Donington park as a track day location

[havoc]

upsidedownmark said:

Anyways, great circuit. Also disagree with whoever said they're all late turn in - I'd say they were mostly relatively early turn in, but find your own way - depends somewhat on what you're driving.

I think it totally depends on what you're driving:-
- Anything rwd, rear-biased 4wd, or even diff-equipped fwd is late turn-in for most corners...with the exception of Coppice and the chicane, every corner sets you up for the next (and those two set you up for long straights), so you want to straighten-up the exit as much as possible.

- Anything which is more likely to understeer (general fwd, Audi 4wd etc.) will have to be an early-apex.


I love Donington - very accessible circuit due to run-off, very interesting circuit due to the elevation changes and the inter-linked nature of the back-half...go in too fast/shallow into Redgate and your line into Hollywood is wrong, get Hollywood wrong and you're trying to correct through Craners, go in too hot/wide to Craners and you're compromised for Old Hairpin, which can really cost you time trying to climb the hill to/through Schwantz, fail to tuck-in after Schwantz and you're too wide through Macleans and get Coppice wrong and you're late getting the power down on the straight.

...all of which means I've not done a good complete lap there yet, after 5 or 6 trackdays/evenings!

[upsidedownmark]

Just to prove there's no such thing as agreement on a forum

IMHO you take a late apex if it understeers or is going to struggle to get power down on the exit. In either case you need to get your turning done and straighten the line so you can drive off the corner without either end trying to get away from you.

Anything else (i.e. lower power rwd), especially on faster corners, take a (relatively) early / geometrically centered apex - 'tis about maintaining (mid) corner speed rather than squaring it off and rotating the car in order to fire it off the corner.

Redgate, earlier than you'd think, hollywood isn't even a corner..
Craners lovely, quite early turn in for old hairpin (which isn't a hairpin), back to middle of track for the left and out to the right edge for the next one.
Pull back to the (left) kerb on the way into mcleans, which I was taking far too late & not needing everything on the exit.
Coppice - goodness knows, double apex wizardry... I'll confess to that one confounding me

Edited by upsidedownmark on Thursday 6th August 00:27

[Craikeybaby]

Coppice was the only corner that I felt that I got right last week! Although maybe I was getting that wrong too, but had a nice arc clipping both apexes and it felt fast. I need to book some tuition next time.

[havoc]

upsidedownmark said:

Redgate, earlier than you'd think, hollywood isn't even a corner..
Craners lovely, quite early turn in for old hairpin (which isn't a hairpin), back to middle of track for the left and out to the right edge for the next one.
Pull back to the (left) kerb on the way into mcleans, which I was taking far too late & not needing everything on the exit.
Coppice - goodness knows, double apex wizardry... I'll confess to that one confounding me

Redgate I'm not sure about...every instructor I've sat with has suggested a late turn-in. Hollywood...yes-ish, depends on the power/grip equation...but it's set-up better by taking a straighter line through/out of Redgate.
Craners depends on the balance of power-vs-brakes in the car and how good the front-end is at bringing you back across to the left.
OH is definitely early and cut...
Macleans - know what you mean. Ditto Coppice - took me 3 trackdays before I worked out the line I should be taking (and still miss 50% of the time...)

[Elderly]

Craikeybaby said:

Coppice was the only corner that I felt that I got right last week! Although maybe I was getting that wrong too, but had a nice arc clipping both apexes and it felt fast. I need to book some tuition next time.

I've not been to Donington for years ( more's the pity ) and maybe Coppice had been changed, but iirc the second apex should be ignored (unless you're on a bike).