Plonker at Cadwell
Discussion
T0MMY said:
If you spot someone acting like that best bet is to drive through the pitlane and put some space between you but the Elise driver wouldn't have had any warning at all of what was to come.
Or just keep right on the straight. Yes i agree, best to look and keep out of the way.Pure conjecture, but as someone else said, maybe the Lotus had just exited the (blind) pit lane, wasn't up to speed and didn't know of the idiot behind.
If he'd already been out on track then 1) he should be ahead anyway in a Lotus and 2) he should have seen the erratic driving behind and be alert.
That would be my guess.
Thankfully these incidents are rare. You certainly get a good sense from your rear view of the type of driver coming up behind, i'll think of this next time and ensure to exercise caution and pull right early!
EDIT - ah no, Exige already on track.... rethink.
Edited by Robert Elise on Wednesday 2nd September 21:12
ginger steve said:
In my experience the worst driving etiquette on Track Days in generally done by those in racing teams and/or those testing for a race series ... The license idea is a good one in my opinion - as long as it applies to everyone.
You've just contradicted yourself. Race already drivers have to have a license - and the test is both theory and practical, including demonstrating situational awareness on circuit. How would a track day license be any different?88racing said:
You've just contradicted yourself. Race already drivers have to have a license - and the test is both theory and practical, including demonstrating situational awareness on circuit. How would a track day license be any different?
From a track day they cant have the licence invoked like they could on a proper race dayRobert Elise said:
Or just keep right on the straight. Yes i agree, best to look and keep out of the way.
Pure conjecture, but as someone else said, maybe the Lotus had just exited the (blind) pit lane, wasn't up to speed and didn't know of the idiot behind.
If he'd already been out on track then 1) he should be ahead anyway in a Lotus and 2) he should have seen the erratic driving behind and be alert.
That would be my guess.
Thankfully these incidents are rare. You certainly get a good sense from your rear view of the type of driver coming up behind, i'll think of this next time and ensure to exercise caution and pull right early!
EDIT - ah no, Exige already on track.... rethink.
The fact he was in an Exige wouldn't mean he was quicker necessarily...lot of fast cars going slow and slow cars going fast on trackdays. The problem was MG Plonker hadn't been up his backside hassling him beforehand so the Exige chap wouldn't have expected it...it really came out of nowhere.Pure conjecture, but as someone else said, maybe the Lotus had just exited the (blind) pit lane, wasn't up to speed and didn't know of the idiot behind.
If he'd already been out on track then 1) he should be ahead anyway in a Lotus and 2) he should have seen the erratic driving behind and be alert.
That would be my guess.
Thankfully these incidents are rare. You certainly get a good sense from your rear view of the type of driver coming up behind, i'll think of this next time and ensure to exercise caution and pull right early!
EDIT - ah no, Exige already on track.... rethink.
I survived Cadwell today anyway, although one poor guy smashed his lovely GT86 into a wall. Felt bad for him
James - that's the hairpin - Barn is the next corner..
And.. yes it is an overtaking place in a race, I managed it a number of times in the Classic Grad.
However - on a track day - the whole mountain section is a big no for overtaking.
Overall - dreadful driving, unlucky for the Elise but we all know the risks. Boiled brakes my arse - trying too hard and it's VERY easy if you don't know the track to get a little disorientated into the Hairpin as it's slightly blind over the last left into the braking zone. I think he got a little lost and forgot that there was a big brake into the hairpin.
And.. yes it is an overtaking place in a race, I managed it a number of times in the Classic Grad.
However - on a track day - the whole mountain section is a big no for overtaking.
Overall - dreadful driving, unlucky for the Elise but we all know the risks. Boiled brakes my arse - trying too hard and it's VERY easy if you don't know the track to get a little disorientated into the Hairpin as it's slightly blind over the last left into the braking zone. I think he got a little lost and forgot that there was a big brake into the hairpin.
I am beginning to wonder.
I rather think that if I had made the mistake of braking too late, I would (rather too late) have slammed on the brakes in an attempt to avoid the accident.
But looking at both the video from his car, and from the car following, there is no sign, visible or audible, that the brakes have been slammed on. Even with ABS we would have heard something.
The car did appear to slow a bit as it dived across the apex of the hairpin. He claimed to have run out of brakes or suffered a failure. Which kind of fits with the videos.
But total brake failures are rare, and I am puzzled at to how he could have suffered so much fade that had no brakes left at all at that corner. I for one don't use the brakes, other than a slight dab outside the cafe, between braking for the chicane before the pits entrance, and braking for the hairpin.
A puzzle.....
By the way, I had noticed earlier in the morning that the Lotus driver seemed to be taking it easy while the track was damp (which it clearly was, as you see at the end of the video, looking towards Barn Corner). If I was driving a £50,000+ Lotus on a damp track I guess I would be taking it easy too.
I rather think that if I had made the mistake of braking too late, I would (rather too late) have slammed on the brakes in an attempt to avoid the accident.
But looking at both the video from his car, and from the car following, there is no sign, visible or audible, that the brakes have been slammed on. Even with ABS we would have heard something.
The car did appear to slow a bit as it dived across the apex of the hairpin. He claimed to have run out of brakes or suffered a failure. Which kind of fits with the videos.
But total brake failures are rare, and I am puzzled at to how he could have suffered so much fade that had no brakes left at all at that corner. I for one don't use the brakes, other than a slight dab outside the cafe, between braking for the chicane before the pits entrance, and braking for the hairpin.
A puzzle.....
By the way, I had noticed earlier in the morning that the Lotus driver seemed to be taking it easy while the track was damp (which it clearly was, as you see at the end of the video, looking towards Barn Corner). If I was driving a £50,000+ Lotus on a damp track I guess I would be taking it easy too.
QBee said:
I am beginning to wonder.
I rather think that if I had made the mistake of braking too late, I would (rather too late) have slammed on the brakes in an attempt to avoid the accident.
But looking at both the video from his car, and from the car following, there is no sign, visible or audible, that the brakes have been slammed on. Even with ABS we would have heard something.
The car did appear to slow a bit as it dived across the apex of the hairpin. He claimed to have run out of brakes or suffered a failure. Which kind of fits with the videos.
But total brake failures are rare, and I am puzzled at to how he could have suffered so much fade that had no brakes left at all at that corner. I for one don't use the brakes, other than a slight dab outside the cafe, between braking for the chicane before the pits entrance, and braking for the hairpin.
A puzzle.....
If we're going to forensically examine the video from the car following it looks to me like....he has a moment just before the corner which causes him to spear towards the apex, out of control. He's not trying to overtake the Lotus, he's just simply out of control. My guess is that he got distracted...maybe he took his eyes off the track ahead because he was focused on keeping in front of the car that was catching him or maybe he forgot where he was on the track and panicked when a corner arrived that he wasn't expecting?I rather think that if I had made the mistake of braking too late, I would (rather too late) have slammed on the brakes in an attempt to avoid the accident.
But looking at both the video from his car, and from the car following, there is no sign, visible or audible, that the brakes have been slammed on. Even with ABS we would have heard something.
The car did appear to slow a bit as it dived across the apex of the hairpin. He claimed to have run out of brakes or suffered a failure. Which kind of fits with the videos.
But total brake failures are rare, and I am puzzled at to how he could have suffered so much fade that had no brakes left at all at that corner. I for one don't use the brakes, other than a slight dab outside the cafe, between braking for the chicane before the pits entrance, and braking for the hairpin.
A puzzle.....
When I watched that video I realise why I have track day insurance as standard in my policy.
I can control my own mistakes on track but not all the other heroes.
For those that have never seen car to car contact on track it does happen let's just hope your not in the lotuses position in the future
I can control my own mistakes on track but not all the other heroes.
For those that have never seen car to car contact on track it does happen let's just hope your not in the lotuses position in the future
This is exactly why my GF and I have gone halves on a new trackday car. We're only going to use the GT3 sparingly and the Golf will do the majority of the days. We've never insured the GT3 for track, but the thought of being wiped out my a muppet like that and causing a £140k loss would see a sense of humour failure.
You pay your money you takes your choice !!! I've done Javelin days that are littered with red flags through the day , last time I went to cadwel with them they had 7 red flags before lunch !!!
Nowadays I use bookatrack or Goldtrack only , not cheap but you do not get idiots in there MG who have no idea .
Feel for the guy in the lotus :-(
Nowadays I use bookatrack or Goldtrack only , not cheap but you do not get idiots in there MG who have no idea .
Feel for the guy in the lotus :-(
TuxMan said:
You pay your money you takes your choice !!! I've done Javelin days that are littered with red flags through the day , last time I went to cadwel with them they had 7 red flags before lunch !!!
Nowadays I use bookatrack or Goldtrack only , not cheap but you do not get idiots in there MG who have no idea .
Feel for the guy in the lotus :-(
You are assuming that the plonker drivers have less money to pay for more expensive days. I have seen more plonkers is expensive cars, rather than inability, they struggling with allowing lower cost cars to pass, rather than accidental poor driving, this leads to intentional bad driving. That is scary.Nowadays I use bookatrack or Goldtrack only , not cheap but you do not get idiots in there MG who have no idea .
Feel for the guy in the lotus :-(
wellground said:
You are assuming that the plonker drivers have less money to pay for more expensive days. I have seen more plonkers is expensive cars, rather than inability, they struggling with allowing lower cost cars to pass, rather than accidental poor driving, this leads to intentional bad driving. That is scary.
I would say there were plonkers on trackdays covering each end of the wealth spectrum...the slightly chavvy idiot in a cheap car with a cherry bomb exhaust who does wheelspins every time he pulls out of the pitlane and the rich idiot in a very fast car who doesn't seem to understand that just because his car is fast, doesn't mean he shouldn't move over when a lesser car appears behind him. You do get a cross over too with a rich chavvy type driving a very capable car massively aggressively and shoving people out of his way, like that video of the GTR driving idiot that was circulating a while back.All are relatively rare though...I did a Javelin day this week and didn't see any prattishness at all. Everyone was moving over when needed or not hassling to get past when wanting to overtake.
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