About a million (!!) cars at Castle Combe organised by Cars and Car Conversions Magazine. Like last time there were far too many cars on the track and the marshalls didn't seem to know what a black flag is! I think they should take some lessons from the Brands Hatch Marshalls!!! In the two years I have been doing track days I have never seen as many damaged cars in TOTAL as were damaged at Castle Combe
I don't want to scare people off from track days but with no compulsory briefings how they can expect to have any hope
of keeping control is beyond me. People were driving like tw@ts and spinning off into the tyre wall, that's what happens when you drive
beyond your limits and the limits of the car!! Don't get me wrong, everyone is bound to spin at some point if they do track days but,
there were so many people just driving like ar$e$ and they should have been pulled off the circuit as they are just endangering
themselves and other divers!
Tony's account
Just a short report from me as I didn't drive the XR4x4, but instead had a couple of sessions in my regular road car (Subaru Legacy Turbo)...
I'd been warned of the risks of taking a "normal" car out - your brakes WILL get hot and they WILL fade. Oh, and you'll use A LOT of petrol. Yeah whatever, I'm not gonna cane my road car, it'll be fine. He he he!
The fact of the matter is that the brakes went off after about four laps - much more pedal travel, much less braking force, so I had to back off some. A wise man once told me "if your brakes fade, don't think they'll cool down if you back off for a couple of corners. They won't. Take the warning!" I did and all was fine, but it was a bit galling to have cars passing me that couldn't get close before. I think a phone call to Mintex is in order to get some 1144's... The session was good though and Spen reminded me of the right line out of the Esses - proved useful later...
Second session was cool. The brakes didn't seem to suffer as much, which was good as my wife was passengering this time. After working our way through some traffic I caught a Porsche 944. He was reluctant to yield and so a good contest ensued. I seemed much faster though the corners - I guess because of later braking and being able to get loads of traction down earlier. His top speed kept him ahead for a while, but a good run out of the Esses and around Hammerdown meant I was filling his mirrors into Tower. Nicely through there and onto bobbies and he took a tighter exit allowing me to nail it and get by before Camp. Didn't see him again! It was great learning the lines of the track as it's a while since I've driven here. It's a brilliant circuit for showing the difference in speed a different line can give you.
Another top memory - Renault Laguna Estate - driven by a total tosser: Lap after lap he was overtaking right through the Esses and being extremely aggressive. One time at the Esses he comes screaming up to overtake another car, TOTALLY overcooks it, fish tailing left and right, off onto the grass cuts out old paddock bend completely and rejoins the track at Hammer down. I thought he was gonna go straight across the road and hit the wall when he rejoined - unfortunately he made the turn :-(. When I asked the marshal if his bad behaviour was black flag material he just laughed.
Oh and the Cossie that was getting wider and wider out of Quarry - bloke next to me says "I'll just wait here - he'll be off in a minute" 2 laps later, he finally gets some oversteer, messes it up and is heading towards the corn (better than the wall I suppose!)
What about the Sierra that did the full 360 out of camp - perfect pirouette and carried on. Black flag at any other event, but the crowd seemed to love it - so he tried it every lap after that - nearly killed a guy in a silver golf when he ran wide, running said golf towards the wall. Both survived without impact - miracle!
Erm, how about the pug that hit the stationery mg midget out of quarry - not a waved yellow in sight. Oh and don't forget the Escort that hit the wall at Tower. Messy.
Plus point - Honda Estate (Accord or Integra?) being driven superbly and passing everything including a load of Cossies and Scoobies. Good work fella.
Sorry - supposed to be a short report. Suffice to say, it'll be difficult to keep the Scooby off the track for long!
Robert's account
Hmmmmm, where shall I start ..... as I was queuing in the pit lane the session was stopped as 2 cars had collided!! The cars were pulled back on the lorry, a 205GTI and an MG Midget, or what was left of them, the 205 had rear ended the MG after the MG had spun. Not a good start
I had a relatively uneventful 1st session, passed a few cars, was managing to brake later and later into Tower which is the only corner I really have a problem with now. Braking over Avon rise is still fun, the back drifts out and you have to be ready to pull it back into shape
However I came over braking a little too late, the back swung out wide, no problems holding it but by this time I had to turn
into Quarry and the back went out the other way ...... power down, hold the slide, only gave a little opposite lock to keep the slide
round the corner ..... cool :0>
After lunch it started raining heavily, which made the track more interesting and the queues shorter, which are both good
The track
felt very greasy and slippery, great fun!!! I had a bit of a problem with a Focus who refused to yield even though I had caught him and
I got along side him twice but he still wouldn't let me past so I stomped trying as the circuit was too slippery to get too close to him.
So I just concentrated on sliding the car round the corners instead I managed to powerslide the car out of every corner, lots of
fun ....
As the afternoon went on we decided that the standard of driving was just deteriorating so we wouldn't take the car on the track after about 3pm, we just watched the carnage from the side!
Spen's take on it.
Another CCC day at Castle Coomb. The last one nearly got me killed! Next to zero marshalling and next to zero brains piloting some of the vehicles. I went along hoping it wouldn't be a repeat performance.
Tony decided it was time to introduce his Scooby to the tarmac. I happily agreed to passenger with him. It was nice to see a whole band of marshals!! Tony was soon getting to grips with his Legacy but no sooner had he gripped than the brakes started fading. Fading badly, the sort of fading where the sound is louder than the engine note and the suspension feels like it's being tortured by the rumble strip. The standard pads and discs were suffering badly.
Whilst the Scooby cooled down Tony wondered over to talk to another Legacy owner. Rob still hadn't arrived (he's using the XR4 since he managed to set fire to his baby XR2) so I still didn't have a car to track
The other legacy guy agreed that standard pads weren't up to the job. He was also on his third engine (and still on standard pads!)
When Rob finally turned up we jumped in the queue and were soon heading for the track. The first thing that struck was how fast everyone was driving. The XR normally blows past the competition but now it was having to work very hard. Rob even overcooked it over Avon which produced a huge slide round quarry - very spectacular!
Next it was my turn! Excellent. I seriously tore into the circuit, last time we were here I hadn't driven it 100%. The first stubborn target was a white Astra - I remember Rob trying to close this motor down in the first session. I pulled up right behind the astra but he was in no mood to get out of my way so some pressure had to be applied! Haha. He ran wide out of Quarry and I slipped past into the Esses. I was happy to see him fail to keep the pace of the XR as he had been driving well.
Then came the M5 incident. This was one of the best bits of my 'track car' career!! I got held up for a lap by two slower cars. When I got past there was a big grey M5 on my bumper!
Ok, if he's there in one laps time I'll let him by....
I was doing fine, pulling 20 ft or so through quarry and the esses then I stamped on the brakes right before the critical point entering Tower. If you've read other entries you'll know that our little old XR has a habit of violently pulling sideways under extreme braking.
This was one of those moments were you've held off till every little neuron in your head says 'No. No. No. Middle pedal NOW' and the XR responds with a massive lockup of one of the front wheels. The car took an awful line through tower, understeering all the way with the extra speed, allowing the M5 down the inside to bobbies.
Now we were in super pursuit mode. No matter how I tried that M5 was slightly too fast down the straights. At the exit to each corner I was right there but with not enough extra speed to squeeze through. It stayed that way for several laps until he put a foot wrong when getting a little too much oversteer out of bobbies forced the car to put a foot on the grass! It span in the blink of an eye.
I was told by observers that he was so hacked off and in such a hurry to pursue he booted it on the grass and span again before he'd even hit the tarmac!!
I did have another session in the afternoon - just after the rain had stopped. My word. The track felt like Wile E Coyote had been out and about with his barrel of super ACME grease! The understeer snapping into oversteer was astonishing during the first lap. The second and subsequent laps I knew what was coming and a wide grin started to develop.
When I'd finished someone Rob works with, called Mike, asked 'Are you and Rob having a competition to see who can get the arse out the most?'
I think the truth is 'Yeah, of course we are!'