An odd one: driving "experience" day OK when pregnant?

[ecuse]

This is an odd one. I've just found out I'm 3 weeks pregnant (about 3 hours ago - yikes). I'm booked in for a "driving experience" day in 4 weeks time where I get to drive two fast cars round a race track. Is there any reason I shouldn't do this whilst pregnant? I wouldn't like to cancel because a) I want to do it, and b) my brother and sisters clubbed together to buy it for my 30th birthday, and I would feel bad wasting it. Not to mention that I don't want to tell people before 12 weeks and I don't see how I could explain cancelling otherwise. I've checked the website and it doesn't say anything about not going if you're pregnant but is there any reason I should worry? They're not F1 cars or anything, just a Ferrari and an Aston Martin.

I don't see why not. Pregnant women are allowed to drive so should be fine.

Enjoy! Xx

I would ring up the centre and talk to them about it.

DH did one of these days, I don't know what sort of cars he drove, but he came home surprised how strenuous it was.

Congatulations!

You should speak to them and ask their advice - they may have rules according to their insurance.

Is this booked with Motorsports Events somewhere in Wiltshire/Gloucestershire? If so just phone up. The woman who runs it with her husband is lovely and she has just had a baby so will be able to advise you properly.

Agree that you should give them a call. It will probably be fine but there may be a couple of things that they may recommend you don't participate in - you never know.

have fun.

I'd phone the centre to ask. They might not be insured to have pg women driving for starters.
I wouldn't do it cos I'd be too scared something went wrong, but that's just me.
Congratulations!

I would say it would be fine.

Congratulations btw !

I went with DH for a 4x4 experience day (it was free though, we didnt pay for it) and the instructor didnt want to take me off road, I was about 7 months pregnant though.

DH agreed afterwards it was a bit scary for him even !

The instructor did agree to take me to drive it fast though.... and boy I did ... as it was a porche

We didnt buy it though.

This is what I want for my 30th!

However in my 'great plan' I would have been pregnant (30th is end of next year) and I wasn't going to take the risk in case I crashed or something.

But I'm pregnant now so it won't be an issue. I would do as the others said and give them a ring. They may not want to risk a pregnant woman driving well over 100mph.

Thanks everyone. I'm quite excited! Wasn't TTC so it's a bit of a surprise, but a nice one.

It's just outside Loughborough, not Warks/Gloucs but, yes, perhaps I'll give them a call.

Not sure I'll make it to over 100 miles an hour, I might be too scared anyway!

I don't see why not, it's probably way safer than driving on the road. It's not like you'll have a bump that'll get in the way by then. As it's just straight driving on a track I wouldn't mention it to them personally. If you ask they might just say no as people tend to be nervous about pregnant people doing anything!
I've done and Aston Martin round silverstone, was v cool!
Congrats!

you HAVE to mention to them that you're pregnant! IF they are not insured to take pg women, then if something happens, eg you scratch their Aston Martin, you may have invalidated the insurance by withholding onfo, so you'd have to pay out hundreds to get it fixed - I cant even imagine how much the bill would be!! :)

OK well I emailed them and they said it's no problem from their point of view as long as I'm feeling OK, and if I'm feeling sick I can get my sister to take my place for a small admin fee. So, happy days. Thanks for the advice!

PS - got my first doctor's appointment next week, too, so I'll double check with him that there's no risk

Definitely check with the doctor. A bad emergency stop or relatively minor crash could cause issues, and raise the risk of miscarriage.

Yes, pregnant women are okay to drive normally, but travelling in a car is supposed to be the biggest cause of injuries in pregnant women. We try to stay safe with everything else, like sports, but driving is often unavoidable. Driving a race car definitely raises the risks you could have an accident.

If you do go, make sure the seat-belt or harness is tight around you, away from your abdomen and that your seat is as far back as possible.

DH got me a driving experience present when I was pregnant. I was too fat to fit in the car so he did it instead

I did a very similar thing a couple of days before i found out i was pregnant. The drive obviously didn't do me or my baby any harm but i felt really sick and also struggled with the smell of fuel in the garage etc. All made sense a couple of days later!

Well, just to report back, I did this just over a week ago at 11 weeks and had a fantastic time with no obvious ill effects. I did double check with the staff at the centre again, and they confirmed they had no problem with it as long as I could still fit behind the wheel!

In fact, have just had 12wk scan today and all is present and correct so hooray! Thanks for the advice, all.