Neil Burnett Drivers Blog Part 2

Here is the second part of Neil’s blog and how he got on taking his ARDS test to get his race license

Well fellow team members! (I can say that now!)

Yes, you guessed it… I now have my Class B racing licence!

And this is how I got it…

After my track day at Cadwell Park that I told you about, Christmas came and went. New Year’s Day came and went.

At this point I’m thinking ‘Neil you need to be moving towards getting your licence application sorted ASAP, if you want to race on the 28th March at Silverstone!’

I already had my ARDS starter pack, which I sent for online from MSV at Brands Hatch and received in less than 3 days. It’s valid for 2 years from purchase and includes payment for your first year’s licence when passed.

You need to pay for a medical at your Doctor’s and it’s the same medical as when applying for an HGV licence.

You take the application form from your starter pack with you and after the examination, which is very thorough, it gets stamped with the Doctor’s approval.

You fill in the rest of the boxes and complete the details of the person they can call in an emergency.

Then for the ARDS test. You need to get booked in at a circuit that does the ARDS test and it’s on track days.

So I looked online and decided on Cadwell Park. You can use your own car for the test, as they don’t have one you can use there.

So the date was booked January 19th PM.

In your starter pack there’s a usb stick with loads of information about what the flags mean and what you need to know before your test.

You need to know the flags 100% to pass and then there are some multi-choice questions about racing on track. These need some thought as they are not as easy as you may think!

Sunday 19th January 2020 – I arrived at Cadwell at 11am. My test was due to start at 12 noon and they said to allow 3 hours.

I booked in, had a quick look at some cars doing a track day and at 12 noon went to meet the examiner.

There were 2 others taking their test with me.

We watched the film that you are given in your starter pack, approx 20 mins, then game on, we got the test papers.

No time limit, just think about it and try get it all right.

Paper marked, I passed. Then I was taken onto the track to be tested.

A bit of tuition followed by a couple of laps. Then I was asked if I was ready for the test.

The test lasted about 20 minutes and I was then asked to pull into the pits for the result.

When the result is given to you in the car, the examiner gave me some extra information about driving on track and told me I had passed.

Then back to the office to get my application form stamped, ready to post off for approval of the medical. It needs a passport picture attaching too.

Excited to get my licence, I drove home and then posted it off the next day.

I received an email confirming they had received my application, then 2 days later I received another email informing me that I had been accepted and my licence would be with me shortly. It arrived 2 days later.