As conscientious as ever, Luke Hines has been practising his standing starts ahead of Rounds 19, 20, and 21 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton (6-7 August). Testing his hair gel to the limit he’s been accelerating from 0-100kph (62mph) in just 2.5 seconds and building up a vertical G-force of 4.7G - not in his SEAT Toldeo Cupra of course, but on ‘Rita Queen of Speed’, the new high adrenaline ride at Alton Towers.

Like all racing drivers daredevil Luke loathes the feeling of not being in complete control, but he bravely faced his fears to climb aboard one of the fastest rollercoasters in the world when he was invited to the Staffordshire theme park.

Luke said: “It was an amazing buzz and I think it’s actually cured my phobia for big theme park rides, because I normally don’t like them. It’s the fastest thing I’ve ever been on and the G-forces are amazing, you just melt into the seat. When I crashed at Croft I went from 127mph to zero in three seconds and registered 2G. On Rita you get up to 4.7G! I have to say it’s proved how good my hair gel is as my hair didn’t move at all. I hope my race car’s that quick at Snetterton, because if it is I’ll have lapped everyone five times before the end of the race!”

Luke will be hoping for a similar thrill when he returns to Snetterton, as it’s the circuit where he took the second BTCC win of his career in Round 26 of the Championship last year.

The SEAT Toldeo Cupra isn’t best suited to the Norfolk circuit but that didn’t stop the team taking victory there last year (with Rob Huff) and a 3rd place finish with Jason Plato. Jason’s hoping it’ll be a wet race weekend at Snetterton as he knows an odd grippy line around the ultra-fast circuit.

Jason said: “Snetterton’s not going to be easy for us as it’s a big power circuit. There are two very long straights out of tight corners which will not suit our car and there’s no flowing corners which the Toldeo Cupra excels at and where we normally make up time. In the past I’ve always gone quite well at Snetterton. I hope it rains because there’s a definite grippy line in the wet which is a bit odd so that can be quite entertaining. Whatever the weather, we have to go for glory now. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain and our aim must be nothing less than race wins. ”

James Pickford last raced at Snetterton in a single seater Radical in 2001. As the SEAT Cupra Championship never visited the circuit, last year’s Champion has never raced a saloon car around there, but refreshed after a short holiday in Spain, the 26-year old Macclesfield driver is fired up and focused on scoring his best race results of the season.

James said: “As always, the two free practice sessions are going to be critical for me as I get used to driving a touring car around a circuit I don’t know very well, while at the same time trying to find a good set-up for qualifying. If I qualify well I’m confident I’ll have the race pace to be up with the front-runners. I was quite pleased with my performance at Mondello – I made good starts and if my steering hadn’t been damaged in the last race I think a podium result could have been on the cards. If we have a bit of good luck at Snetterton, I think that will show in the results.”

The BTCC race weekend gets underway at Snetterton with two 40 minute free practice sessions on Saturday 6th August, starting at 10.40 and 12.45, followed by a 30 minute qualifying session starting at 15.35. Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the BTCC takes place on Sunday 7th August, with three 16 lap races starting at 11.10, 13.40 and 16.35.