Bedford GT on Monday 20th July (MSVT)

Bedford GT on Monday 20th July (MSVT)

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McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Friday 10th July 2015
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So, my next outing in the "PistonShed" 328i has been booked, another trip to Bedford with another family member who fancies a go - who else will be there? With such great weather and only £159 entry I'm sure a few must be tempted.

There'll certainly be a few TTs, if this thread is anything to go by!

http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&a...



If you're there, pop over and say hello!

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 12th July 2015
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I'm booked, not 100% sure I'll make it but if I am there I'll pop over.



That's my mighty trackday steed laugh

brockovrs

332 posts

147 months

Monday 13th July 2015
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I'll be there in my ep3 civic type r, with a mate in his S2000.

Not only is it my first time at bedford, it's my first trackday since I got the civic so I'll be taking it easy for a while!

Green George

316 posts

250 months

Thursday 16th July 2015
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I have just booked:




I will bringing my son for his track day! Very exciting!

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Sunday 19th July 2015
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Ooh, lovely lick

Seems the weather might be kind to us. Look forward to seeing you guys there. If I can't find any spare garage space to leave my tools and wheels, I might come begging to introduce myself!

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 20th July 2015
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Was good to meet you, great track day too smile

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Monday 20th July 2015
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Nice to meet you too, shame we didn't end up sharing a piece of track, cars were probably quite well matched!

That was definitely a good day. Only one very brief stoppage at the end of the day, and good considerate driving from all but a handful. It never felt busy out on track, either. Footage to follow, though I only had one solo run that got cut short by rain and an stranded CLA45! Car felt great though, and 185 miles done in the end so I'm very happy.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 20th July 2015
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I seemed to spend about ten laps stuck behind dog slow cars that were quick on the straight rolleyes

Didn't see a single blue flag all day which would definitely have helped. Bit absurd that someone was pulling away from me down the back straight by a good fifteen or twenty car lengths and yet I still had to brake really early to avoid running into the back of them at the next corner. Can't blame them too much as they were newbies but still, that's supposed to be what the flags are for.

Other than that, no complaints at all. I just need to get the Clio turbo'd for some more straight line speed biggrin

Longman66

367 posts

207 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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I was there ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK1E4fFGi6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqNH77phcP4

the Civic and the S2000 are in one of the vids..

Mikey1981

3 posts

119 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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Hi, as you can see I don't use this very often.

I'm mike and the owner/driver of the S2000. It was my second time at Bedford and it's a great track. Hopefully I didn't get in the way of too many people smile

I have a few videos which I will try to get up on here later on

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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Longman66 said:
I was there ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK1E4fFGi6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqNH77phcP4

the Civic and the S2000 are in one of the vids..
Nicely driven, lovely car too if I may say so smile

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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charltjr said:
I seemed to spend about ten laps stuck behind dog slow cars that were quick on the straight rolleyes

Didn't see a single blue flag all day which would definitely have helped. Bit absurd that someone was pulling away from me down the back straight by a good fifteen or twenty car lengths and yet I still had to brake really early to avoid running into the back of them at the next corner. Can't blame them too much as they were newbies but still, that's supposed to be what the flags are for.

Other than that, no complaints at all. I just need to get the Clio turbo'd for some more straight line speed biggrin
Interesting, I didn't get much trouble, and my car's certainly quicker through the twisties than down the straights. I find your body language has a big influence, not only being close enough to suggest you want to get by, but moving left early to make your intentions clear! I think we were a bit lucky with traffic this time, actually.

Great footage, Longman, the helmet cam gives you a really good aspect and your car was just wonderful lick I never came across you on track when I was driving, but you came past when I was instructing a few times and I was very impressed. Hope to see you out there again!

I only went for one solo run this time, and only got a single hot lap done before it started to rain and we got a red flag for the CLA, but here's that lap. You can see the stoppage developing at the bottom hairpin, nothing obviously wrong with the car, I figured perhaps limp-home or a dashboard warning.

http://youtu.be/RTnvietA1RQ


anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 23rd July 2015
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Nice video smile

Ten laps is a bit of an exaggeration on my part. They were just hideously slow through the corners, tried to signal my intent by getting left early on corner exit several times but every straight they just floored it and pulled a huge gap. They were braking so early and unpredictably it was dodgy to follow them too closely through the slow stuff. No biggie and it was probably only a couple of laps at most each time it happened before I found a way to get through.

Not sure if they just weren't checking their mirrors or whether they didn't get that being quicker on the straight doesn't mean you're quicker over the whole lap, but whatever, it didn't spoil the day.

Had great fun chasing a Focus ST, they were quicker down the straights but slower in the corners and we were very closely matched over the whole lap.

Some vid from my car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg0FTIGydgc

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 23 July 09:47

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Thursday 23rd July 2015
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Cheers! Yours is good too, nice lines throughout, the only thing that occured to me is that heel and toe would be a really good addition - I heard a couple of chirps as you went down to second, or otherwise the gear going in quite late which can be unsettling or at least distracting as you turn in. Otherwise far better than you let on on the day wink

Didn't happen to be one of the Golfs that was giving you the straight-line trouble, did it?

I had a really good run behind that Astra coupé, I meant to ask which engine it had because he was noticeably quicker on the straights but pretty even over a lap, so that was fun.

Some photos from the day, with special mention to the world's bravest Vanquish owner!
















anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 23rd July 2015
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Thanks smile

I don't think I saw the Golf at all, it was a couple of the TTs that really held me up, but I know they had newbies on board so it was more understandable.

I really need to work on the technical side of my driving, I don't heel and toe at all and I know it would make a big difference if I did. I guess the best thing to do is try to start doing it every day so it becomes second nature.

brockovrs

332 posts

147 months

Thursday 23rd July 2015
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Got one of my videos up, this was from my last session before I went home, my last lap felt way more exciting than it actually looks!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2cKhqArQU

Although for some reason youtube seems to act like it was filmed on a potato

Edited by brockovrs on Thursday 23 July 23:08

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 24th July 2015
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That looks like a lot of fun smile

Longman66

367 posts

207 months

Saturday 25th July 2015
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cheers for the nice words guys , my first day at Bedford ,really enjoyed it , a nice selection of cars and little or no traffic smile ... never done a 101db day before as the old girl regularly measures 103db , I know one of the blokes in the TT's (black one) so booked with them at a discount.... well, even with a decibel devil and some wire wool it still made 103 , luckily the noise guys know old 911's and realise the noise from an aircooled engine right by the exhaust might make it seem louder than it actually is ,took it easy by the db meters in the morning and went balls out after lunch , not a twitch from the marshal with the loud board smile.
just looked at my vids again , it all looks so easy , I was a proper sweaty mess after each run yuck
Got to love an MSV day , properly well run , plus curry n chips is always a win for lunch .. see ya next time..

theboyfold

10,910 posts

225 months

Saturday 25th July 2015
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Tiny thread hijack, please forgive me!

How do those who drive the E36s on track keep the oil temp down? My 328 suffers badly with overheating oil. It's running 10w / 50 and with a good 20 minutes session will sound like a sewing machine at the end.

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Saturday 25th July 2015
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Sounds like you were very lucky with noise, Longman - Bedford's testers can be particularly draconian and really do enforce the "one strike and you're out" ruling on the drive by mics.. but if as you say you never got near the drive by limit then they were quite right to ignore the static and let you out smile it's clear why your car would generate an artificially high reading when measured directly behind when stationary!

Re. E36 oil temps, mine stands up very well. A gauge stack with oil temperature, pressure and a real water temp reading are on my to-do list so that I can keep a better eye on things while out on track, but the sewing machine effect you mention gives you a good indication when you come back in! When I first got mine, it would sound horribly tappety like that by the end of a session, and calm down by the next day. Back then it had cheap oil in from the previous owner's recent change. I use Mobil 1 0W40 - it's done 600 track miles over six events (track days and sprints) without so much as a whisper from the top end.

I expect it is getting hot, perhaps even hotter than you'd want, but the Mobil seems well able to deal with it and doesn't degrade over repeated heavy heat cycles. There are several oil cooler solutions available at reasonable cost if you still have trouble even with the best oil you can get your hands on, and there's plenty of space to mount them, especially if you've removed your air con condensor. Apart from the obvious cooling benefit of the airflow, you'd have more oil in the system in total, giving you more thermal mass to keep temperatures down further.