First time at Cadwell, anything I need to know?
Discussion
Hi J,
once you and Al have done Cadwell you wont be bothering to make the trip down here anymore
. my first outing there a couple of years ago was a bit apprehensive as everyone was telling me how narrow it was and a mini Nurburgring, so a bit daunting. Forget that, its an awesome circuit.
I had two hours in the morning of pure fun in the MX, then had my tuition at 11. Well worth the money if you want to properly want to understand the circuit.The instructor asked me to do two laps had i had done on my own then fine tuned me. Asking why i had lifted off going into Coppice, erm, nearly 100mph
"dont lift, dont lift".......he screamed as i approached the next lap, "speed will be scrubbed up the hill into Charlies".......he was right and it was superb. Gooseneck was the next one, "turn in right and ride the kerb then when you hear the kerb run out throw it left and into the compression with your nearside mirror as close to the bollard as you dare"........that is a stunning left right combo.
the only place i couldnt get happy with was "Barn", it stays damp there under the trees and i just wasnt happy booting it out of there, 4wd may make a difference in your case. "the Mountain" is an experience once you find the right gear to be in.
i ended up doing 200 miles that day on track, totally epic. Sure you will enjoy and post up your thoughts when the day is over.
As for security, usual rules, park up and get neighbourly, those around will keep an eye out while your on track.
Few of us are at Silverstone on Nov 20th (Sunday) if your at a loose end come on down if not see you at Goodwood in Dec??
Darren
Have fun
Darren
once you and Al have done Cadwell you wont be bothering to make the trip down here anymore
. my first outing there a couple of years ago was a bit apprehensive as everyone was telling me how narrow it was and a mini Nurburgring, so a bit daunting. Forget that, its an awesome circuit. I had two hours in the morning of pure fun in the MX, then had my tuition at 11. Well worth the money if you want to properly want to understand the circuit.The instructor asked me to do two laps had i had done on my own then fine tuned me. Asking why i had lifted off going into Coppice, erm, nearly 100mph
"dont lift, dont lift".......he screamed as i approached the next lap, "speed will be scrubbed up the hill into Charlies".......he was right and it was superb. Gooseneck was the next one, "turn in right and ride the kerb then when you hear the kerb run out throw it left and into the compression with your nearside mirror as close to the bollard as you dare"........that is a stunning left right combo. the only place i couldnt get happy with was "Barn", it stays damp there under the trees and i just wasnt happy booting it out of there, 4wd may make a difference in your case. "the Mountain" is an experience once you find the right gear to be in.
i ended up doing 200 miles that day on track, totally epic. Sure you will enjoy and post up your thoughts when the day is over.
As for security, usual rules, park up and get neighbourly, those around will keep an eye out while your on track.
Few of us are at Silverstone on Nov 20th (Sunday) if your at a loose end come on down if not see you at Goodwood in Dec??
Darren
Have fun
Darren
Cadwell is my local track so I may be biased it's a fantastic track, take Coppice flat, everything is in your favour camber and uphill, the faster you take it the better Charlies flows, Mansfield can catch you out its hard on the brakes don't turn in to early, stay in centre of the track over the mountain, hairpin is slow whatever you do, hug the inside of Barn and power all the way out. Enjoy.
Cadwell is Awesome!
My mate chasing me - I was making good for the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0FHRMednx8
Kyri
My mate chasing me - I was making good for the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0FHRMednx8
Kyri
I love Cadwell, it's my favourite track although I've only ever done it on bikes not cars.
Good advice from everyone else, so I've not much to add apart from echoing the 'flat out though coppice' and 'watch out for the hairpin' comments. Depending on what you're in, Barn can be a great place to get past heavier, more powerful vehicles (may only work on bikes mind) before watching them re-pass you on the back straight only to get them at Coppice as they lift
If you over commit at the first of the hall bends back RIGHT off to get everything back in line, otherwise you may well cock up the next two and then arrive at the hairpin out of sorts.
Finally, enjoy....and watch out for the family of squirrels on the inside at Barn.
Cheers,
Tom
Good advice from everyone else, so I've not much to add apart from echoing the 'flat out though coppice' and 'watch out for the hairpin' comments. Depending on what you're in, Barn can be a great place to get past heavier, more powerful vehicles (may only work on bikes mind) before watching them re-pass you on the back straight only to get them at Coppice as they lift
If you over commit at the first of the hall bends back RIGHT off to get everything back in line, otherwise you may well cock up the next two and then arrive at the hairpin out of sorts.
Finally, enjoy....and watch out for the family of squirrels on the inside at Barn.
Cheers,
Tom
HaylingJag said:
Hi J,
once you and Al have done Cadwell you wont be bothering to make the trip down here anymore . my first outing there a couple of years ago was a bit apprehensive as everyone was telling me how narrow it was and a mini Nurburgring, so a bit daunting. Forget that, its an awesome circuit.
I had two hours in the morning of pure fun in the MX, then had my tuition at 11. Well worth the money if you want to properly want to understand the circuit.The instructor asked me to do two laps had i had done on my own then fine tuned me. Asking why i had lifted off going into Coppice, erm, nearly 100mph "dont lift, dont lift".......he screamed as i approached the next lap, "speed will be scrubbed up the hill into Charlies".......he was right and it was superb. Gooseneck was the next one, "turn in right and ride the kerb then when you hear the kerb run out throw it left and into the compression with your nearside mirror as close to the bollard as you dare"........that is a stunning left right combo.
the only place i couldnt get happy with was "Barn", it stays damp there under the trees and i just wasnt happy booting it out of there, 4wd may make a difference in your case. "the Mountain" is an experience once you find the right gear to be in.
i ended up doing 200 miles that day on track, totally epic. Sure you will enjoy and post up your thoughts when the day is over.
As for security, usual rules, park up and get neighbourly, those around will keep an eye out while your on track.
Few of us are at Silverstone on Nov 20th (Sunday) if your at a loose end come on down if not see you at Goodwood in Dec??
Darren
Have fun
Darren
Hi Darren, once you and Al have done Cadwell you wont be bothering to make the trip down here anymore
. my first outing there a couple of years ago was a bit apprehensive as everyone was telling me how narrow it was and a mini Nurburgring, so a bit daunting. Forget that, its an awesome circuit. I had two hours in the morning of pure fun in the MX, then had my tuition at 11. Well worth the money if you want to properly want to understand the circuit.The instructor asked me to do two laps had i had done on my own then fine tuned me. Asking why i had lifted off going into Coppice, erm, nearly 100mph
"dont lift, dont lift".......he screamed as i approached the next lap, "speed will be scrubbed up the hill into Charlies".......he was right and it was superb. Gooseneck was the next one, "turn in right and ride the kerb then when you hear the kerb run out throw it left and into the compression with your nearside mirror as close to the bollard as you dare"........that is a stunning left right combo. the only place i couldnt get happy with was "Barn", it stays damp there under the trees and i just wasnt happy booting it out of there, 4wd may make a difference in your case. "the Mountain" is an experience once you find the right gear to be in.
i ended up doing 200 miles that day on track, totally epic. Sure you will enjoy and post up your thoughts when the day is over.
As for security, usual rules, park up and get neighbourly, those around will keep an eye out while your on track.
Few of us are at Silverstone on Nov 20th (Sunday) if your at a loose end come on down if not see you at Goodwood in Dec??
Darren
Have fun
Darren
Thanks for that, very very helpful
I can't wait to get on there and start learning it and enjoying myself. I can see this becoming a very regular thing..... We will definitely still be interested in getting down to Goodwood where possible. It was brilliant the other year. Just hope nobody has a go at either of us on here after the next PH track session. Think Alex has been put off PH in general by the bad attitudes some users seem to have nowadays. It's a shame
I've gotten used to it. Just need to stop buying cars with issues
Really enjoying developing the Subaru for the track though. It's been a good learning experience so far, if a little upsetting finding some of the issues. But we'll get there. I do hope we can bring it down to Goodwood in December. Have to see how it gets on at Cadwell first. I'm in the process of upgrading the brakes beforehand, but unfortunately had a bleed nipple shear off on one of the rear calipers. It never rains etc.....
We are attending the Ginetta SS on the 20th but thanks for the offer, it's really appreciated. I couldn't possibly watch everyone else drive around Silverstone without being gutted I wasn't doing so though
My fave track.
Pointers:
1 Don't underestimate The Mountin. Crest it straight with a straight wheel. The only badly damaged cars I've seen at Cadwell are when people do the hero thing over the hill and land squiffy - you're lookling at the side of the car for sure.
2 The right handers after the uphill left at the end of the straight are 1 long corner - not 3 apexes, not 2. Get this right and it's hugely satisfying. People will say the left hander up the hill is flat and it is - but a confidence lift / remove understeer dab that allows 1/2 way across the track on exit is faster - you can then accelerate all the way through to the straight. goal should be to turn right once, then not adjust that angle until the exit curb.
3 The gooseneck is awesome. Grin like a madman every time you exit it. Grin all the way though hall bends the first time you drift over the crest and "come to earth" on the exit curb, in a blissfully quick BTCC fashion.
4 If it rains, watch hall bends / barn. Those leaves secrete oil, it seems!
5 On the subject of hall bends, don't fall into the trap of being a hero on the first left and ending up way out of position at the end. They flow and accentuate body roll - think Jenson not Lewis.
6 The top 2 bends are 1 bend as well. It's like the track designer was awesome, or something =)
Have fun chief, once you do Cadwell there's no escape (unless you buy a big GT, when it loses all it's magic).
Pointers:
1 Don't underestimate The Mountin. Crest it straight with a straight wheel. The only badly damaged cars I've seen at Cadwell are when people do the hero thing over the hill and land squiffy - you're lookling at the side of the car for sure.
2 The right handers after the uphill left at the end of the straight are 1 long corner - not 3 apexes, not 2. Get this right and it's hugely satisfying. People will say the left hander up the hill is flat and it is - but a confidence lift / remove understeer dab that allows 1/2 way across the track on exit is faster - you can then accelerate all the way through to the straight. goal should be to turn right once, then not adjust that angle until the exit curb.
3 The gooseneck is awesome. Grin like a madman every time you exit it. Grin all the way though hall bends the first time you drift over the crest and "come to earth" on the exit curb, in a blissfully quick BTCC fashion.
4 If it rains, watch hall bends / barn. Those leaves secrete oil, it seems!
5 On the subject of hall bends, don't fall into the trap of being a hero on the first left and ending up way out of position at the end. They flow and accentuate body roll - think Jenson not Lewis.
6 The top 2 bends are 1 bend as well. It's like the track designer was awesome, or something =)
Have fun chief, once you do Cadwell there's no escape (unless you buy a big GT, when it loses all it's magic).
Well what can I say? A great time was had by both of us! The instructor was great also and said that we were both very confident and knew what we were doing and he then said we should take it to the next level and do our ARDS test which was nice
The only real negative about the day was that I didn't do that many laps overall. I was about to go out for a final half hour when they suddenly ended the day at around 3:15pm. I was absolutely gutted! But it was understandable because of the fog that very quickly came in. So it was time to pack up and put the road wheels back on and then embark on a truly terrifying drive to the motorway in zero visibility!
Couple of photos:
Oh and I got some air at the mountain! A first for me and a strange sensation! Thanks to all who offered advice
We can't wait to go back.
The only real negative about the day was that I didn't do that many laps overall. I was about to go out for a final half hour when they suddenly ended the day at around 3:15pm. I was absolutely gutted! But it was understandable because of the fog that very quickly came in. So it was time to pack up and put the road wheels back on and then embark on a truly terrifying drive to the motorway in zero visibility!
Couple of photos:
Oh and I got some air at the mountain! A first for me and a strange sensation! Thanks to all who offered advice
We can't wait to go back.
Well done Jay/Alex
Glad you enjoyed it....hope it was as rewarding as everyone on here said it would be. I need to get back up there in the spring as its been a while. Looks like you had decent weather up there.
Im probably gonna do Bedford on the 10th now as its £109 open pitlane as opposed to £200 sessioned at Goodwood but maybe we'll catch uo on the Sunday
D
Glad you enjoyed it....hope it was as rewarding as everyone on here said it would be. I need to get back up there in the spring as its been a while. Looks like you had decent weather up there.
Im probably gonna do Bedford on the 10th now as its £109 open pitlane as opposed to £200 sessioned at Goodwood but maybe we'll catch uo on the Sunday
D
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