Well Tim, I know what you were feeling at entering that cockpit: many moons ago I had a brief exploit in a full-house-SBF Cooper Monaco (aka King Cobra) at Silverstone - on the club circuit layout, and somewath damp on the day. It wasn't at all well behaved, loadsapower and nil grip in the wet ! Dangerous as the namesake serpent !
Not only did I have to change the wet overalls but the wet underwear as well...
I'd rather have raced my Coooper S on the day, proving its competence on a wet track.