IMAGINE driving down a straight at full throttle and going blind as you reach maximum speed in a Formula One car.

I almost did that.

Not in a Formula One car, but in a Formula Ford car which provided enough power for me to hit the straight at a maximum speed of more than 200km/h.

This happened at the Ricardo Tormo track in Valencia where the Williams F1 team do their testing.

Four cars lined up on the track and we were told to keep a distance of at least 50 metres from the car in front.

I wriggled into the puny chassis - all 1.83 metres of me - and soon the helmet came on. It was stuffy as hell, and I was glad the visor wasn't fully down: a tiny gap helped me breathe easier. But that would become a problem moments later.

I felt the rush of wind around the car and my helmet as I picked up speed, and on the straight, the tiny "air intake" I had allowed in my visor started to dry up my contact lenses.

Having landed in Valencia the previous afternoon, a Sunday, while my luggage decided to stay put in London's Heathrow Airport was of no help to my cause.

The shops in that city don't open on Sundays, and while the winter kept me fresh and almost frozen, I'd stored my lenses in mineral water the previous night so they were understandably dry the next day.

Then, as I reached full throttle, my I thought I felt something hit my left eye. I blinked and looked ahead and to my astonishment, the cars in front of me had disappeared into the distance.

What a useless driver I was, I thought, as I floored the accelerator, only to realise that the car in front of me was not as far ahead as I thought it had been: The wind seeping into my helmet had blown the contact lenses out of my eyes!

I braked immediately, dropped a gear and tried to make out the racing line. It isn't so difficult if you're 500 degrees short-sighted like I am, but with high-astigmatism plaguing me for the greater part of my life, not having the benefit of contact lenses makes me see two racing lines instead of one.

OK, I didn't go blind, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to be in the passenger seat of the car I was driving at that time.

I did, at the wider straights, hit maximum speed at full-throttle again, but I slowed considerably at the corners as I had no intention of spinning into the gravel traps.

EXHILARATING

It was exhilarating, driving in a Formula Ford which had loads of horsepower, little downforce and pure mechanical grip.

When I related my experience to Williams F1 driver Kazuki Nakajima later, he was shocked.

"I wear contact lenses, too, but it has never happened to me," he said, looking rather astounded.

But that's because you're smart enough to keep your visor down, I told him.

What was to follow added to the adventure, too.

We did a little bit of go-karting but I wasn't very competitive on account of myopia. Still, it was interesting throwing the kart around the track and spinning off a few times at much lower speeds than on the race track.

We were even afforded the privilege of working as members of the pit crew - I removed Nico Rosberg's left front tyre.

Not a monumentally difficult feat, but in about five rehearsals, my manicured fingers which are more accustomed to playing the classical guitar than changing F1 car tyres succeeded only twice.

But when Rosberg's car came in and the pneumatic wrench removed the lug nut, I yanked his wheel out and quickly got out of the way while the other mechanics did their work.

It was a very good stop and I've never felt so good about removing a tyre.

The greatest rush of Valencia was when we were put into a three-seater F1 car driven by Spanish race driver Antonio Garcia.

I was in the right-hand side of the chassis and as the car banged down the start-finish straight before the first turn, I swore I was going die.

Having survived the first turn, the rest of the two laps that we did on the track was like a roller-coaster ride, only at much higher speeds.

I can't tell you very much about Valencia because I saw very little of it apart from the racetrack.

But the track experience and meeting Williams F1 drivers Rosberg and Nakajima was priceless.