Speed fiend KATHERINE MACALISTER goes from car to spa on a unique break for the girls

As I put my foot to the floor the most enormously satisfying roar followed, resulting instantly in a huge burst of speed. And as I hurtled towards the end of the track, oblivious to how I would take the bend, my instructor turned, studied me for a bit and chuckled: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone quite as happy as you at this speed.”

And he was right. Racing down the Mercedes Benz track was my idea of heaven, because where else can you go that fast legally? It was enormously liberating, ferociously exciting, and utterly terrifying all at the same time.

Welcome to Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey, where you feel like you are taking your life in your hands all under the well-orchestrated and highly-skilled team of instructors.

Traditionally viewed as a male reserve (the place was packed with men clutching their driving challenge vouchers while their wives and girlfriends watched from the side of the track) we were there as part of a new girls’ package which included half a day’s driving experience at the race track, an afternoon in a spa, followed by dinner and a night away at a luxury hotel on the banks of the Thames.

And I was the perfect woman for the job, taking my sister-in-law along for the ride as my wing woman, my Lady Penelope. Because if I was the speed queen, she was the ice maiden, loving the skill required to tackle the wet skid circle (like black ice) which saw us spinning like an escaped dodgem car.

Car enthusiasts will want to know about the car – it was a C63 racing coupe, Mercedes-Benz AMG performance car, with a powerful 6.3 litre V8 engine to complement the dynamic handling. These have a top speed of 197 mph, and do 0-60 in just 3.8 seconds, but as we were driving at such brake-neck speeds, and concentrating so hard on not crashing, I didn’t register my top speed.

It took hours for us to come down off our driving high, Gary summing up my morning as “spirited”, but after lunch in the Gullwing Bistro, from where we could continue to watch all the fun, we drove off to Runnymede on Thames nearby.

The Runnymede, the hotel in question, looks like a school or hospital from the outside, functional and modern to an extreme, and we couldn’t imagine that it would prove to be the luxurious location we had been led to expect. But once inside we were transported into a huge, light, comfortable, modern, funky interior where nothing was too much trouble.

Racing down to the hotel spa, where endless people milled about in white dressing gowns waiting for their turn to be pampered, our masseurs arrived and unknotted all the aches and pains created during our tense morning’s racing.

Returning to our room to dress for dinner we enjoyed drinks in the bar before being led to the Lock Bar & Kitchen for a top notch dinner which included scallops on an asparagus puree which defied belief and a rhubarb panacotta that still haunts my dreams.

Breakfast the next morning defied belief. Sitting next to the river we ate waffles, pastries, a full English, smoked salmon with scrambled egg, home made granola, yoghurts, fruits. It was heaven and we could scarcely walk as we staggered out to the car.

If Runnymede is the future of hotels I’m in. As for the overall experience we couldn’t have had more fun if we’d tried.

The Ultimate Drive Experience with the Runnymede and Mercedes Benz World costs from £330. The price includes a three-course dinner in the Lock Bar & Kitchen and an overnight stay at the runnymede-on-thames for two, and an hour’s track driving, or 30 minutes track and 30 minutess off-road driving for one adult at Mercedes Benz World. Spa treatments at the Runnymede are from £75 for an ESPA aromatherapy massage. A half-day group spa experience in the private spa suite costs from £125 pp. To book see therunnymede.co.uk or call 01784 220960.