The first of this years Cars and Car Conversions Magazine days at Castle Combe.
Robert's account
The day started with a briefing which was a much needed addition to the day to get the driving standard up, however the briefing failed to mention some important things, the most important being that if someone catches you they are quicker than you so let them past!!!
I was in my blue XR4x4 as the turbo conversion on the track car is not quite running properly yet
My first session was a little annoying as there was a lot of traffic to deal with and most people were uncooperative! The second sessions
were much better as I got out on track near the front and there were mostly faster cars in front of me so I had a clear track 
I
had the collways on and the grip from them was pretty good! There was very little understeer and only a little oversteer so managed to
keep some good speed through the corners
I gave a couple of passenger rides and I think both were impressed how well the standard XR4x4 held up against much more expensive machinery
Had a small battle with a blue 348 Ferrari on the track, he caught me at a couple of seconds a lap, but I was pulling away from him on the corners
spoke to him in the pit his quote "how the hell were you that fast in that Sierra .... looked at the
tyres .... ahh, that'll be it then"
Then there was the anchor in an M3, I'm passing a Manta down hammer down, I'm well over to the right to give loads of room, the idiot in the M3 comes through the middle of us!!!! That's the closest I've been to an accident on the track ever
and I bet
sod all was said to him either
Tony's account in his Legacy turbo
Moments of the day for me: Spanking everything in sight on my first session (ok, they were mainly Novas
and beginners, but a scalp's a scalp
)Duelling with a XR4I that was reluctant to let me by, and "forgetting" to brake for Bobbies, resulting in a little rally cross! (Got past before Folly though!)
Finally having the courage to go flying over Avon rise at three figure speeds (though only twice in 15 laps!), with the car dancing and twitching "rob style", before nailing the brakes for Quarry.
Getting to chat with the CCC editor.
D-Head of the day - dead heat: The pair of golfs that crashed into each other on Hammerdown straight
The mk2 escort that lost it at Tower. Not that strange you may think, but picture the scene... I go into quarry on my 14th lap, brake pedal has been cunningly swapped by the blancmange fairy. Bit hairy but no incident. Ease up to Esses, things feel ok, and spot a mk2 escort waiting to rejoin after a spin. I then go through Farm Bend (?) and the road has been smeared with Vaseline - okay so the tyres are gone too. Time to come in. Left indicator on, off the racing line, doing 30-40mph. Arriving at Tower. Escort comes screaming up behind me. I say, okay, no worries, I'll stay right over to the left, not interfering with his line at all. BIG screech - he's lost it on the entrance to the bend and is fully side ways, beside me as we go through the apex. I continued on my merry way and retired a lap early, still ahead of him!!
I had to drive home very gingerly as my brakes were dead (0.5mm of pad left and brake fluid on the min mark) and changed the pads in the dark and wet evening. :0( Worth it though as it was a top day - much better than previous years.
Spen's account in his brothers 500bhp Supra!
I think I buffer overflowed my brain
. 140 down the straight. I DID brake over avon I can tell you!! At first I didn’t
trust the car enough to keep the right foot planted through folly. Through the bends the Supra was a little slower than the xr,
with wobbly suspension and me being the weak links. However, having a 150 bhp advantage over the very fast cars, we roared past
most things on farm straight. Slowed down through the esses and nailed it through paddock then Hammerdown, without lifting and with
some opposite lock - this is where Jug span it last time round.
Braking in to tower was fun. We were taking out the length of the braking zone out of the next cars lead most laps. It doesn’t sound much but we were braking 1/2 way through the zone but the speed was way higher than in the xr4.
Round the back to bobbies we were often held up but blasted past on the way to camp. Then the straight.
It didn’t take long to
get past most things or to reach avon!
Jugs supra towelled everything, except a p1 that wouldn’t let me past. He was driving all over the straight to keep us off and could get the power down a lot earlier out of the bends. I did push him of line in to tower with some massive braking but decided not to put him on the grass as i) I could have been put in the sin bin, ii) not my supra!
Cos the P1 held us up the rs500 caught up! I would have loved to have had a go head to head with the RS500 with a clear track…. The P1 was costing about 300m a lap by being there. I know this because at one lap he was at the end of the straight when we were coming through camp but by the next lap we were right on his case.
The Supra was a massively good car. I had expected it to be overcome by 500 bhp. Actually it wasn’t 500 bhp on sat as it starting misfiring over 5500 rpm so I drove on torque, which wasn’t lacking either, through the chicanes.
With a race spec suspension set up to match the brakes and power it would be alarmingly fast round a track. With the standard set up the weight transfer allowed some massive lift of oversteer - I guess this is how supras are binned on the road. You had to keep faith and keep it nailed through the fast corners or the back wanted to pass the front…
Overall, I want one. If fact, it hurts me to say this, but as a track car I’d choose one over a GTR. The rear wheel drive action was most excellent. I can now put ‘controlled 500 bhp rear drive car on track without embarrassing myself or the car’ on my cv!