well i popped me trackday cherry at the weekend and since I lived to tell the tale, i'm now going to tell it. with loads of pics on the way ;D
got up at 5:30 am to pack the car and leave on a full stomach. loads of tools and spares, plus a complete change of wheels. the plan was to drive over on the alloys, change to steels for the day and then drive home on the alloys, thus avoiding points for bald tyres.
left mine at 6:15 to get to bruisercapri's for 6:30. signing on was from 7:30 until drivers breifing at 8:30. we felt it was a good idea to have half an hour's calming time between registration and the breifing. ETA 8am then.
wide eyed and bushy tailed at 6:27 outside bruisercapri's.
after a little chat over directions, we headed out. the route is quite short as the crow flies, but zigzags across 2 counties and is time consuming.
ready to leave.
and we're off!
some nice soothing music helps to pass the time and as we left sudbury the sun began to shine for us
shades were nessecary because of the sun/music combo. i chose WAR. cisco kid was a friend of mine
went through some pea soup on the way. didn't help my anxiety one little bit. I get nervous about little things, like crashing in the fog!
actually I am a nervous person and the thought of being a n00b on a trackfull of people who knew what they were doing wasn't encouraging me. but it was, of course, going to be ok
after a reasonable journey including taking on BP's finest fuel (£1.02 a litre
), we arrived safe and sound at RAF marham. some personel took our details and gave us a map and tickets before we could cross through the (armed) gate house and into the base itself. the guys were all friendly and helpful with directions etc.
we got into the pits a little after 8am, it was heaving with cars and people. saw BC and then went to sign on/register. tickets and ID on hand, we were stamped with a red square (not vodka :
to signify we had paid and registered to use the track. no red square meant you couldn't leave the pits.
after that i changed my wheels (any old tyres are good for trackdays, they don't need to be ao32r's or anything even the speed rating doesn't particularly matter) and taped the lights up. being an airbase it attracts its fair share of stones, so I elected to entirely cover my front lights (fogs/headlamps/indicators etc.) in duck tape. I also taped the rears with a single cross on each cluster, not really nessecary because they're plastic, but I did it all the same. vitally important is to check your levels and wheel tightness before you hit the track, it helps my rampant paranoia anyway also periodically check the wheel nuts throught out the day, not every 5 minutes, but keep an eye on them if you've changed wheels for the day. adn also the fluids, track use is ahrd on a car.
we washed a coffee down before going to the drivers briefing.
blame bruisercapri for the fake light browZ/chavboy bonnet.
drivers briefing is mostly common sense, but some details are paramount to the day. you must attend this if you intend on driving on the track. soem basic ground rules are established, like the direction of the track and which side is for overtaking and keep an eye out for faster/slower vehicles. the track for the day was anti clockwise and overtaking on the right, like a normal road which helped me a lot. overtaking on the left was not allowed except for where the pit lane entered the main circuit, as the pits were on the outside of the track.
some words about clothing, photography and passengers. long sleeves and trousers, windows and sunroofs to be closed (altho this wasn't emphasised, its just what i heard others say), no handheld cameras in car only fixed, and only one passenger per car. other stuff was said, but mainly because of the nature of this circuit. those points wouldn't be raised on another regular track (ie. drifting, it was allowed and encourageed, but safety aspects etc.).
we were divided into 2 groupss for the day, A's & B's. a piece of paper with A or B was affixed to a drivers window to denote which session you were eligable. I was a B.
this guy was an A. the guy with the tats is aux from here, the guy with the goate is a hero. he saw I was well nervous (bricking it) and offered to be my passenger for support on my first session. he really helped, he knows the lines of tracks and whatnot as IIRC he test drives for jaguar! really couldn't thank him enough, absolute legend! he was making real ground on some of the faster cars with his nova out the corners because he can really drive. I let him play in the senny at the end. if you get the chance to let someone who can drive, in your car, you can really see its true potential. four wheel drifting flat out in thrid was novel ;D ;D tyres are so clawed after that ;D ;D
the senny was out for probably 2 1/2 hours and ran faultlessly. 135mph down the straight (was 80 at the start of the day
) and i know it'll do 120mph in fourth now when i got home it's still got a 1/4 of a tank of petrol.
anyway I hope that gives an insight to trackdays for those that haven't been before, its a worthwhile experience. just remember to take some chilled music for the journey there and back, to help disengage "trackday mode"
big thanks to the raf marham crew and to BC for getting me in
you should be tired of my rambling now, so I'll stick some pics up in a mo.
got up at 5:30 am to pack the car and leave on a full stomach. loads of tools and spares, plus a complete change of wheels. the plan was to drive over on the alloys, change to steels for the day and then drive home on the alloys, thus avoiding points for bald tyres.
left mine at 6:15 to get to bruisercapri's for 6:30. signing on was from 7:30 until drivers breifing at 8:30. we felt it was a good idea to have half an hour's calming time between registration and the breifing. ETA 8am then.
wide eyed and bushy tailed at 6:27 outside bruisercapri's.
after a little chat over directions, we headed out. the route is quite short as the crow flies, but zigzags across 2 counties and is time consuming.
ready to leave.
and we're off!
some nice soothing music helps to pass the time and as we left sudbury the sun began to shine for us
shades were nessecary because of the sun/music combo. i chose WAR. cisco kid was a friend of mine
went through some pea soup on the way. didn't help my anxiety one little bit. I get nervous about little things, like crashing in the fog!
actually I am a nervous person and the thought of being a n00b on a trackfull of people who knew what they were doing wasn't encouraging me. but it was, of course, going to be ok
after a reasonable journey including taking on BP's finest fuel (£1.02 a litre
), we arrived safe and sound at RAF marham. some personel took our details and gave us a map and tickets before we could cross through the (armed) gate house and into the base itself. the guys were all friendly and helpful with directions etc.we got into the pits a little after 8am, it was heaving with cars and people. saw BC and then went to sign on/register. tickets and ID on hand, we were stamped with a red square (not vodka :
to signify we had paid and registered to use the track. no red square meant you couldn't leave the pits. after that i changed my wheels (any old tyres are good for trackdays, they don't need to be ao32r's or anything even the speed rating doesn't particularly matter) and taped the lights up. being an airbase it attracts its fair share of stones, so I elected to entirely cover my front lights (fogs/headlamps/indicators etc.) in duck tape. I also taped the rears with a single cross on each cluster, not really nessecary because they're plastic, but I did it all the same. vitally important is to check your levels and wheel tightness before you hit the track, it helps my rampant paranoia anyway
also periodically check the wheel nuts throught out the day, not every 5 minutes, but keep an eye on them if you've changed wheels for the day. adn also the fluids, track use is ahrd on a car.we washed a coffee down before going to the drivers briefing.
blame bruisercapri for the fake light browZ/chavboy bonnet.
drivers briefing is mostly common sense, but some details are paramount to the day. you must attend this if you intend on driving on the track. soem basic ground rules are established, like the direction of the track and which side is for overtaking and keep an eye out for faster/slower vehicles. the track for the day was anti clockwise and overtaking on the right, like a normal road which helped me a lot. overtaking on the left was not allowed except for where the pit lane entered the main circuit, as the pits were on the outside of the track.
some words about clothing, photography and passengers. long sleeves and trousers, windows and sunroofs to be closed (altho this wasn't emphasised, its just what i heard others say), no handheld cameras in car only fixed, and only one passenger per car. other stuff was said, but mainly because of the nature of this circuit. those points wouldn't be raised on another regular track (ie. drifting, it was allowed and encourageed, but safety aspects etc.).
we were divided into 2 groupss for the day, A's & B's. a piece of paper with A or B was affixed to a drivers window to denote which session you were eligable. I was a B.
this guy was an A. the guy with the tats is aux from here, the guy with the goate is a hero. he saw I was well nervous (bricking it) and offered to be my passenger for support on my first session. he really helped, he knows the lines of tracks and whatnot as IIRC he test drives for jaguar! really couldn't thank him enough, absolute legend! he was making real ground on some of the faster cars with his nova out the corners because he can really drive. I let him play in the senny at the end. if you get the chance to let someone who can drive, in your car, you can really see its true potential. four wheel drifting flat out in thrid was novel ;D ;D tyres are so clawed after that ;D ;D
the senny was out for probably 2 1/2 hours and ran faultlessly. 135mph down the straight (was 80 at the start of the day
) and i know it'll do 120mph in fourth now when i got home it's still got a 1/4 of a tank of petrol.anyway I hope that gives an insight to trackdays for those that haven't been before, its a worthwhile experience. just remember to take some chilled music for the journey there and back, to help disengage "trackday mode"
big thanks to the raf marham crew and to BC for getting me in
you should be tired of my rambling now, so I'll stick some pics up in a mo.
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