j8mie

Thanks to Rich for arranging this with Book a Track It was an excellent day, and seemed to go without a hitch.

No problems for me all day, and the car seemed to take it in it's stride. My only concern was the rate of wear on my pads, as we had been warned that this circuit was hard on the brakes. This wasn't a problem for me tbh, as I'm not that hard on the brakes as some on here. The only thing I might think about is some kind of brake cooling.

I felt there was a nice rhythm to the circuit with the expectation of that final hair pin which leads onto the banked section. I could never get a decent line through that, which meant I never got good drive along the banked section, and down the main straight. That first chicane was great fun as you dropped into it from the top of the banking, and basically straight lined it. I had a couple of tail out moments in the hairpins and a trip across the grass Which I'm blaming on having a passenger in the car, and not my total lack of talent

It was nice to meet everyone and put a few more faces to names. Cheers to harsh for letting us watch the MotoGP race in his car

And thanks to the guy who took me out in his Atom. The handling is nothing short of perfect and the acceleration is on a par with a sports bike. When I got back to the pits I was shaking with excitement

Hope the car is okay Miren after your off?

I'll post a link to my photos a bit later once I've had a chance to go through me, and upload them.

Hope everyone had a safe trip back.

Vixen

You went out in the atom

lovegroova

Thanks to Rich for organising this. I had a great day renewing some old acquaintances and meeting some new folk.

Many, many thanks to Harsh for the go in the M3, you're a very brave man!

I enjoyed the track very much, especially the banking part where I definitely looked like Tom Cruise (with my helmet on and the visor down) I thought the infield provided an excellent technical challenge, it'd be interesting to hear people's different approaches to the various corners and which gears to use. I was undecided between 2nd and 3rd in various places...

Thanks to Chris Franklin for the advice on tyres, lowering the pressure a bit helped with the overheating and gave me more grip for longer

I thought the on-track behaviour was very good in the main, apart from the usual VX not moving over (there always seems to be one).

I've got a few video clips of some of you passing the pits and dropping down into the chicane which Havas is going to put up later today. My fave clip is of me passing the GT3 (although I think he might not have been trying that hard

I also had an ace drive home via the A14, B660, A600 and some other back roads. As well as being great roads, they were virtually deserted

Only downer is a sunburnt nose and neck.

My car is now in Jorge's capable hands having the 54k service carried out.

JG

What a fantastic day! Thanks to Richard and Bookatrack.

Being my first track day I've obviously got alot to learn as I think just about everyone passed me (in between the Caterhams and the Atoms!). But the main thing was that I and the car returned in one piece, the only damage being a scrathed number plate surround as I tried to fit the tow hook...jeez I'm a mechanical numpty!

At least my brake setup held up (EBC + Ferodo DS2500 + NBM Woolford hoses + Millers Brake fluid).....unlike some ;-) But that's probably because I'm being a big wuss leaning too gentley on them, given Dan's smoking effort and Chilled and lowers' experiences.

I feel much more confident in the car now having seen what it's capable of.

The tuition was invaluable and the afternoon sessions were spent trying to perfect the line through pif-paf from the previous corner.

The wet grip was great fun, but incredibly difficult, even Simon (my instructor) only managed a drift 1 out of 3 times in my car. The guy in the pit lane told me that some of the instructors have to take sea-sick pills to stop them feeling sick when they have repeated sessions.

Thanks to J8mie for taking my mate Simon out, even though he's now blaming him for the off Got all that grass out of the car yet Jamie? and obviously that trip in the Atom was too much fresh air for you as you drove home with the roof up

Thanks also to Graham for giving Simon a passenger ride in the Caterham, I think you've convinced him to buy one (now he's sold the TVR).

I don't know what happened to people after the first red flags in the afternoon, but some people must have been a little impatient...into Turn2 I had Caterhams all around me including one filling my rear view mirror with all four wheels locked and smoking, I was more than a little concerned!

All in all 120 track miles under my belt and I managed to just top 100 around round the banking, but then I did have a passenger!

Can't wait for the next one, when is it Richard?

Cheers,
JG

PS. I suppose we'd better lose the "Take it to the track" banner now, or better still replace it with a new one!
PPS. How long do we have to wait for Bookatrack to post the pictures from the day?
PPPS. I'll post some vid on YouTube once I've edited a bit, most of which will be me spinning on the wet grip.

lower

With respect to the next one, i need some feedback of where and when. We've done Bedford a couple of times now, Donington was the last but one, Rockingham i enjoyed but personally i'd like to go somewhere not quite as hard on the brakes for the next one.

I'm thinking September/October time for the next big S2ki day though i'm looking to do an evening session at Donny in July.Paper Lawyer is going to be there so it could be a mini S2ki day.

Prices tend to go up in the summer, and to get a discount we need to book well in advance, hence the thinking of September/october. The trackday organisers are in the risk business in that they book the tracks before they have bookings themselves so if as a club we get 20+ cars booked up well in advance they are willing to give a bit of a discount.

Tell me where and when you want to go, and i'll start asking the relevant questions.

PS- the banners gone
PPS-1-2 days
PPPS

Bookatrack

my 2p worth would be a double header at the new Anglesey circuit in September/October. Combine it with one of the big holiday cottages and make a real weekend social event out of it - there was a great clubby atmosphere at Rockingham that would lend itself well to just such an event.

Pics should be online later this evening - some great ones on the wet grip!

Thanks all for helping make it a great event with some very courteous driving all round.

Jonny

Paper Lawyer

Sounds like a few interested peeps already signing up

Jonny, I agree with your suggestion, shame that the Angelsey dates were (from memory) all week days. I imagine that its a circuit quite in demand this year though!

I'd be doing Anglesey on the Le Mans weekend, were it not for the charity walk I organise my firm's team entries for.

Dembo

That would be great, but realistically we'd get less people with a miles from anywhere event at Anglesey, and the cost of doing 2 days will put people off too.

Dan Hale

No problem Rich, maybe next time I'll have a bit more grip available

Tyres being fitted in 30 mins time

Sarren

Firstly a huge thanks to Richard for organising yesterday. I had a great time. Rockingham is a very testing circuit.

Foolish me, carried on pushing til the end. My tyres were starting to go off and I even said to my passenger that we'll just finish this lap then cool down and that would be the end of our day. I shouldn't have tried to pass the car before the corner, as I was then off line and went into the corner too fast. The backend stepped out as I turned, I started to hold it, but backed off and that swung me around, and I span across the grass, and just into the gravel pit No way was I going to drive out of there. Towed out and flat bedded back to the pits.

A special thanks to Chris Franklin for staying late and checking over the whole car for me. No damage to the mechanical parts of the car. I'll have to get the geometry checked pretty soon though. The only major problem being pebbledash to the lower 1/3 of that side. It all appears relatively superficial and just in the clearcoat rather than through the paint so should buff out reasonably well. I'll just need to find someone like TangoMan to work on the car one day!