I’m referring to Oulton Park in Cheshire, the scene for the next three British Touring Car Championship races on Sunday.

It’s a brilliant old-style circuit with lots of fantastic corners and not much run-off.

It has blind crested bends with strange cambers and funny little bumps. It’s not a manicured F1-style circuit, more a proper racetrack.

To put a good lap together is a real challenge for both driver and engineer.

But I just love the place. For me, it feels like I’m driving down my favourite country road or putting on a pair of comfy shoes.

Us BTCC drivers always get a good reception there, too. There’s usually a bumper crowd and for some reason the sun always seems to shine.

It must be that northern thing where any time the sun shines, people come out to party.

I’m hoping to party after the racing, too, as I reckon I’ll be in pretty good shape.

The series organisers TOCA have acknowledged that the equalisation between normally-aspirated cars like my Silverline Racing Chevrolet Cruze and my turbo-powered rivals has not been right for the first three events, as they have changed the rules.

And bearing in mind we’ve been given a 25kg weight break to counteract the performance of the turbos, coupled with the fact I have no success ballast on my Chevy, it’s fair to say that provided I do a good enough job, I have a shout at pole position.

I’m pretty sure I am the most successful driver at Oulton Park on the grid. And it’s a circuit which will suit my car down to the ground.

So, fingers crossed, I’m hoping for a successful day. I’ll let you know how it went next week!

Away from racing, the lads and lasses at The Sun gave me a fun day out at Silverstone recently.

I went along to the Celebrity Race Day organised by Gordon Smart, the editor of The Sun’s Bizarre section, and found myself acting as a team captain up against Gordon’s squad.

I have to be honest and tell you I didn’t know quite a few of the celebs. But perhaps that’s me showing my age.

I’m not into the rap scene, for example. I’m more of a Jamiroquai and Elbow fan. But it was great to meet the likes of Tinchy Stryder, who was a really nice lad.

I did know some of the faces, however, like the racing cyclist Mark Cavendish and Comedy Dave.

I revved my team up and gave them a bit of instruction. In the end Gordon’s lot came out on top but everyone had a fun time and there was a terrific atmosphere.

Ironically, as it was a “corporate” event, I had to have a Silverstone Racing School instructor sit beside me when I drove for insurance reasons, as I was just another bod on the guest list and not Jason Plato, Racing Driver.

But the highlight of my day was scaring the nuts off one of the instructors who was my passenger when I gave a Nissan GTR a bit of welly.

At one point I was sideways at 100mph heading towards the pit wall.

It’s stuff I enjoy and I often do it while filming Fifth Gear, of course. But I wouldn’t like to be sat next to someone else doing it.

It’s fair to say the instructor didn’t have a nice time. Poor sod.

It’s brilliant news that ITV’s audience for BTCC racing is up by a whopping 34.6 per cent over last year. I’ve always said the BTCC provides the best racing in the world.

And now it seems more and more people are cottoning on.