458 Speciale acceptable for general track day use?
Discussion
Finally collecting my new Speciale on Thursday if the garage door installers do their job tomorrow.
First outing will be the FOC National on Sunday, followed by the Oulton Park track day on 21st July. I'm a track day virgin, so will be taking instruction and driving my new car gently.
I believe the noise level ceiling for Oulton is 105dbs...will my new Speciale meet the grade?
MW
First outing will be the FOC National on Sunday, followed by the Oulton Park track day on 21st July. I'm a track day virgin, so will be taking instruction and driving my new car gently.
I believe the noise level ceiling for Oulton is 105dbs...will my new Speciale meet the grade?
MW
Oops, sorry for the late reply, my bad!
The day was fantastic, and for a track day newby, pure heroin!
The scrutineers seemed very relaxed and my fears of my Speciale being banned for excessive noise were unfounded. I was instructed to keep the car out of Race mode, and rev to around 4,000 for the noise test. I'm sure this is not going to be the case at every track day event, but happily I was given the green light for my day at Oulton.
I was booked in for a free-of-charge "Taster session" with a FOC instructor at 11am, but paid for the full track day (£275) and after the drivers' briefings went out for my first drive in the Novice class at 10am. Unfortunately all the instructors were out with other drivers, so I ended up on my own for the first session, and carefully followed the flow of cars around the track.
I booked two different instructors at 11:30 and then 12:30 who each drove my car for three laps whilst giving instruction and commentary, before pulling in to the pit lane to swap over, and then my turn. The instructor sessions were invaluable: plenty of guidance, encouragement, and made me feel more confident and comfortable in my car.
I spent the rest of the day practicing the what the instructors had taught me, and took a few passengers out for laps of the circuit. Sadly the day was drawn to a close prematurely at 16:15 after an explosion and fire in the pit lane garages (a racing Speciale caught fire being refuelled).
So my first track day was a complete blast, and my new 458 Speciale made me feel like a driving god!! The grin factor afterwards was worth every hard-earned penny I paid for the car, and I guess that's why we do it!!
Booked in for the Silverstone FOC day in September and counting down the days...
MW
The day was fantastic, and for a track day newby, pure heroin!
The scrutineers seemed very relaxed and my fears of my Speciale being banned for excessive noise were unfounded. I was instructed to keep the car out of Race mode, and rev to around 4,000 for the noise test. I'm sure this is not going to be the case at every track day event, but happily I was given the green light for my day at Oulton.
I was booked in for a free-of-charge "Taster session" with a FOC instructor at 11am, but paid for the full track day (£275) and after the drivers' briefings went out for my first drive in the Novice class at 10am. Unfortunately all the instructors were out with other drivers, so I ended up on my own for the first session, and carefully followed the flow of cars around the track.
I booked two different instructors at 11:30 and then 12:30 who each drove my car for three laps whilst giving instruction and commentary, before pulling in to the pit lane to swap over, and then my turn. The instructor sessions were invaluable: plenty of guidance, encouragement, and made me feel more confident and comfortable in my car.
I spent the rest of the day practicing the what the instructors had taught me, and took a few passengers out for laps of the circuit. Sadly the day was drawn to a close prematurely at 16:15 after an explosion and fire in the pit lane garages (a racing Speciale caught fire being refuelled).
So my first track day was a complete blast, and my new 458 Speciale made me feel like a driving god!! The grin factor afterwards was worth every hard-earned penny I paid for the car, and I guess that's why we do it!!
Booked in for the Silverstone FOC day in September and counting down the days...
MW
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