My first trackday... any southerners would like to join me?

[wy906 0]

Just booked my first track day. It's Club MSV Novice Day at Brands Hatch (Mon 14th Feb). 8)

 

http://www.clubmsv.com/car-home/event-details.aspx?productid=664

 

Any southerners would like to join me?

[corozin 0]

Alas I am not a novice.

[dragon green 4]

Just booked my first track day. It's Club MSV Novice Day at Brands Hatch (Mon 14th Feb). 8)

 

http://www.clubmsv.com/car-home/event-details.aspx?productid=664

 

Any southerners would like to join me?

February 14th !!!!

I will be busy all day opening Valentine cards and prezzies :luvlove:

[wy906 0]

Alas I am not a novice.

 

I'll give you a shout if I do any non-novice / open-pitlane later this year; I wanted to get my first one out of the way first.

[dukest 0]

have just looked at the page for this again and it seems like they've turned it into an open pitlane day (probably to entice a few more along). bit of a bargain for the full day now.

[wy906 0]

Woowhoooo! :clap:

 

Edit: dukest, come along... you know you want to.... :)

[wy906 0]

Had a brilliant day at Brands yesterday!

 

It was supposed to be a Novice day but there clearly were experienced drivers there. Absolutely no problem though cos everyone was courteous and there was only one brief stoppage in the whole day when an Elise beached itself in the morning.

 

There were many nice metals there including a 997.2 GT3, a very quick C63, TVR, loads of Imprezas / Evos, a few very fast ST / RS, a very swift MR2 MkIII which arrived on a trailer, a few quick Clios and loads of Caterhams / MX5 etc. There was also a Nissan GTR that came on to the track briefly in the afternoon.

 

Format was open-pitlane. Did the noise test in the morning (Corrado was only 78dB at 4000 rpm), then briefing and sighting laps. Organiser said they would limit the no. of cars on track to 24-26 cars but the track was never that busy. I had many sessions where I managed get clear runs with no traffic for 3+ laps, especially in the afternoon. Track started off damp but dry line soon appeared by mid morning.

 

I had a 20 min session with an instructor (Nico) just before lunch. Nico commented whilst my line was good, I wasn’t looking ahead far enough when going through corners. Basically I was looking at the breaking point, THEN turn-in point, THEN apex and THEN exit. He suggested that I should look and plan further ahead so that as I was approaching the breaking point I should already be looking at the turn-in, apex and exit. Rather than ‘jointing the dots’ I should treat it as one corner / one series of bends. Nico was talking me through the techniques as I was driving and instantly I could feel that I was much ‘cleaner’, using more of the track, and able to accelerate much earlier. The session was well worth it as I could feel that I was working the car much harder and was then able to go much quicker as the day went on.

 

Had another 25min session with Nico in the afternoon and my driving was a lot better. I couldn’t believe how much grip there was at the outside of Paddock Hill bend, even on my standard Corrado with 16 yr old suspensions and crap tyres. Durids to Graham Hill was great fun; and getting Surtees, McLaren and Clearways right and catching up with ‘better’ cars was satisfying. Nico was also very complimentary on the Corrado as well!

 

I was sharing the garage with two chaps’ MX5 and Matt took me out in the afternoon. It was great fun; the car was well sorted and Matt drove it really well.

 

The Corrado was outstanding and never missed a beat. Oil temp was maxed at 122 in the morning and 130 in the afternoon. Coolant temp was never higher than 102ish. Cold weather helped. The brakes smelt after each session but resisted fading and never made any noise. The front right pad was smoking a bit at my final session after I spent 10+ laps chasing a green classic Scooby, which was great fun. I did about 130 miles on track in total so that’s roughly 105 laps; average around 15 mpg. Car will be getting a full service in the first week of March for some well earned TLC.

 

The whole day was thoroughly enjoyable and I can’t wait for the next one! It’s only THISSSSSSSSS much better than Xbox!

 

Parked up.

 

At garage with Nigel & Matt's MX5.

 

Approaching Durids.

[wy906 0]

Graham Hill bend.

 

 

Holding up traffic! :)

 

With my instructor .

[wy906 0]

My favorite shot: at the top of Paddock Hill bend.

 

[dukest 0]

Ha! Glad you had a good time, I had a feeling there might be some more exciting stuff turn up as soon as they made it open-pitlane, "novice" day or not!

What tyres are they by the way? I know you said they're nearly dead, but they dont look to be flexing too much, or at least the sides seem fairly flat as they are? Dont know if thats just the pictures though.

[wy906 0]

What tyres are they by the way? I know you said they're nearly dead, but they dont look to be flexing too much, or at least the sides seem fairly flat as they are? Dont know if thats just the pictures though.

 

Tyres held up really well. They’re ‘Runway’ at the front and Toyo T1S at the rear. Maybe I just wasn’t pushing hard enough? :-) As mentioned to you before I don’t have a pump / pressure gauge, so I put in 36psi at the front and 33psi at the back last Saturday and left it as that.

 

My instructor was very impressed with the car too; he said that he was looking forward to see the car when he first found out the list of his ‘students’. The Corrado really handled well despite old suspensions and crap tyres. I could see why it was getting so much praise when it was first launched. Accelerating hard off Durids then brake sharply and turn at Graham Hill was huge fun.

 

Oh and thanks for all the tips in the pm’s.

 

Cheers.

[coullstar 0]

Nice, well done. Brave man going on a damp trackday with Runway tyres on the front!!!!