Ferrari Owners Club Silverstone Track Day 24th September

[mikewood]

Doppelkupplung said:

Are there anymore spaces left for the event?

If so where do I sign up?

Contact the Ferrari Owners Club and reserve a place...I believe there is still availability.

Sign on is at 07:45, and drivers must attend the briefing at 08:20 to be allowed on to the circuit, on the day.

[mikewood]

boxerTen said:

I counted 10 before the sessions got underway.

That sounds an impressive line-up!

The event was being promoted as a Speciale day with great opportunity for owners to drive their cars around the full circuit. If I'd not been elsewhere, I would have made the Spec-count up to eleven..!

[neil-f]

michael243 said:

I was at the event a couple weeks ago and there was four of them there

Did that day have a noise restriction or was it a noisy day?

[johnnyreggae]

mikewood said:

Looking forward to my second ever outing on a track day in my Speciale at Silverstone next week.

How'd it go ?

[mikewood]

johnnyreggae said:

How'd it go ?

Big fun!!

At the start of the morning, the track was damp with heavy dew, and there was grease and tyre debris from a motorcycle track day the previous day, but once the track had dried out a bit: all good!

I went out in the first Novice session with an instructor, and my first few laps were pretty ropey, including a few unplanned-for sideways drifts through the chicaney-bit due to the greasy track. Once I got more confident with the track layout, and with a second instructor session, I started to enjoy myself a lot more.

I started with the manettino in wet, but switched up to sport later in the morning session. By the 1pm session-end I was amazed to see I had drained a completely full tank of petrol. I reckon I probably got down to single digit fuel economy figures ! I got an emergency fuel top-up at the Silverstone circuit filling station (£1.35 per litre !!), and went off to the local M&S services for another full tank (avoiding the sneaky Police mobile speed traps ).

The afternoon session was open pit lane, so a complete free for all. There were some very fast track cars, which did intimidate me a bit at times (happy to admit to this, even in my fancy Speciale! ), but I tried to keep out of their way as much as possible. Other than coming face-to-face with a yellow 328 which had spun on one corner, and seeing some fresh skid marks heading into the gravel, I wasn't aware of any incidents occurring on track.

I continued driving right up to the chequered flag at 5pm, and felt I'd benefited a lot from the experience. The Silverstone International circuit was a bit featureless, but the long back straight and Wing straight were good for getting some speed down. I had hoped to nail 150 mph on the track, but 147 mph was the best I could do!! I think my fuel tank must have sprung a leak because it was empty again by the end of the session!

The drive home to Liverpool (with a fresh tank of fuel: third of the day!!) was fairly tedious, but obviously had to "perform" for admiring commuters around Birmingham and on the M6 car park

Next circuit on my to-do list is Anglesey. A pal with a GT3RS asked me to join him there yesterday, but a heavy dose of man-flu kyboshed me taking the Speciale. Next time!

MW