Racetrack Hot Chocolate - Why is it amazing?
Why are the hot chocolates you get at a racetrack so much better than anywhere else?
I appreciate that this is going to be quite a niche post, and quite Drivetribe-y one too, but bear with me. The hot chocolates you get at a racetrack are the best in the world.
A bold statement but trust me. I've been dragged along to cold, wet and windy racetracks since my birth courtesy of a Dad who was a motorcycle racer. Then when he realised that he needed a proper job to fund having a kid he retired to become a weekend rider and racing fan, now taking me along to watch the likes of Max Biaggi, Nicky Hayden, Kenny Roberts Jnr. and a younger Valentino Rossi. I must have been about 6 when I first recall being dragged off to Donnington and promptly getting soaked to the bone. And when you're cold and wet as a six-year-old, time seems to be a never-ending concept with all the dynamism of cold treacle. But then Dad introduced me to the racetrack hot chocolate. A steaming polystyrene cup (remember them?) of a thick brown liquid, rich and sweet to smell. The first sip would always burn your tongue, so you'd stir it frantically with a small plastic stirrer (the ecologist I've grown up to be hates writing that). You'd stare at the spinning eddy of drink in the cup, waiting for the blur of noise and colour the whizz past once more, sipping away quietly and what might as well be a warm cup of heaven.
The hot chocolates you get at racetracks, and this is probably a UK thing, is amazing. It's sweeter than you've ever tasted it, and seemingly so much richer and smoother. Like someone melted a bar of Dairy Milk, added a dash of milk, and a useless stirrer of sugar for good measure. For something that cost 90 pence and seemed to be set on only burning your tongue, why does it taste so good?
These are quite a fancy example of what I'm on about what with them marshmallows!
And don't think I'm looking at this concept with rosetinted spectacles. Picture this, Boxing Day 2019, a day that seems both an age ago, but also weirdly so recent courtesy of the madhouse that has been 2020. Dad and I went to Mallory Park to watch the Plum Pudding Races because there was "bugger all to watch on telly". The weather was abysmal, rain all day, it was about 4°C at the warmest, and my telephoto lens packed up. But then we got a hot choccy, which Dad put sugar in? Honestly, he has a greater sweet tooth than I do and that's going some! But the hot chocolate, it tasted just so perfect. For a cup of something served to you by a woman with a regional accent from a trailer in Leicestershire, it had no right in being so nice, but it was. And I experienced this again at the weekend just gone at Castle Combe. Cold, wet, but thankfully my camera kit was still functional, and again, I treated myself to a hot chocolate. At £2.50 it was considerably more than the prices from a decade and a half prior as a tot, but it still tasted wonderful. And despite being nearly 23 I still managed to burn my tongue on the first sip. I'll never learn.
So here's the thing, do these drinks taste better because of the circumstances? Because I'm wet and cold, and they are warm and comforting are these drinks seen to be better than they are. Or do race track caterers know how to make a good hot chocolate? I feel there needs to be a proper investigation into this, but it does beg a further question. What other unexpected places turn out fantastic food? Hmmm.
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Comments (8)
Definitely environment, but I'd also like to see an improvement in the cocoa to marshmallow ratio. The pictured quantity is acceptable 😂
That seems like a fair request.
Same with Bovril at freezing ruby training on a Sunday morning, never tastes the same when made at home
Bovril as a drink has to be enjoyed when you’re at your coldest. For me that was always rowing training at school. As a cox I’d sneak a flask into the boat with me.
Racetrack hot chocolate is up there with builders tea and sausage rolls on a rainy beach. My childhood wrapped up in plastic cups and paper..
It's the wintry environment - I find the hot chocolates in the snow lodge always taste the absolute best. Two minute noodles also taste better in alpine conditions, who knew.