Bedford Autodrome GT - 15/08/16 - Javelin Trackdays

[routari]

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Edited by routari on Thursday 18th August 08:55

[routari]

15th August 2016 - Bedford Autodrome

GT Layout

Javelin Trackdays

Say if you're going, and if you take any pictures/videos on the day, please come back here and post links to them.
I'll add videos or photo albums anyone links to the tables at the bottom.

Times

• 07:15 > Venue Opens
• 07:30 - 08:30 > Sound Testing & Signing on (You should have an email with the indemnity forms in)
• 08:30 > Mandatory safety briefing
• 09:00 > 2x 3 sighting laps (So both drivers of a car can get an eye in)
• 09:25 - 12:30 > Open Pit Lane
• 12:30 - 13:30 > Jam Sandwiches and a mug of tea
• 13:30 - 17:00 > Open Pit Lane
• 17:30 > Venue Closes

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Weather Forecast

Dry

Looking dry and cloudy so far. Track day rules sometimes insist that windows need to be up, so if you have weak air-con, now might be the time to get it refreshed. Long sleeves are also required, even inside a tin-top, so bear that all in mind.

Sunday weather to check the conditions the day/night before.
Monday weather forecast.

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General Information

• Open pitlane

• Attendee list

• Circuit layout

• Example lap

• How to get there. Don't rely on sat-nav postcode!

Noise Limits

• 101 dB-A static
• 87.5 dB-A drive-by

Interested in joining?

• Sign up here

(NOW FULL!)

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Random Facts

Popular Marques

14 x Renault    (10 Clio,    4 Megane)
12 x BMW        (5 3-Series, 6 Mini,     1 Unknown)
11 x Porsche    (5 911,      3 Cayman,   3 Boxster)
10 x Lotus      (4 Exige,    3 Elise,    2 7,         1 340R)
 9 x Ford       (6 Fiesta,   2 Focus,    1 Mustang)
 7 x Caterham   (3 R300,     1 R500,     1 7,         2 Unknown)
 6 x Mazda      (4 MX-5,     2 RX-7)
 5 x Toyota     (5 MR2)
 3 x Citroen    (3 Saxo)
 3 x Skoda      (1 Citigo,   1 Fabia,    1 Octavia)
 3 x Subaru     (2 Impreza,  1 Unknown)
 2 x Volkswagen (2 Golf)
 1 x Ariel      (1 Atom)
 1 x Chevrolet  (1 Camaro)
 1 x Honda      (1 Civic)
 1 x Maserati   (1 Cambiocorsa)
 1 x MG         (1 ZR)
 1 x Noble      (1 M12)
 1 x Peugeot    (1 RCZ)
 1 x Tiger      (1 Unknown)
 1 x Triumph    (1 TR2)
 1 x Vauxhall   (1 Vectra)
 4 x TBA        (4 Unknown)

99 cars currently booked on. The most represented brand is Renault.

Top 3 Most Popular Cars

1. Clio
2. Fiesta/Mini
3. 3-Series/911/MR2

It's the Bednault Cliodrome.

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After the Event

Video List

I'll add to this as video links are posted below. Alternatively check out the Youtube playlist.

Driver	Car	Video URL	Spotted	Traffic	Best Lap Time (Optional)
Teeman	Ford Fiesta ST180	youtube.com	-	None	3m00s
sme101	Ford Fiesta ST MR200	youtube.com	-	None	3m07s
routari & routari's dad	Mazda MX-5	youtube.com	-	Light	3m14s
routari & routari's dad	Mazda RX-7 & Mazda MX-5	youtube.com	My dad spins after noticing me in his mirrors too late	-	-
sme101	Ford Fiesta ST MR200	youtube.com: 1 - 2	-	-	-
David Henderson	Skoda Citigo	youtube.com	-	-	-
Terry Wand	Vauxhall Vectra	youtube.com: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4	Jadon - Idiotrace - routari's dad - routari	-	-
Lee Porter	Volkswagen Golf VR6	youtube.com	-	-	-
Gary Dingwall	Citroen Saxo VTS	youtube.com: 1 - 2 - 3	-	-	-
Ben Copson	Ford Fiesta ST180	youtube.com	-	-	-

Photo Album List

I'll add to this as photo album links are posted below

Photographer	Album URL	Spotted	Commercial?
XTREME SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY	Javelin	Now live. Thanks sprogthedog	Yes
Diane Chapman	imgur.com	A light-blue MR2 doing some rally driving	No
Diane Chapman	imgur.com	Simonuk's Noble M12	No
Diane Chapman	imgur.com	Idiotrace's Toyota MR2	No

Community

A few car clubs perhaps worth visiting for further discussion, or finding extra pictures/videos of the day:

Club	Readability
ClioSport.net	Registered User
Fiesta ST OC	Paid Member
International MR2 OC (UK)	Full

If you don't want your club, video, picture or 'spotted' mention visible in this table, PM me.

Edited by routari on Friday 19th August 19:33

[routari]

Here's hoping it's a dry one so you can compare it properly then! If you're filming any of it, please link it back here afterwards. Always cool to see how others got on etc

[routari]

In one of them mentioned Caterhams? If so I'll be keeping an eye in my mirrors for you fast approaching

I've edited the opening post to be generic now. I'm going in my red 1996 Mazda RX-7 at a modest 300bhp on stock turbos and intercooler. My dad is going in his stock 2001 Mazda MX-5 NB S-VT. Brother-in-law will be there in his 1997 Mazda MX-5 NA with an OEM Torsen LSD and coilovers.

Last time I drove the GT layout was back in 2010, and my car used to fail the noise tests so I had to set the limiter to 5500rpm and turn down the boost.

Edited by routari on Wednesday 27th July 11:07

[routari]

Someone's booked at Renault Clio 275 on. I thought that was a prototype not in production yet? Could be a typo, or it could be one of the two in existence, and perhaps some people from the press are invited to drive it or something?

[routari]

Haha no worries, that settles that then!
Should go well though

[routari]

If the middle of August is anything to go by, it will be pissing it down. Haven't the last couple of years been a bit hit and miss in August?
I'm really hoping it's a dry day though, even if it's cloudy and chilly.
The last few I've been to, I've just gone for it and had fun, but this time I really want to take it a bit easier and practice some specific things that I can't on the road, and I won't be able to do that if it's a wet day. It will also be my dad's first track day since learning to drive on racing sims, so it would be nice if he could build some confidence too.

[routari]

A wild McLaren P1 appeared...

I'm going to practice my indicating right and looking a bit sheepish extra hard on the way home from work tonight.

Edited by routari on Monday 1st August 14:56

[routari]

Looks like it pulled out. Maybe the driver saw how much the tyres and brakes cost or something

[routari]

I was wondering that too. Would love to see one in person and also not just driving slowly through some London street, but really going for it.

[routari]

That should be mighty! I got a GoPro today so I'm just figuring out the best place to mount it. But I have will have a cheapo Chinese dashcam running all day behind the mirror. It will obviously be hours and hours of footage—most of it a bit boring—but if you let me know what car/colour you're in, I don't mind skimming through it all to find any clips of you (or anyone on here) blasting past, spinning out, cutting the grass etc

I remember last time I went in 2010 finding somebody else's Youtube upload and spotting my car in it and it's pretty cool to see from the outside how much you're leaning or whatnot.

[routari]

Very good!

I noticed that a Cayman came off the list earlier this morning, so maybe you nicked his place if you just got the confirmation today?

[routari]

Metoffice prediction for Monday is looking good, and apparently we might have a brief two day 'mini heatwave' early next week: https://twitter.com/liamdutton/status/762964643300...
I wonder if my air-con that hasn't worked in the 8 years I've owned the car can be regassed this week...

Weather's looking good though lads!

[routari]

Sad to hear it, sounded like a really interesting car for sure! Good luck getting it sorted out.

A small group of us going from the Midlands, but not sure what time and route yet. But it will be a convoy of a red RX-7 with a green Mk1 MX-5 and a silver Mk2 MX-5. If you see us, we're going your way.

[routari]

sprogthedog said:

Absolutely spanking day!!
Ruituri, were you in the red Rx7?
If so you were 2 garages down from us!

That was me! Got a warning for being half a decibel away from noise limit late on, didn't think it was that loud!
Absolutely knackered now. But will upload videos and photographs during the week.

We've got plenty of pictures of all the cars on track taken from both tight hairpins, including a great one of an MR2 getting a little too deep into T1 (I think). I'll get them uploaded when I've recovered.

[routari]

I'll double-check tonight, and if it's that one, I'll upload them here if you like?

I had high coolant temperatures during the morning and early after sessions so had to keep getting out of the throttle and short shifting. Took it out for it's last run before the day was over and it seemed to stay below 100°C, so I started pushing more and really getting into the groove with it before getting a noise warning flag for being within half a decibel.
Not sure what more I can do to make it more quiet at this point. It came with pretty much a (unknown at the time) hollow catalytic converter and HKS Super Drager, which was deafening. I replaced the back box for something that seemed to halve the volume, and then later on replaced the cat' which seemed to halve it again. But still it's getting too close for comfort apparently.
I obviously can't hear my car from the outside, but did the red (not the black) RX-7 subjectively sound like one of the louder vehicles there? It registered 84dB at 4,000rpm during the static test, 1dB quieter than the MX-5 we also brought along.

[routari]

IdiotRace said:

If it is my car yeah sure!
Funny thing last time I was at bedford there was a white rx-7 that also had problems with noise although that was one with a single turbo and a screamer pipe. I have a HKS HiPower exhaust on the mr2 and I tend to get around 90db on static, if the downpipe isnt leaking.

I can see how a car with a screamer pipe would get through a static test and fail on track, but I have none of that. The engine is only around 25-30bhp up from when it left the factory, which isn't mega for petrol turbos. Maybe it needs a detune, or the exhaust repacking or something.

[routari]

The lap before I got the board I hit the limiter in second, and had the back end trying to get away from me around the double apex right hander.
When I came in, the pit marshal walked over to say I was within half a decibel. I asked him if it was from the tyres or exhaust, as I know they don't want prolonged slides due to noise, and he said it was probably exhaust. I asked if maybe it could have been triggered by hitting the limiter, as it was fine all day, and he said it was most likely because I was driving around in a pack with other cars, except I wasn't, and it was when the track was mostly empty and I could stretch it out a little more, so it is probably as you say, and just getting more speed out of it, although you'd think the sound would be RPM dependent, and not speed dependent?

Never had a problem at Rockingham with the identical setup, and I'm sure that was 98dB static. Would have been nice to know whether it was a blip caused by hitting the limiter, sliding around a corner, or whether I need to spend loads of money to solve it, but I couldn't get an answer from them.

[routari]

OP updated with IdiotRace's rally car adventure!

EDIT: Actually, the wheels don't look gold? Is this anyone you know?

Added pictures of Simonuk's Noble

Added pictures of Idiotrace's MR2

Edited by routari on Tuesday 16th August 20:14

Edited by routari on Tuesday 16th August 20:23

[routari]

Yeah I figured it out eventually! All pictures I could find of your car have been edited into the table at the bottom of the opening post of this thread.