Just under 90 cars on a Track day at Donington Park organised by Tracksense. They were split into groups and went out for approx 20 minute sessions.
Rob's insight into Donington in the wet
We had looked at some other peoples accounts of their experiences of Donington and they all seemed to say one thing: Donington is treacherous in the wet!! Caused a lot by the fact it is situated in the middle of the flight path for the runway. So we were a little nervous as it had done nothing but rain for the last few weeks, with loads of rivers bursting their banks and town flooded. It was going to be a wet one then!!
It started with trying to get the car on the trailer. It wouldn't go on forwards as the bumper hit the ramp. It wouldn't go on backwards because the exhaust hit the back of the trailer, so the front bumper had to come off! When the car finally went on the bloody trailer wasn't quite long enough!! The back of the car overhung by about a foot , close enough!
It got worse when we started off down the motorway, over 60mph the car and trailer started to snake! So, 60mph all the way to Donington then! Then going up the M1, in the middle lane overtaking a lorry, there was a BANG. As first we thought the jockey wheel had come down. I managed to get into the inside lane but the hard shoulder was blocked off with cones! I decided the only way I could stop was to take a cone out!! When we stopped we found that a tyre had exploded, nice! So we changed the tyre and off we went again.
When we arrived the first thing we noticed was the place was huge! Much bigger than castle Combe. I went out first. It had stopped raining, but the track was still damp. Had driven Donington on TOCA but this was nothing like it. I was out behind a Maestro that was fitted with a roll cage and seemed to be quite quick. I was starting to learn where the corners were but still had no idea what the best line was.
On my third lap the Maestro spun going into Hollywood! Ok, so the rule is you head straight for them as they won't be there when you get there. Nice idea in theory, but the Maestro was sliding sideways down the track. I slowed right down and waited till he was nearly stationary before I went past him. With no one to follow now I discovered that Schwantz Curve was flat out but the back would start to step out mid corner, you just had to be ready to catch it!! I went past a black XR3i (stock hatch) that had spun off into the grass! I was starting to get the hang of it.
I came up behind and passed a black EVO, overtook a blue Imprezza, then a black 911. This is fun! I then caught up a white M3 BMW. I could get the power down much earlier than him (being 4x4) and was breaking much later into the corners but could not quite get past him. I decided to try to set him up through Goddards chicane to hopefully get past him down the straight. Slow(ish) into Goddards, power down early, catching him through the bend, wooaaaaw, big powerslide out of the corner, corrected it but had lost the momentum to overtake. As we go down the straight the checkered flag is shown
. I was just getting into that!!
Session 2
It was now quite late in the day, it had been raining heavily and having just been out with Spen I knew the Track was very wet. There was a river of water running across the Old Hairpin! Looks like fun! Andy had said he would passenger as Ravi was not keen on the idea! Off we went, into the rain! A few choice words from Andy as we went into the Craner Curves for the first time quite quickly, the back twitching a little, a little opposite lock as we scream through the river into the Old Hairpin!! The back was quite lively as we were going through the corners. We were the first car out and after half a lap there was no one in my mirrors. The whole track was open in front of me so I could go as fast as the car would let me!!
I was getting a bit of oversteer out of every corner basically, turning into it a little seemed to bring her back into shape. Schwantz Curve was nearly flat out, but more sliding that before
. As we flew
into the Craner Curves for the third time the back decided to drift, after grabbing loads of opposite lock
she started to go the other way, we were heading towards the grass, I snapped the wheel the other way to
counter the slide, gave the accelerator a bit of juice and she just about stepped back into line for the Old
Hairpin, totally off line, but still on the black stuff!
This is soooo much fun!! I caught and passed a TR7 out of Coppice corner down Starkeys straight. Through Goddards and slide the back out down Wheatcroft Straight. The next time I went into Coppice corner I made a slight miscalculation! For anyone who hasn't been round Coppice it is totally blind! You can't see the corner till you need to be turning! I was leaving the braking later and later and I left it a little too late! We came sideways over the hill towards the very large gravel trap. I think my words were "Oh dear" or something like that. I tiptoed the car round the outside of the corner and we lived to fight on!
A lap later and I had caught the Mondeo Eurocar, I passed him down Wheatcroft Straight. I guess he wasn't going flat out!! The next time into Goddards I had a few problems with the brakes locking up, we went sideways all the way through the chicane and managed to come out in a relatively straight line on the other side! As we fled down the straight the checkered flag came out, my session was over, I think Andy was glad he was still alive!! Donington in the wet treacherous, never!!!
That was LOADS AND LOADS of fun, I want more..........
Spen's account of Donington
When we went up to Donington, it was raining, raining a lot. Race tracks don't have a drainage system. It doesn't take much to work out what was going to happen.
My first set of laps I took Andy round. First lap, round Redgate. 'Oooooooowwwwooww, that looks a bit steep' I thought as I looked down to the bottom of the Craner Curve. 'Nasty little kink at the bottom' I thought next. Talk about ginger as I plummeted down what felt like the road to hell.
I had no idea what line to take down Craner whatsoever. If I had, I doubt the car was going to listen any way. My nervous unsettled driving wasn't agreeing with it at all.
My next major thought as we roared up a hill was 'Oh, why is there a breaking cone that I've just screamed past.' Then, 'Jesus Christ!!'. Coppice - a blind right hander on the top of a hill. Nice one. 'Remember that for next lap'.
Andy seemed to be grinning all the way and the laps did get better, faster and tidier. I said faster, not fast.
After I'd had my go it was Tony's turn. It was really raining now. I think the expression on his face said it all really. At least he'd been here before and knew all about Coppice.
We watched as the sierra headed out behind a Porsche and in front of a gaggle of minis. After about 60 seconds or so the red flag was out and the session stopped.
'Someone's spun off' we laughed in the pit lane. We laughed some more. Then the Porsche pulled in to the pits. Then the minis came home.The laughing ceased. D'ooh!
Either i) Tony had span and stalled it
or ii) he had tried to emulate a bulldozer building flood defences.
We were getting really anxious but at least the ambulance hadn't moved so we knew they weren't hurt. It was just the car that might have been hurt.
Then, 'Yea!!', towed home by the recovery truck. With an embarrassed driver. The starter motor had packed in again - it does that sometimes. Someone said something about character. A bump start later and Tony was back out there again in the next session.
At some stage we had lunch. I think it was about here!! I know I said in the last post that 'Pies and Olympic breakfasts don't count as suitable lunches'. I was wrong. I had a massive chicken and veg pie with chips, beans and gravy. It was magic. The day was freezing and the hot chicken pie eclipsed even my own family size pork pie (with extra spicy pepper) that I was planning to eat for lunch.
After lunch, I think, Rav took our sierra out with Andy as a passenger again. Ravi had been with Tony during the previous incident and therefore took it easy. It really was totally pissing it down by now and the skies were growing darker.
Ravi pulled back in after an uneventful, to Ravi's delight I think, session. He offered the keys. No one else immediately snatched them so I did. 'Who's coming with me?' I might as well have asked who wants to run naked round the track!! It was really, really, raining very hard now. Standing water on every bit of tarmac. Down the hill to Craner looked like a river - you could see water rippling down the tarmac. Rob said ' If no one else wants to...'
I was about to embark on a very silly mission. Possibly one of the most stupid things I've done in a while. There was a 911 in front, an MGB V8 behind. A Porsche in front of the first Porsche. The track was approaching the state where a Motorway gets a 20 mph speed limit. The adrenaline was seriously flowing and fortified by my pie I was taking no prisoners.
I also wanted to see Rob reach for the ejector button....
Flying round Donington sideways with four wheels spinning at different rates was the funniest thing yet in the sierra. The 911 was going nowhere and the MGB was not even in my mirror after a lap. Two more laps out braking the Porsche before the Eurocar Mondeo dived past us both. I took the opportunity to force the 911 to stay off line and passed him into coppice. He was tight on the bumper as we headed down to Goddards.
The thing is the Porsche had a hell of a lot more grunt and he would come flying past on the main straight at this rate. Clearly this was not the desired result. Answer, well brake really early for the chicane and make him loose all the speed then nail it THROUGH the chicane where our 4x4 sierra has lots more grip. Yikes, we came out of the corner sideways.
The Porsche had to wait till he'd exited the chicane before applying the power - such is the nature of a rear drive rear engine machine. This give me the space to make it down the straight unmolested. Once we were back into the bendy stuff he was history.
Time to close down a few more machines. We caught them and they let us past. The bloody flying Eurocar came past again. Damn that was quick. Next the MGB V8 that was behind us!! We were going down Craner flat out for a change approaching the corner that I think is called Starkies bridge. We were paddling in the water on the wrong side of the track with the MGB next to us.
I didn't think hitting the brakes would be smart but neither was taking the corner off line in the deep end. Oh well, the corner was soon upon Rob grabbed the door handle with both hands. Excellent. The car was quite clearly going to slide all over the place as soon as I turned in and it did just that. Turning into the slide with about half throttle, howling with laughter, the car gripped as we floated over the 'dry' line. This was my highest speed slide ever, never mind in the wet. Third gear too.
This was so much better than my first session. The water was ace. Every lap I pulled the back out through the chicane, just for fun.
The next major moment, which I was highly unhappy about, occurred about halfway through Redgate. It started understeering! WTF? This car doesn't understeer? Someone had span their maestro off and dragged lots of mud onto the line. I say mud, I think clay is nearer. I went right hand down until the steering hit the stop. Mmm. We were still heading for the gravel trap. I was disappointed at the prospect. I tried one desperate manoeuvre - it's all I had time for. I unloaded the steering a lot and gave the throttle a prod in second, this flipped the back out. We were heading sideways for the gravel now but at least we were loosing speed and pointing in the right direction to carry on down the track. Then, at last, grip arrived. We were off the mud and putting more power down was possible. We didn't even put a foot on the grass.
We caught the second Porsche, it was a 944. After a lap he put his indicator on and waved us past!! At the same time the red flag came out and the session was over. A shame as I was really really enjoying the drive.
I didn't see Robs first session or hear much about it. However, his second, was manic and almost legendary. The realisation that there is grip there somewhere on the track is awesome. I think this struck Rob - I've only heard the stories but it sounds insane. From the stadium we could see there wasn't much time where all the wheels were pointing in the same direction. When I get hold of the tape I'll put it up here - it should make good viewing!!
At the end of the day we stopped off in a pub for a pint. I ate my large pork pie. It was a great end to a great, cold, day. If only the temperature had been more reasonable. I want to go back in the summer, when it's raining. I don't think Donington would be as much fun in the dry!
Surfing the track - Ravi's account of Track day 4 at Donington
First impressions of the day : Well, Donington is lot bigger than Castle Combe. We got there late cause the effing trailer got a puncture. That trailer was nothing but trouble actually - I hurt my hand when the handle of the winch fell off - I was putting a lot of force onto it and thus a lot of force took my hand into some part of the effing trailer. I didn't swear though. Heroic uh?
Then we saw the cars that were racing against, no, with us, no, driving with. Three single seater sports cars with a support team …. A Mondeo Eurocar (500 bhp) with TWO support trucks …. A race-prepared Porsche GT3 … After a quick !Panic! "We're SO outclassed", we discovered these weren't in our category but there were some mean machines that were.
You may have now have read Bob and Spen's account of their laps. How they caned it round, sliding out of control, then back in control, sawing at the wheel, losing grip …. Well, my laps were, um, more sedate.
You see, it lashed down at lunchtime. I was passenger in the car when Tony, embarrassingly, went off at the blind right-hander on the first lap of the session. I didn't think he did much wrong - I felt the back go, he probably applied the power too early - but the corrections seemed fine until … we were facing the wall with our front wheels in mud trenches and our back wheels on the track. And what's more, Glooky (my name for the car) wouldn't start up again - the starter motor malfunctions when it gets hot.
So after Tony I went out with Andy by my side, full of trepidation. And let's say I felt like an arse. I didn't really push it (though I wasn't Sunday driving) but then again I only had to correct a little slide once or twice. I'm not sure I really enjoyed it that much either - I know it seems sacrosanct to say it - but I was so shit scared of going off I wasn't enjoying driving the car. And I was in a four-wheel drive car! Oh. And the Esses are absolutely spectacular. The slopes are severe and you have to turn too! I'd love to try them in the dry.
So I surfed around the track for four or five laps, came in because something else had gone off the track, and that was it!
A slow drive back to Bracknell, unload the car from the trailer, take the trailer back to Aldermarston ("Did you have a problem with the trailer?" "Yeah - the tyre exploded")
The Awards
Car of the day: Tough, but for me it was the Westfield with the Suzuki motorbike engine in it.
"Moment" of the day 1: Tony losing it on his first lap!
"Moment" of the day 2: How on earth did the Elise driver park it sideways into the pit gate?
Nutter of the day: Tracksense guys in a VW Van keeping up with most things!
Pie of the day: My mini pork pies
Wonder of the day: How did the slow puncture fix itself?
Phrase of the day: F**k! (as you surf a right-hander)
Lesson of the day 1: Don't bother with a trailer - more trouble than it's worth
Lesson of the day 2: Don't go racing when it's pissing down with rain
Tony's Track Day Report
Okay - I'd better qualify everything I say here - I've a feeling it might come across as a bit negative. Donington is without doubt a hugely enjoyable and extremely challenging circuit. It certainly felt more thrilling than Castle Combe. However, the event confirmed that I shouldn't quit the day job just yet…
Complaint number 1 - getting up at 5:30am. This is not a natural activity and parliament should ban it immediately. But Spen and Andy were on time and once we all got to Rob's place our little convoy was on the road exactly on schedule.
Complaint number 2 - Donington is too far away - please move it down south and make my life a bit easier. Ta.
Complaint number 3a - The weather in this country sucks. Driving in the wet can be lots of fun. Sitting on a wet motorway for the thick end of three hours does not fall into this category. You'll have read about the trailer's tyre blow out in Rob's report so I won't cover that. Nuff sed.
Complaint number 3b - The weather still sucks. Standing in the rain is never fun, even if you are looking at some fab motors.
Okay - so we've made it to the track in one piece, and unloading the car is made easier by the bricks that Spen and I "found" at one of the services on the M1. We think we're entered in the "fast" category and when we see the number of fully race prepped cars the concern is clear on everyone's faces. A quick chat to the organisers and we find that we're in the "medium" group. Still a bit of a concern as there are a whole bunch of stock hatch racers, usual Jap exotica, a couple of Porsches and at least one M3.
Rob takes the wheel first and before he's finished the sentence, "So who wants the first passenger ride?" I'm strapped in the co-pilot's seat, helmet on, and smirking at the rather disappointed looking Spen.
Now, when I was about 18 I went to Donington for a track day with the Jim Russell Racing School. I have great memories of that day, organised on the cheap through my college, we were driving Astra GSi's on the full GP circuit, and Vauxhall Junior single seaters on a separate part of the grounds. That was a wet day too. I had passed my driving test about three months previously and tiptoed around the track following the lines the instructor was telling me and it all went fine. As a result, whenever I see Donington on the TV I bore the t1ts of everyone within 100 yards by saying, "I've driven there, oh yes that corner's tricky" etc etc. Suddenly it's nine and a half years later and I'm strapped into the seat next to my mate who is looking at me saying, "So - you gonna talk me 'round the track then?".
Bugger. Memories were vague and the hours spent on TOCA for the play-station only confused matters. Sorry Rob - you're on your own. We got round through, and did rather well, passing a few cars along the way. The XR's brakes, suspension and 4-wheel drive helping up pass much smarter cars. The M3 was a struggle and the straight-line grunt let us down. Still, a great performance. Throughout that session the car was twitching and it required lots of correction from Rob. In that session alone we saw two spinners. A warning I should have heeded…
Spen was next up. Andy navigated for this one. I can't remark on Spen's laps except to say that the grin on his face when he got out of the car was eight miles wide! "bloody excellent - bloody difficult" was pretty much what he said. Another warning…
I was next. Then the announcement that the track was closing for lunch. I'd have to wait. That was a shame as there hadn't been much rain for the past couple of hours and the track was starting to dry out a bit on the line. BIG respect to the caterers at the track - you charge the earth, but you know how to make sausage, chips and beans like few others. Cone boy narrowly escaped getting renamed "tightwad" for bringing a packed lunch by virtue of the fact we were all thinking how bad driving on a fully stuffed belly can be. Oh, and also by virtue that the rain was now lashing down again.
After lunch I pulled into the pit lane and parked up. For most other drivers, this would be their 4th session, so I decided that I'd take it easy. A fella in a very very sexy Westfield pulled up behind me and tapped on the window. I explained why I parked up, that I wanted to go at the back of the grid as it's my first session. "Ok", he said, "be careful!". Strike 3…
Cut to the chase. I'm in the car. Ravi's beside me. Green light. 15 or 20 cars in front of me. I follow them out and up to Redgate. All seems well. Up to the precipice that starts the Craner curves and plunge down them, I'm taking it easy. Most of the pack's pulling away, but I'm not bothered. Up and around the back of the circuit. We're climbing the hill and the cars feeling good. This corner's a blind right, but I know what's around the corner. It's ok. I've braked and am turning in. Not fast. I can see the exit and I'm on line to clip the exit curb and be set up for the straight.
This is an opportunity to minimise (not close!) the gap between me and the rest of the pack. So I open the throttle - not especially hard (that engine tends to take a while to respond anyway, so nailing the gas shouldn't lead to tragedy). This is the bit you knew was coming. The back starts to break away. No problem, I've been in the situation before. Turn into it, balance the gas - and drive out of it? Not today, Jose. My actions seem to make no difference, so there's more turning and more gas. Of course it's too late now.
Fully sideways and things are just getting worse. Now we're going backwards over the grass. Speed - I guess maybe 30mph. I turned to Ravi and said, "We're both passengers now!". We scooted off the grass and back onto the tarmac and I nailed the brakes, stopping us instantly. Not surprisingly, the engine stalled. Not usually a problem, except that the XR's starter motor is on holiday at the moment. So I'm sat there like a lemon midway through the corner and can't restart the car. The marshal's lazily waving his yellow flag, and I'm thinking, "stop the bloody session, you muppet!!" - pots, kettles and black things I know. So I had to get out of the car to signify that it was all over for me. The red flag was duly waved.
Recovery truck arrived and started towing the car. This is where things got scary. The car had cut out which means that the immobiliser had been triggered. That means that none of the car's electrical systems worked. Like the wipers for example. So it's raining cats and dogs and I'm driving 20feet behind a truck that's throwing a huge amount of spray at me. With no wipers. How much could I see? The trouble was that the immobiliser key was on the fob with the ignition key, so I couldn't disable the immobiliser without the steering lock coming on.
Oh, and I couldn't beep the truck driver to tell him as the new steering wheel doesn't allow the horn to work. So I decided that being able to see nothing was better than not being able to steer. Of course as soon as the recovery truck dumped me in the paddock, the starter motor returned from the Algarve and started working again. V annoying. The guys had a conference and decided that I should be allowed to have a complete session (thanks chaps), but my laps were very lack-lustre as there was no way I was going off again.
So my day wasn't hugely enjoyable, though I was glad I went. I saw some top motors, I learned some more about limitations of my driving skill, I saw my mates have a top time, and I reacquainted myself with the respect you need to show this track. And of course, I renewed my licence to bore everyone I know the next time Donington is on the TV!
Teeby
