Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th January 2001
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The Setting:
Just 13 cars on a Track weekend at Anglesey circuit in North Wales organised by BookaTrack. It was an open pit lane both Saturday and Sunday and we did the best part of 300 laps!!! (1.1 mile lap) The open pit lane meant we could just go out whenever we wanted! The circuit was superb, very twisty and if you screwed up one corner then it would take another 2 or 3 corners to get back on line. |
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Rob's account of Anglesey Drove up to Anglesey on the Friday, it took me about 4 hours to get to Anglesey and another hour to find the B&B!! When we went out to the car at 9am Saturday we found a layer of ice over it, not a good start, but upon arriving at the track it was quite exposed so there was no ice on the circuit. Tony took the helm first and Jonny (organiser) led a small pack around in his Nova. After 2 laps he pulled off and Tony got up to speed. There were 3 corners that "concerned" me to start with, especially as a passenger and having no control over the car, Radar is totally blind so the first few times are a little unnerving, coming into the hairpin at speed with very little run off area before the tyre wall and coming into Douglas is a little blind. After a few laps Tony was getting the hang of the circuit and was getting faster and faster. He was out for about 20 minutes before he came in and I took over. We let the tyres cool down for about 30 seconds (!!) and I then took the drivers seat. Right, I've seen Tony do the circuit, I have a good idea of what it's like (so I thought!). I came out of the pits, built speed up through School came up to Abbotts, oh, that looks tighter than I thought, the back slid out, I corrected it but we are now heading for the dirt, managed to only slide two wheels onto the dirt so not too bad! Mental note: don't go so fast into Abbotts. Next lap I slid across the dirt again!! After a few more laps I was starting to get the hang of it though. As I probably completed over 150 laps they all sort of blend into one!! We did seem to be as quick through the corners as the Elise's / Westfields / Caterhams, just lost out down the straights. The XR was reaching 95 before needing to brake into School, then through School at about 70-75. The car would drift through school so you need to keep quite tight to the inner kerb. The Elise's and sevens were taking wider lines, I tried it a couple of times but it didn't work as well for us in the XR. I started to get the hang of Abbotts, the best way seemed to be to brake into the corner, unsettle the car slightly, the back would come round and there was very little correction needed. Just let the car slide round, keeping the power down, and you could take that corner quite fast using the oversteer to keep you tight round the corner. There were, of course, several times when I needed to turn into it, loads of oversteer, great fun. Throwing the car into Radar started to get easier, just back off a little then just after the left hand apex brake hard for the right hand exit. Then power down the Top Straight and brake very hard into the hairpin. This was quite difficult to do because you really have to slow the car right down otherwise you just run wide out of the exit. Through Douglas I had to keep the car as far left as it would go before quickly coming round to the right to try to hug the right hand apex. Power is already full down and you need to hit 3rd quickly. This is quite a tricky exit and the main straight is after this so you need to get a good exit. Quite a few times I went a little wide on the exit and had to back off, the kerb on the right is quite large so you really don't want to hit it! After a few sessions coming into School at about 95mph I had a 'moment'! As I slammed the brakes on the car pulled to the right and the brakes didn't really take off much speed. I came off the brakes and hit them again but it was far too late by then!! The back was coming round, I had loads of opposite lock, at least I was scrubbing off sped by sliding, the grip bit and threw me round the other way before I could do anything about it. I hit the clutch to stop the engine stalling, the car went round so I was facing the wrong way, I still had some momentum so I steered to bring the front round. There was a group of sevens coming up quickly so I nailed the throttle, dumped the clutch and off I went again. Tony had been on the Marshals post with video camera and when I went into the pits later he said he got it on tape so I guess it will be on the site soon!! I was passenger with Tony later on when he had his first incident. We were coming up to School and he didn't break as much as he had done before, I was thinking that's gonna be quick if he can hold it. Then the back wheels couldn't take anymore, they broke away, he turned into it but it was game over!! We were facing the wrong way!! After a couple of steady laps he was back in the swing of things... On the Sunday we turned up at 9.30, there was no-one else there other than the burger lady and an Anglesey Track guy. Arthur turned up about 5 minutes later. Jonny and Sarah turned up at about 9.45. I'm sure it was nothing to do with the great service we got at the Chinese the night before!!! We were eager to get out on the track so at about 10 I went out, taking Tony passengering. There was a Caterham unloading in the car park but no-one else on the track. The Caterham was out for 1 lap but other than that I had about 10 laps with the circuit to myself. I was turning in pretty consistent laps at just over 56 seconds a lap (not that anyone was timing them of course, I was just counting in my head!!!). After about 10 laps I pulled in after Radar as Tony was on the Marshals post. He was gonna take the car and turn a few laps while I got some photos from the Marshals post. When he went to get in the car he was complaining about the tyres. The front right tyre had melted!!! There was loads of tread missing! OK, time for the spare. I took the car to the pits and changed the pads at the same time and after an hour I took the car out for some slow laps to bed the pads in. It was interesting to arrive at the corner at a sensible speed and gradually build the speed up! More machinery turned up, including the people who couldn't get out of bed (you know who you are!!), consisting of Caterhams and Elises! On my next session I had a Silver Elise (Driven by a guy called Charlie) overtake me and he could only pull about a second a lap out on me which was quite cool. After lunch I went for a ride in Marks 2.0 16 Valve Westfield. One word to describe it, Awesome! The acceleration was just something else, he knew what the car could do as well!! The only slight downer on the session were some Caterhams that would not move over even though his car was much faster. Mark showed a lot of restraint and just backed right off and just created a huge gap to play with, 10/10 for restraint. There was a hairy moment when he locked up going into the hairpin a bit too quick. You feel very helpless when the driver is fighting with the brakes trying to slow the car without locking the wheels too much when the tyre barrier is approaching suddenly! Mark quite calmly (yeah right!!) took to the short escape road and all was ok, except my underwear!! I then took Mark out for a ride in the XR, I think he was quite impressed with how well the car handled and how the car could be thrown into corners and just slide it round! Mark seems very like me, loves it when the car slides around, so I was playing up to that a bit. Getting faster and faster. We came into Radar a little too fast, we had done about 6 fast laps and the tyres were a little warm now, and the back just came sliding round!! I tried to catch it but it was too late. I stopped the car from going round but we came to a stop 90 degrees to the way we should have been going!!!! I took Scott (owner of a black Elise sport 160) out for a ride after that, he was also surprised by the grip the XR has and how little body roll there was for such a heavy car. I then went out for a ride in Scott's Elise, very quick. The lines through the corners were totally different, the Elise griped like it was on rails, whereas you drift the XR round the bends! The acceleration was fantastic, I really need one of these cars!! after about 6 or 7 laps the car was sliding around a bit so he brought it in to let the tyres cool down, great car, not the easiest to get in and out of though!! I was also given a ride in Charlies Silver Elise, wasn't as quick as the 160 Sport but still very fast and fun! I then showed him what the Sierra could do and I think he was quite impressed, especially for the money it has cost us! The casualties. 2 spins from Tony, including a starter motor failure! 2 spins from me (fully paid up member of the club now!!)(Kept the engine running both times though!) three VERY screwed tyres a set of brake pads five wheel studs snapped respect for certain Caterham owners (you know who you are) The highlights. power sliding through abbots nearly every time drifting the car through school at 70-75 which was faster than most of the Elises and Westfields / Caterhams! Scaring the crap out of the above owners by giving them rides in the Sierra! duelling with a very quick RS2000 The fantastic weather. after about 10.30 didn't need to wear a coat at all!! The superb view, see some of the photos to see what I mean. Quote of the day. from Sarah, one of the marshals/organisers at BookaTrack When Marks Westfields throttle cable snapped and he pulled off the track onto one of the run off areas - I didn't realise that they had a problem, I thought they had stopped to take Photos! |
Tony's account of Anglesey I'm not sure what I can add to Rob's account, quite frankly! <sorry, I did prattle on for a bit - Rob> Oh well, here goes… First of all, the journey up. The closest thing to an "epic" drive that I've ever done. Starting from Cardiff and taking the A470 and A483 up to Anglesey is a fantastic route. The weather was dry and bright, and I honestly lost count of the number of cars I overtook on the great long stretches of single carriageway. I do remember passing a line of four cars in a single move at one point though. Big grin! A little note to all the coppers that lurk on motorways and book you for doing 70.001mph - you wanna go and see the number of de-limited trucks on the back roads that cream along at 75-80mph! Those drivers are nutters…Respect!! The roads were so quiet - at one point I travelled for 10 minutes without seeing a single car on my side of the road. Amazing. Journey time was about 5 hours, including a couple of stops, and the B&B was EASY to find! <In daylight perhaps - Rob> Right then - Saturday morning, found the track (Rob inadvertently had a duel with a Jewson lorry on the way), and met Jonny "one bullet", his lovely assistant Sarah, and all the Arthurs. So began the merging of ~150 laps into one single, blurred, and still not quite perfect lap. It is a great track - definitely worth the trip for the weekend. It does suit the smaller cars better, but we had huge fun as did the owners of the BMW M5 and the Lancia Thema that were there too. Top ten memories: 1. A nagging feeling of guilt at first for staying out for more than 5 laps (this soon passed!). 2. The gradual growth of trust you get in the marshal when you've gone over the blind crest of Radar enough times that the speed demands third gear. 3. The evaporation of that trust (see the "I thought you stopped to take pictures" quote above). 4. The cry of "What tyres have you got on there?!?!?" from everyone in the pit lane after a 30 minute session of fairly hard laps. 5. The feeling of my face getting pulled apart by the wind forces experienced in Mark's Westie (open face helmet not recommended for open cars!) 6. The contempt felt towards the Caterham driver (who had full flameproof racewear with unique embroidered detail and even a painted helmet, full support vehicle and trailer) who couldn't outrun the XR or the Westie, and yet would not yield to us or other faster vehicles. Tw@t. 7. The feeling of my bowels getting pulled apart when in Scott's Elise 160 ("He's never gonna make it…blimey he made it!") 8. That horrible feeling when you're doing around 100mph and the brake pedal suddenly feels hard and you aren't slowing down - crawled back to the pits after this, bit of a dribbling wreck! 9. The tension in the air when Rob chucked the second broken stud…and it (accidentally) hit Mark's car. 10. The feeling of doom when the fifth wheel stud broke. The whole weekend was cool. The low numbers and the great weather created by far the best atmosphere of any day I've yet been to. (Nearly) everyone was friendly and courteous, and genuinely interested in each other's experiences, views and machinery. Now, anyone know where we can get some cheap tyres…! |
Movies!!
Me loosing it through School!!! right click here and click 'save target as' to download it. The file is 1MB and
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The front tyres at the start of the Second day! right click here and click 'save target as' to download it. The file is 4.4MB and
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