LEARNING CURVES

Like the idea of motor racing but unsure how to start? Try entering the Vintage Sports-Car Club's Pomeroy Trophy, 

- Mark Dixon 

'Congratulations! You are now a racing driver.

From the wry smile on the instructor's face, I suspect that this isn't the first time that he's delivered that line and that he doesn't believe it any more than I do. But, crucially, I've just passed the Association of Racing Drivers' Schools (ARDS) test, and that means I'm now officially entitled to a UK race licence.

Which is good news, because in three weeks' time I'll be taking part in my first-ever competitive track event. I've done lots of historic rallying in my time and I've done some spirited track driving, but I've never taken part in an actual race. Strictly speaking, I'm not about to, either: the Vintage Sports-Car Club's annual Pomeroy Trophy is not a race per se but a speed event, conducted under race regulations. While you're on track with a load of other cars, the only person you're competing against is yourself.

You can enter The Pom, as it's universally known, in pretty much anything. Editor James Elliott did it years ago in his 2.5-litre Mk1 Triumph 2000; I'm about to have a go in a 1929 Frazer Nash Super Sports. The reason that a car of any age or type can be competitive is that results are decided by a complex handicapping formula, inspired by ones first published in Laurence Pomeroy Jr's The Grand Prix Car 1906-1939. It's subsequently been refined to make The Pom more road-car friendly, so that the ability to carry luggage and have reasonable comfort (such as a hood, for an open car) is as important as performance.

Attempting to understand this formula is beyond mere mortals but it clearly works, because The Pom is one of the VSCC's most popular events. It's been held most years since its first staging in 1952 and the winner is awarded the actual Pomeroy Trophy, which is a fine model of the 1914 Vauxhall Grand Prix car designed by Pomeroy Jr's father, the great Laurence H Pomeroy Sr.