Va Va VROOM!

I've never been much of a driver and it was with some trepidation that I agreed to a racing night at the Sideways Driving Club in Central. Tucked away on Chancery Lane Sideways is a virtual racing centre and, in short, a total boy heaven.

Lining the walls are thirteen shiny simulators that on first sight look decidedly more dodgems than David Coulthard, all hooked up to a big screens on which the virtual race plays out. After having donned a rather unattractive pair of "racing socks", Grand Prix wannabes squeeze into the small cockpits, which are (apparently) as much like a real Porsche racing cars as is possible.

After a short briefing from the owners you're let loose on the machines and sent to trial the track before the real racing begins. The driving is a lot more adrenaline fuelled that I'd imagined; if you're in any way competitive seeing your friends whizz past you on your plasma screen, witnessing large scale pile ups at every corner and revving up before the races begin really gets your heart pumping!

The evening is broken down into three parts. The first race is three laps, with a one lap qualifier; the second race is five laps with an obligatory pit-stop and a three lap qualifier; the third race is three laps in driving rain with a one lap qualifier. Yuktai, one of the club's owners, can complete a lap in 1min30secs, her boyfriend, co-owner and ex-professional racer can do it in about 1:20. The fastest in our group sped round in about 1:36 and I was left trailing behind at 1:43.

Between each race there's as much pizza, wine and beer as you can stomach, which must make Sideways one of the only places in the world where you're encouraged to drink and drive.

Sideways' owners Yuktai Chan and her boyfriend own a trading company, which is where they work by day. Needless to say however, Sideways is rapidly overtaking to become their more profitable venture. They cater for individual racing, group racing, tuition and corporate events. Yuktai says that it's fast becoming a popular party venue, and they can even bring their simulators out to other events around the city. They've got some heavyweights behind them too, professional racing car drivers pop in whilst in Hong Kong to practise for upcoming competitions. I think I might hang out there more often, a girl never knows when she might bump into Lewis Hamilton.

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Sideways Driving Club - LG/F, 1 - 2 Chancery Lane, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2523 0983 / email: racing@sideways-racing-club.com.