Worst Track Day, Organisers & Most Expensive.....
Discussion
RMA FAQ said:
Please Remember - The purpose of a track day is to provide the opportunity for participants to enjoy the performance of road or track prepared vehicles in a safe and controlled environment away from the public highway. It is not a facility for racing drivers to test race prepared cars...
Which is exactly what they are there to do.Attended this 2 day session at Spa (part of a group of 7) and can confirm it was a truly awful experience.
The driver briefing was a unbelievable no real mention of safety (despite establishing that a number of novices / beginners were in attendance) mainly a push to book tuition with the owners son. When asked about timing the answer was that its OK if nobody sees it. The race teams obviously saw this as the green light to install transmitters along the pit wall.
One driver was shown a black flag for not wearing a helmet. How he got through the checks at the end of the pits is one question but a decent safety brief would have prevented the occurrence.
Throughout the 2 days the track was continually subject to yellow flags during vehicle recovery and around 4 or 5 red sessions per day to resolve more serious incidents.
Professional race teams were in attendance and if any regular track day driver thinks he can match the pace of a professionally driven 911 cup car then change profession the rest would probably find it at least a little irritating to just plain dangerous.
We have previously booked a number of 2 day sessions with this provider but this was the last.
In 2013 year we booked with Goldtrack and enjoyed 2 perfect days.
The driver briefing was a unbelievable no real mention of safety (despite establishing that a number of novices / beginners were in attendance) mainly a push to book tuition with the owners son. When asked about timing the answer was that its OK if nobody sees it. The race teams obviously saw this as the green light to install transmitters along the pit wall.
One driver was shown a black flag for not wearing a helmet. How he got through the checks at the end of the pits is one question but a decent safety brief would have prevented the occurrence.
Throughout the 2 days the track was continually subject to yellow flags during vehicle recovery and around 4 or 5 red sessions per day to resolve more serious incidents.
Professional race teams were in attendance and if any regular track day driver thinks he can match the pace of a professionally driven 911 cup car then change profession the rest would probably find it at least a little irritating to just plain dangerous.
We have previously booked a number of 2 day sessions with this provider but this was the last.
In 2013 year we booked with Goldtrack and enjoyed 2 perfect days.
I also had a bad experience with RMA used for the first time, in the lobby of the hotel where we were ignored by the so called briefing reception which i had to literally say "hey I'm here" what do we need to do?? With a point and a grunt to fill out a couple of forms just proceeded in their ever so important conversation chatting each other up.
The briefing was interesting and colourful and when asked about the flags by a customer was shot down bigtime only to be thrown back at him as they were from america and wanted to know if they were different, which the brief couldn't even identify the flags himself, just said if one is waving a lot then just solow down whatever colour I dont remember!
This overtaking on both sides was clearly some huge selling point and if I'm completely honest wasn't entirely comfortable with it especially as was told in the briefing if he had hi way we should all "rip off our mirrors" !! Just Follow your line and it's the responsibility of the overtaken to get past you don't need to look what's going on behind!! Have to admit this unsettled me, especially as there were race teams driving million pound cars running slicks which are clearly going to be faster than me..
Well To the important bit.... I had a pretty seriouse accident on track in my GTR where the RMA oganiser attended, gave me a filly dirty look, walked straight past me and my passenger and asked the track marshal if the wall was ok?? While I'm in agony and my car is in the middle of the track in a bad way, he showed no concern whatsoever for me or my passenger looked at me in disgust and walked off when I said I needed help. I was taken off to hospital in an ambulance where I was diagnosed with a broken bone in my back.
I can only thank bookatrack and my friend who helped me out, to take my car back for me and when I discharged my self from hospital took me to calls wher I was collected by my sister and girlfriend, I've been recovering since.
I'm discussed to hear it been slagged off over dinner from a result of very unlucky accident that could have happened to anybody that takes part in a track day! Rest assured RMA will not care for you, your passenger or your vehicle your fault or not, remember at RMA your just a paying inconvenient customer!
There is more from another party though I'm not at liberty to comment on that my self
The briefing was interesting and colourful and when asked about the flags by a customer was shot down bigtime only to be thrown back at him as they were from america and wanted to know if they were different, which the brief couldn't even identify the flags himself, just said if one is waving a lot then just solow down whatever colour I dont remember!
This overtaking on both sides was clearly some huge selling point and if I'm completely honest wasn't entirely comfortable with it especially as was told in the briefing if he had hi way we should all "rip off our mirrors" !! Just Follow your line and it's the responsibility of the overtaken to get past you don't need to look what's going on behind!! Have to admit this unsettled me, especially as there were race teams driving million pound cars running slicks which are clearly going to be faster than me..
Well To the important bit.... I had a pretty seriouse accident on track in my GTR where the RMA oganiser attended, gave me a filly dirty look, walked straight past me and my passenger and asked the track marshal if the wall was ok?? While I'm in agony and my car is in the middle of the track in a bad way, he showed no concern whatsoever for me or my passenger looked at me in disgust and walked off when I said I needed help. I was taken off to hospital in an ambulance where I was diagnosed with a broken bone in my back.
I can only thank bookatrack and my friend who helped me out, to take my car back for me and when I discharged my self from hospital took me to calls wher I was collected by my sister and girlfriend, I've been recovering since.
I'm discussed to hear it been slagged off over dinner from a result of very unlucky accident that could have happened to anybody that takes part in a track day! Rest assured RMA will not care for you, your passenger or your vehicle your fault or not, remember at RMA your just a paying inconvenient customer!
There is more from another party though I'm not at liberty to comment on that my self
Edited by m4rc1980 on Thursday 25th September 23:58
m4rc1980 said:
I also had a bad experience with RMA used for the first time, in the lobby of the hotel where we were ignored by the so called briefing reception which i had to literally say "hey I'm here" what do we need to do?? With a point and a grunt to fill out a couple of forms just proceeded in their ever so important conversation chatting each other up.
The briefing was interesting and colourful and when asked about the flags by a customer was shot down bigtime only to be thrown back at him as they were from america and wanted to know if they were different, which the brief couldn't even identify the flags himself, just said if one is waving a lot then just solow down whatever colour I dont remember!
This overtaking on both sides was clearly some huge selling point and if I'm completely honest wasn't entirely comfortable with it especially as was told in the briefing if he had hi way we should all "rip off our mirrors" !! Just Follow your line and it's the responsibility of the overtaken to get past you don't need to look what's going on behind!! Have to admit this unsettled me, especially as there were race teams driving million pound cars running slicks which are clearly going to be faster than me..
Well To the important bit.... I had a pretty seriouse accident on track in my GTR where the RMA oganiser attended, gave me a filly dirty look, walked straight past me and my passenger and asked the track marshal if the wall was ok?? While I'm in agony and my car is in the middle of the track in a bad way, he showed no concern whatsoever for me or my passenger looked at me in disgust and walked off when I said I needed help. I was taken off to hospital in an ambulance where I was diagnosed with a broken bone in my back, diddnt even contact me nor my next of kin or offer any support to me or my vehicle or getting home??
I can only thank bookatrack and my friend who helped me out, to take my car back for me and when I discharged my self from hospital took me to calls wher I was collected by my sister and girlfriend, I've been recovering since.
I'm discussed to hear it been slagged off over dinner from a result of very unlucky accident that could have happened to anybody that takes part in a track day! Rest assured RMA will not care for you, your passenger or your vehicle your fault or not, remember at RMA your just a paying inconvenient customer!
There is more from another party though I'm not at liberty to comment on that my self
That's really terrible, it's bad enough being in a crash, but when the organiser treats you like s*** it's 10x worse. Hope you feel better soon!The briefing was interesting and colourful and when asked about the flags by a customer was shot down bigtime only to be thrown back at him as they were from america and wanted to know if they were different, which the brief couldn't even identify the flags himself, just said if one is waving a lot then just solow down whatever colour I dont remember!
This overtaking on both sides was clearly some huge selling point and if I'm completely honest wasn't entirely comfortable with it especially as was told in the briefing if he had hi way we should all "rip off our mirrors" !! Just Follow your line and it's the responsibility of the overtaken to get past you don't need to look what's going on behind!! Have to admit this unsettled me, especially as there were race teams driving million pound cars running slicks which are clearly going to be faster than me..
Well To the important bit.... I had a pretty seriouse accident on track in my GTR where the RMA oganiser attended, gave me a filly dirty look, walked straight past me and my passenger and asked the track marshal if the wall was ok?? While I'm in agony and my car is in the middle of the track in a bad way, he showed no concern whatsoever for me or my passenger looked at me in disgust and walked off when I said I needed help. I was taken off to hospital in an ambulance where I was diagnosed with a broken bone in my back, diddnt even contact me nor my next of kin or offer any support to me or my vehicle or getting home??
I can only thank bookatrack and my friend who helped me out, to take my car back for me and when I discharged my self from hospital took me to calls wher I was collected by my sister and girlfriend, I've been recovering since.
I'm discussed to hear it been slagged off over dinner from a result of very unlucky accident that could have happened to anybody that takes part in a track day! Rest assured RMA will not care for you, your passenger or your vehicle your fault or not, remember at RMA your just a paying inconvenient customer!
There is more from another party though I'm not at liberty to comment on that my self
I like the odd race car/track car on a UK TD, but with ALL drivers adhering to the proper TD rules. Lets face it, some of our cars are valuable, and all are valuable to us, and us track-dayers are not used to having to watch out for the last of the late brakers, in a far faster race car, trying to dive down our inside when we are on the limit going into a tight corner with the armco close at hand.
If we wanted to race our cars, we would. On the whole, we don't. We know the risks of taking part in track days, but after we have done a few we pretty soon realise that, barring our own errors, they are remarkably safe.
So thanks OP for pointing out this ludicrous state of affairs.
Having splashed out well over £1000 to go on a Spa track weekend (including travel and hotels), I too would hardly be standing up and shouting the odds at the briefing and be risking getting chucked off before I had even started my adventure, but your description of the attitudes displayed makes me very angry. And I would feel very cheated that my safety, and the safety of my car, had been so compromised by their behaviour and total lack of respect for their customers.
I won't be going on one of their trackdays - I have heard good things about the other TDOs mentioned in this thread and will be going on one of their events at Spa in the next 12 months - and would strongly advise as many of you as possible to contact the ATDO - they want to hear from you.
Maybe also direct them to this thread - it says it all really.
If we wanted to race our cars, we would. On the whole, we don't. We know the risks of taking part in track days, but after we have done a few we pretty soon realise that, barring our own errors, they are remarkably safe.
So thanks OP for pointing out this ludicrous state of affairs.
Having splashed out well over £1000 to go on a Spa track weekend (including travel and hotels), I too would hardly be standing up and shouting the odds at the briefing and be risking getting chucked off before I had even started my adventure, but your description of the attitudes displayed makes me very angry. And I would feel very cheated that my safety, and the safety of my car, had been so compromised by their behaviour and total lack of respect for their customers.
I won't be going on one of their trackdays - I have heard good things about the other TDOs mentioned in this thread and will be going on one of their events at Spa in the next 12 months - and would strongly advise as many of you as possible to contact the ATDO - they want to hear from you.
Maybe also direct them to this thread - it says it all really.
QBee said:
To hell with it - I am cross on all our behalves and have filed a report with the ATDO, referring them to this thread.
Job done.
ATDO are aware and are investigating. Job done.
Feel free to join in:
"Complaints about breaches of the Code of Conduct should be sent to the addresses below:
By e-Mail: atdo@atdo.co.uk
"
Where i am a bit surprised is that the track themselves tend to have there own staff present making sure that the TDO goes through all the breifing safety measures so nothing is forgotten. They must have ear muffs on for the language or are too worried to stand up and say that they missed the flags 
Eduardo.
Eduardo.
Y'know, if the one person had posted with the issues and everyone else had said they'd never experienced that, you'd put it down to that person being a bit soft.
When everyone else chimes in with the same thing, or worse, on different occasions, you just thank your lucky stars you didn't ever give them any of your hard-earned.
There's a reason I stick with BaT for my trackdays, and it's threads like this that remind me why.
When everyone else chimes in with the same thing, or worse, on different occasions, you just thank your lucky stars you didn't ever give them any of your hard-earned.
There's a reason I stick with BaT for my trackdays, and it's threads like this that remind me why.
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