Bedford 11th October

[jon23]

I saw that vid couple months ago and no word of a lie went and bought a half cage for the mk1 golf, never can be 2 cautious especially the more days you do the faster you get.

Hope all was ok in the crash.

Polly x Where you part of the race truck, 2 mx5's and the other exige? Only ask as interested to know if your all part of a team of some sort or just a group of friends that have each had an input and share.

[NDT]

Steve H said:

The marshalling is the same with any TDO - it is provided by the circuit. The difference you can get is how the TDO chooses to deal with poor driving - that will vary from one to another.

Not aimed at anyone in particular but if you were on this day (or any trackday) and were not happy with driving standards but did not go to the organiser with specific issues then don't bother shouting about it on the forums afterwards; the idea that you don't want to be a tell-tale can be left in the playground.

Tell any TDO which car was the problem and what it did, in sufficient detail that it becomes hard for the driver to deny everything, and virtually all of them will deal with it but they do need the feedback from the drivers to know what's going on. Some TDOs still drive on track, during their trackdays but many don't so it makes a big difference if you can keep them informed.

The amount that the marshals will get involved with driver standards varies from one circuit to another, I'd say at Bedford they won't be as inclined to pull drivers for breaches of rules or etiquette as they would at (say) Cadwell or Oulton but in almost any case the decision to pull a driver in will go via the TDO anyway.

Edited by Steve H on Tuesday 14th October 18:17

I made a specific complaint to a marshal and was told (by the marshal) that a number of others had also complained.
I'd agree Steve - put up or shut up. In this case a number of people did and nothing happened.

[petkar]

jon23 said:

I saw that vid couple months ago and no word of a lie went and bought a half cage for the mk1 golf, never can be 2 cautious especially the more days you do the faster you get.

Hope all was ok in the crash.

Polly x Where you part of the race truck, 2 mx5's and the other exige? Only ask as interested to know if your all part of a team of some sort or just a group of friends that have each had an input and share.

Jon
Both the driver and passenger were unhurt altho they were checked out by the medical team but the same could not be said of the car unfortunately, but luckily the car was fitted with a cage and harnesses but i would have said the car was a write off im not really sure how it happened.

Pete

[NDT]

Dakkon said:

The M3 / Caterham I think was just unlucky, the M3 had mechanical failure down the straight and failed to slow and unfortunately took out the Caterham, the GTR / McLaren incident I did not see, the GTR was being very agressive though earlier in the day, I saw him running very close to the back of an E30 who he clearly thought was too slow.

Fair enough then.
He may not have been one of the M3s I encountered then. Certainly two of them thought they were racing, not on a trackday.

[NDT]

jon23 said:

We go bedford most of the time so will be looking out for you lot next time.

Wish I'd looked on here before going - would have been good to say hi to a few people

[polly_x]

jon23 said:

Polly x Where you part of the race truck, 2 mx5's and the other exige? Only ask as interested to know if your all part of a team of some sort or just a group of friends that have each had an input and share.

Yeah we were all together. There were 3 x MX5's and the 2 Audi powered white Lotus's.

We are a group of friends and the truck and the MX5's are run by Brian/Kev of BC Cars Motorsport. Brian races in one of the MX5 championships (winning it I believe) and also hires his fleet of MX5's out for trackdays/instruction/racing. A great way to get a taster for track days with some excellent tuition too. Brian is an instructor at Palmers as well and just a brilliant teacher!

Most of the guys that were in our group work for Pro Alloy Motorsport and were on a team day out. I was doing passenger laps with Wayne who owns Pro Alloy and the other white Lotus. The MX5's were all bought along for the boys to have some track fun and some team building. Worked really well. Wish my employer did that!

[tharriso]

This wouldn't happen to be the GTR would it? Or do they all drive like aholes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBL7A90p4g

[jon23]

Yes that must be it as my mate owns the black fiesta with orange wheels, some st driving there and cornering. I think it's only the fact the car is powerful he looks quick put him in a slower car where you have to get corners right to be quick and he would struggle. Now I've seen that he was definatly to blame for the incident

[Steve H]

Talk about living down to the stereotype

NDT said:

I made a specific complaint to a marshal and was told (by the marshal) that a number of others had also complained.
I'd agree Steve - put up or shut up. In this case a number of people did and nothing happened.

Fair enough, sounds like an organiser issue then.

[gruffalo]

All turbo and no talent, what is all this resting his arm on the door and one handed steering bks.

[NDT]

tharriso said:

This wouldn't happen to be the GTR would it? Or do they all drive like aholes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBL7A90p4g

That's the one.

[F355spider]

A lesson on how NOT to drive and even more hilarious he has filmed himself and sees fit to broadcast it.

Thank god he didnt pass me, my kids would never forgive me

[Dakkon]

NDT said:

tharriso said:

This wouldn't happen to be the GTR would it? Or do they all drive like aholes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBL7A90p4g

That's the one.

Yup, that is him, it worries me that he drives with only one hand on the steering wheel so much.

[BobToc]

And he seems to fk around with the dash quite a bit.

[anonymous-user]

That lunge into the corner at 50s followed by looking over at the Megane as he does the overtake, just no need.

The performance advantage he has in that car over almost everything else on the track makes getting past on the straight simple so what was the point of all those overtakes through corners and in the braking zones. With the full width of the track to play with why pass so close to other cars too?

Also, is it me or does that just not look like much fun? Not sure I'd fancy doing a track day in a car where I was fiddling with a display or driving one handed with my arm resting on the door, not exactly focusing on getting the best out of it is he?

[z06tim]

That was my mate in the Megane. Not sure if he has seen this yet.

[routari]

I've been to Bedford a few times over the years. Never done a track day elsewhere, and never really had any problems.
The first time I went, a guy in an Ariel Atom was forming a train on the twisties, and then shooting off into the distance on the back straight.

He got called in pretty quickly. Did the same again, got called in again, and was as good as gold for the rest of the day, and also paid for tuition.

Every other time I've been, it's been faultless. The most recent one was wet, and my dad, being a noob, in trying to correct an easy slide, got into a bit of an oscillation. He was black flagged and asked if there was a problem with the car, or whether he was just st.

I had a friend to go an MX-5 only day at Mallory, and he said it was full of dicks.

My first non Bedford track day was at Rockingham last Saturday, and it was full of dicks. I made a thread about it.

So in my admittedly limited experience, and from the experience of a friend, generally, Bedford is well marshalled.

No idea what happened in that GTR video? It didn't look like there was anyone stationed at 'the flick'.


Up until Rockingham, I always thought of Bedford marshals as being unfriendly and patronising, even though I never personally had any moments with them, (except for pleading at noise testing, different story, now fixed). After Rockingham, I'm looking at them in a different light.

Everything said in the Rockingham briefing was sensible, spot on, fair and strict. The actual marshalling in practice was non-existent, and made for a bit of a st day.

[git-r]

tharriso said:

This wouldn't happen to be the GTR would it? Or do they all drive like aholes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBL7A90p4g

LOLOLOL

So this guy and a mclaren had a coming together?

Typical GTR driver - can I say that if I own a GTR? (Admittedly it's the old and original one)

Seriously though they're not all like that, some GTR owners are very good and courteous on track

Was this the mclaren by any chance? Some equally different interpretation of track day rules:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6mfEza0xvC4

[Dakkon]

It was a purple McLaren 12C on Saturday that I believe was hit by the GTR.

[Sigmamark7]

gruffalo said:

All turbo and no talent, what is all this resting his arm on the door and one handed steering bks.

I'm not sure why everyone is having a go at this guy! I have never seen Hamilton/Rosberg/Alonso etc. driving with one hand, so this guy is surely more talented than them and the fact that he can also tune his radio, turn the aircon up and adjust his sat nav while he is driving also marks him out as a future champion. Better still, he also seems capable of reaching round and finding his pork pie or sandwiches or something from behind his seat, so not only is he talented and fast, he must also have made his lunch before going out to ensure his energy levels don't drop and cause a reduction in his concentration. The man is a hero and deserves the maximum level of respect that PH can award and any of those audacious trackdayers who got in his way should write to him and apologise.