I’m fulfilling a life-long ambition in August. I can’t reveal all the details yet I wanted to share as much as I can with you now before it all becomes official.

Like all the best things it all started with a ‘Hi Dickie, we’ve got an idea…’ telephone call from one of the more imaginative/crazy manufacturer PRs. A meeting followed where the full idea was explained, objectives outlined and schedule nailed down. I smiled. A lot.

A month or so has passed since then, and while a great deal has been going on behind the scenes little of it has involved me. That is until earlier this week, when I was asked to go for a race suit fitting. Nothing unusual in that you might think, except the suit in question is fire rated to SFI 20.

No, that didn’t mean much to me either, until I was told that in the event of a car fire a regular 3-layer FIA-spec race suit provides 10sec–20sec of protection from 2^nd degree burns, whereas an SFI 20 suit gives 40sec protection. That’s both reassuring, and slightly worrying at the same time, for it puts what I’m doing into some kind of perspective.

Having my crotch measured!

As if my nerves weren’t jangling enough on the way out I’m handed a modest-sized cardboard box to give to the crew building the car I’m driving in August. The box contains a Simpson parachute.

More will be revealed over the coming weeks, but in the meantime do you fancy having a guess WTF I’ve got myself into?