• Frustration after early exit

Rob Huff was flying in round three of the Formula Renault Championship, but through the air and backwards instead of around the Oulton Park circuit.

A rocket start took the 21-year-old Cambridge driver past half a dozen cars in the run to the first bend where his challenge came to a scary and spectacular end.

Seventeenth on the grid after mechanical problems in qualifying he was setting up to take another four cars in one bold manoeuvre at the Old Hall 100mph right hander.

"They were queuing to take the inside line, so I decided to go around the outside," he said. "I had a couple of wheels on the kerb, but it would have been alright if I hadn't sensed somebody coming across me.

"I reacted, then the car took off and I was going backwards across the track with the rest of the field coming at me. I went on to the grass and tried to get back on, but because the cars have such little clearance I was stuck. My parents were watching from that corner, and they saw this big cloud of smoke. That was from my tyres which were spinning at 7000 revs.

"I just had to sit the race out. It was a bit of a disaster. But we are out at Silverstone next, where I've done a lot of driving, and I'm confident of getting it back together again. The main thing is not to try too hard after something like this, just drive your natural way.

"We had trouble in practice and qualifying, with the cam belt advance solenoid. I felt I was driving well, but we were dropping places. It was a mystery, then we found out the problem was only giving me 90 per cent on the throttle.

"We did a big rebuild and I'm sure it would have gone really well in the race, which was what was so frustrating. I know it's a steep learning curve at this level though and I'm prepared for that."