25 cars on a Track day at Castle Combe organised by easytrack.
The primary thought echoing through my all of our minds as we approached the track for track day no. 3 was : "How the hell are we going to keep up with this lot?". Looking at the cars … we had 3 Elise's; 2 Rover turbo's; 4 Westfields; 4 Japanese rocketships; A £70k Porsche GT3; A £100k Ferrari 360 (stop posing and start racing); something with a motorbike engine in it; and a Mini Cooper.
And then there was the duelling on the M4 on the way down.... As we were approaching the turn off for Castle Combe we came up behind a sleek looking Rover 620. "I wonder if that's the 620 going to the track". The we could see a lowered Rover 200 with some large alloys on, he pulled out behind Spen in the Skyline, they had a little play with the Rover managing to stay right behind Spen's Skyline till 135, only then did the Skyline manage to pull away! Ok, so the Rover is quite quick then! … mmmm … shame the Skyline doesn't get tracked!
Then we came across the very low Integra, the Porsche GT3 and a Caterham, we were seriously worried about being outclassed now!!! Then, as we were approaching the circuit we saw the mini arriving on a trailer towed by a BMW 7-series - serious shit!
But one exhausting and thrilling day later, we held our heads up high. The "Mad Sierra" held it's own, out-screeched and out-cornered most cars, got us a reputation, and then finally decided that after 14 sessions and 200 miles of hard racing was more than enough for the day. We were one of the first to arrive at the circuit and one of the last to leave at just after 5pm!!
Robs Laps
Everyone decided I should go out first on the Track, I think they were a little nervous!! Spen accompanied me first. We had to go through the noise check first, we have not been tested before so were a little nervous. The noise limit is 100db, we were tested at 100.8db, DOH! The tester said we should try to warm the car up first and come back for another test, so I blasted down a couple of the local country roads, came back, and we were tested at 99.9db!! How Close??
So we went out to the track, my first thoughts were I will not brake earlier than the turn in cone at Avon Rise, I know the car can do it, I just have to have the conviction to not touch the brakes till then. I came up the hill, flew past the braking braking cone, slammed the anchors down at the turn in cone, it stuck, I'll have to leave braking till later next time!! A few laps later and I wasn't even touching the brakes till the Apex of Avon rise! Spen's thoughts on Avon Rise: oh shit, oh shit, Robs driving hard at that blind hill. shit. shit. SHIT. SHIT. Brake ya bastard. Bloody Hell. That was the orange cone
Oh. I see. Right, it's done like that
is it?
Avon rise seemed to be the highlight of my day! The car got out of shape a few times, the back end waving around, then going wide around Quarry, certainly gets the adrenalin going! As there were only 5 cars out on track at a time there were very few overtaking opportunities, although I managed to lap the Mini!
The confessions of Driver no. 2 (Ravi)
After my first session I felt like an idiot. I found getting in that thing after 2 months and driving hard very difficult, and this showed when I took a bollard out on the inside of the Esses chicane and went cross-country for a while. The black and blue (uh?) paint will be the start of our Viper-like stripes.
Once Tony had shown me the error of my ways (get off the clutch) I felt a bit more comfortable. As the day wore on, I got better, braked later. There was an incident at Quarry where I oversteered into the corner, and then decided the car needed some more colour (not that the bollard paintwork on the bonnet wasn't pretty) and dragged the green apex cone around with me for a lap or two. The car looks good with green cone melted onto it anyway. And now I'm called cone-boy.
I must mention one pant-wetting moment when I was a passenger in the 'Bob ride-of-death'. Up Avon Rise at 110mph and no braking … then brakes … then the car going away at the back, then the front. Oh, it was all a bit much. Bob clung onto the corner - but never *quite* took that line again!
Things I learned : Don't ride the clutch. Turn the wheel to correct oversteer much quicker. Brake later (if you dare). If you sense something wrong with the car, stop racing. Don't eat a pie for lunch. Don't get worried by tales from the mechanic who came to pick up our car. Put tyres on with the correct rotation direction. Bring a better jack than the crap Skyline one. Tyres and wheel nuts get bloody hot after a lot of track action.
Tony takes the helm
The days leading up to this event were quite exciting - this was the first outing with the Easytrack outfit, and when we booked we were able to see the list of other participants. The list went something like Porsche GT3, Porsche 911, Evo 6, Elise, Elise, Caterham, Elise, Caterham, Elise, Caterham…you get the picture. Also this was a weekday event - I figured that when people are prepared to take holiday days from work for these events, they are pretty keen. All of this was against a backdrop of me having a "bad day at the office" on my last outing with the XR4x4. We'd changed the wheels and tyres before the last event, and I hadn't got on well with the alteration (see vid clips on "Day 2" for proof!).
The journey down was great - I got to ride in our "support vehicle", which is a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR. (I know, I know, the track car and support car are the wrong way around. If you don't like it, you argue with our wimin!) Anyway, there was a very interesting contest with a Rover (220 turbo made to look like a boy racer'ed 214) which did not respect our authoritiiiii! Of course, we didn't break the speed limit. At least we wouldn't have done if we'd been in Germany, if you know what I mean!
The Rover was a very impressive motor, though took a while to get into the realms of respectable lap times.
My concerns were reinforced a little when I passengered with Ravi, as, at first, he seemed to suffer the same problems as I did last time. We had a splendid incident at the Esses, which resulted in the beginnings of Viper like stripes up the bonnet from the pop-up bollards. Ravi - how did you get the bonnet? Wings I can understand, but the bonnet??!!!
The worries that I had before the day vanished as soon as I took the wheel. I found that I had got used to the change in the car's handling and had to admit that it felt good. What was funny was the amount of confidence overtaking another car gives you, even when that other car is just cruising around, taking in the view. I passed a Celica GT-4 and only realised his pedestrian pace when I watched some of his later laps from Quarry corner. Still, I had a good tussle with a Caterham during the same session, and he was definitely trying. Stupid thing was as soon as I'd passed him, my pace slowed as I was trying to watch him in my mirrors instead of getting on with my drive. Definitely easier to follow than to be chased!
The day as a whole was great - big respect to Easytrack - how they make any money with so few cars on the track I don't know. But as long as they do and keep running these events, I don't care! Even with four drivers, there were still times when we (almost) felt as if we'd had enough. The car, alas, felt the same way. Tyres were destroyed, the starter motor packed up, and to top it all off, the suspension gave up right at the end of the day and forced us to call on a recovery truck. All repairable though, so we'll be out again soon. I do feel particularly gutted about the tyres though - stacks of tread left on them, but the walls and bonding between the tyre "body" and tread perished. More rotation between corners of the car needed to maintain them, methinks. A lower profile still may help, and can we do any more weight reduction???
A few quotes for you:
"What the f**k are you doing???" Tony to Spen as he say's "Let's off-road" after bobbies. Actually, what was impressive was that although the violence of the off-roading tripped the fuel cut off switch, we had enough momentum to coast all the way into the pits. At last, an advantage to being so heavy!
"What are you lads up to - practicing for a ram-raid?" Pro driver to Spen (I think) after a particularly aggressive set of laps.
"You even scared me!" Tony to Robert after watching the speed Rob came over Avon Rise (i.e. 115mph) before starting to brake for Quarry. Tony was not even in the car, but standing on the bank!
Big shout goes out to the guy from Circuit Motors who recovered us. Thanks for:
a) Your incessant chatting, which kept our minds off the work we faced
b) Hanging around instead of just dropping the car off when we asked you to wait, because Rob and Spen were Kcuffing about, even though you had another job come in.
c) The stack of really horrible stories that nearly made us never drive again, but which definitely reminded me of the importance of not using cheap Halfords shite for critical components.
The Tale of Lunacy Continues - Spen's turn now.
I know this is a bit late - I've been busy working hard. Today I'm not.Rob "Rubbish, you're never busy!"
It was an interesting journey to start off with. We met up with the others en route… The rover 214 thing was impressive. I'd just let all the boost go waiting for the integra type R to pull in. The rover had a lot more speed as there was still some distance between us. Instead of reaching for third I left it in forth - underestimating the little Rover. A bit of a mistake as we only pulled away a little bit until the rover was nearing it's rev limit. Top marks to the Rover - I did offer him a re match but he drove on home.
Maybe the others were worried and wanted Rob to drive first because of the competition - I wanted Rob to get the car through the noise test. 100 dB was the limit and my ear drums told me that we were over..
100.8 dB was just too much for the marshal. Nooo. He suggested we drove it around a bit to warm the exhaust.. We suggested that we didn't rev it to 4500 rpm. J Rob was cheeky enough to drop the revs to about 4400 when the marshal wasn't watching too closely. Marvellous, 99.9 dB. A wry smile from the marshal later we were on the track.
I enjoyed passengering with Rob. Once I'd got over the shock of his new tactic of not breaking at Avon until almost over the hill. I did think right, so you think you can break late do you.. Just wait 'till we've swapped seats and we're heading towards tower ( nice 90 degree bend with 10ft of run off where the tyres and concrete are the only things to look at ). I also thought the 'new idea' through folly and over avon was great. It would take courage the first time.. We timed the laps at the trackside as you are not allowed to time in car or to inform the driver from the trackside. Robs lap was a 1m30s. Only 2 secs slower than the Porsche..
Now it was my turn. I copied the line over avon but the car floated to the right. This rapidly developed into a slide as I broke for quarry. I let it slide to scrub some speed then turned into the slide at the same time as flooring it in second. This worked a treat as the glided partly sideways round quarry - passenger impressed I set off for the esses. I forget what Rob said now.
I also learnt a better line through the esses getting more exit speed for the straight. Then came tower. Howling though the breaking area foot firmly on the 'other' pedal then bang, hit the brakes. The fronts locked, we're going straight towards the tyre wall at about 90. Ok, don't panic. Choose third. Rears locked. Dilemma, if I leave it like this we in the tyres for sure and it will hurt. Fine, just let go of the brakes and turn in here and hope to control the slide round the bend. I think my heart stopped when I let go of the brakes. It really is hard to do that when all you want is the thing to slow down because a barrier is in your way.
To cut the heroic waffle down a bit we made it through tower quite tidily and towards bobbies. I think I heard Rob start breathing again here. He's got to be lying if he says he was unphased by this, we really really could have ended up in the barrier…
My time. 1m31s. Damn, it must have been setting off with overheating tyres ;-) Anyway the timing must have been + or - a second, and Rob's been here two more times than me (enough excuses now Spen).
Second, third and forth sessions all somehow blurr into one, so do the passenger rides. I recall being an absolute hooligan provoking the car into a slide at every opportunity. I was asked if we were practicing for a ram raid by a marshal at one point…
By the forth session I was mentally exhausted. I could not concentrate at all. I pootled round in comparison. A few slides out of the esses. I don't think I scared Ravi at all. It was all tidy. Probably a better lap time too…
On one of the laps, can't remember who was with me, we arrived at bobbies and there was a large pile of glass smack on the line I wanted. Interesting - having to adjust like that.
Other absolute gems: Cone Boy taking the cone around the track lap after lap. Cone boy getting a rubber bollard right in the middle of the bonnet. Being referred to as a Mad Sierra driver by some girl who wanted to take pictures of the car sideways in bends. Eating a massive lunch only to get back in a car and hammer it around a track - good idea everyone.
Notes for next time: Pies and Olympic Breakfasts don't count as suitable lunches. Let the bloody tyres cool down between sessions. Rotate the wheel positions for even wear. Brake late, but not too late. Take more tools - an emergency scissor jack is no replacement for a trolley jack.
