted, but a night out still produced much hilarity from the Hales/Nod comedy duo, along with a few of the quiet ruminations on the meaning of life that explain why Nod is also a ‘life coach’ when he’s not instructing silly buggers how to stay on the tarmac.

Curiously, since the course all my cars now seem to have significantly more grip. I know they haven’t so I’m guessing that my driving, even when I’m not really trying, has improved. I’m rather pleased about that.

Now it's your turn - see below for details on the Octane Masterclass - call 020 7907 6131.

To read the full feature, see Octane issue 69, out now...