Arriving at Brands Hatch beneath distinctly unfriendly-looking clouds, I hurried toward the promised dryness of a 'This Way' sign - only to find that it was a stack of neatly-folded boards, leaning against a drinks machine. Pointing towards a wall. Typical - a benevolent PH Towers sends me to an exciting track day, and I couldn't even find it. This is not unprecedented.
The VXR Track Day lets punters get behind the wheel of every car in Vauxhall's VXR range, getting a taste of the cars and a good dose of on-track tuition from experienced instructors. Perhaps with my limited track experience in-mind, the PH chaps sent me down yesterday to have a go for myself.
I eventually did work out where I had to go, and after a pretty massive cooked breakfast and an introduction from the staff, we were split into two groups of around 30 people. The day would be split into two main activities, with the groups switching halfway through.
The first stop for my group was the 'VXR Experience'. This consists of three mini-activities using VXR cars. The first is called 'The Wall', and involves driving an Insignia up to an instructor’s chosen speed, then trying to stop it again on an
extreme low-grip surface - at the end of which is, predictably, a wall. Luckily, the wall is inflatable and lots of people hit it quite merrily - which is just as well, since as the car had its traction control and ABS switched off and some pretty heavily servo'd brakes, I quickly found myself pointing in the wrong direction wondering quite how I got there, and unable to work out quite what this was supposed to be showing me, other than why inflatable crash barriers are probably not a great idea.
The second mini-activity in the VXR challenge is an Autotest, driving around a tight course of cones, racing against the clock. I jumped in a Corsa VXR to the heady smell of finely-grilled clutch (punters had been less than sympathetic), and soon found the car's knackered front tires made navigating the tight course pretty tricky. Once you're done with the two driving challenges there is also a 'Pit Stop Challenge', where you try your hand at changing the wheel on an Astra touring car. This was surprisingly hard work, and revealed just how impressive the BTCC pit crews' rapid wheel changes really are.
The first part of the day had its moments, but not been very satisfying, seeming more like a few gimmicks to pass the time until the first group had finished on the track.
I watched the clock, and changeover time brought our group over to the track for a short briefing. The chief instructor really hit the proverbial nail on the head when he informed us that "the first rule
of driving on a track is to always use somebody else's car". Then it was over to the pit lane and a waiting army of idling cars. There were 28 of them, consisting of many Corsa and Astra VXRs, a couple of Zafira VXRs (really!), a fleet of different Insignias - and, of course, some V8 VXR8s sitting at the back. Each car had an instructor waiting in the passenger seat.
My first drive was in a Corsa VXR, with a helpful instructor showing me the lines on a demo lap, before switching places and letting me take over. The playful Corsa was a good car for an inexperienced track driver like myself, proving to be good fun and with enough forgiving understeer to stop me doing anything too silly.
The Astra was a different experience, with noticeably more power and a cheeky exhaust note goading me on. Its width was noticeable, with more stability and less drama - a more mature drive, though with a gearbox not ideally placed for those of us forced to sit a little closer to the wheel than our less vertically-challenged friends (it was roughly next to my hip). The Insignia and Zafira were both less track-centred, with their weight very noticeable through the corners, but they certainly did not embarrass themselves (or me), and coped fairly well with the unfamiliar territory.
Looking at my watch, I decided that I had delayed gratification for long enough, and wandered over to the VXR-8 section. I took my first of two drives in the imposing saloon,
and spend a good few laps in thrall to its muffled roar and the kick to the solar plexus when we reached anything resembling a straight line. To keep everything on the packed track nice and clean all of the VXR-8's driver aids has to remain on, so the car's lairy side was suppressed somewhat, and although this did allow me to concentrate on lines and enjoying the car's massive pace in a straight line, it did feel rather neutered and steadfastly refused its characteristic oversteer.
The instructors gave some really useful advice and hints, and I certainly got quicker by the end of the day. The track was too crowded to really get much from any of the cars in terms of raw pace, and a field comprised of cars and drivers varying so much in pace made for some frustrating moments, but there were some times with enough open track to get properly stuck-in, and the instructors did make the slower cars move out of the way where they could.
The Astras had some telemetry equipment on-board, so though none of the laps were timed I did get a telemetry feedback sheet for those laps, nicely presented with various graphics and ratings. I got what I think was a rather generous 92.99%, but also a very neat graphical comparison to a 'perfect lap' to see where I was going wrong.
If you're looking for a flat-out track or testing day to push for quick lap times and on-track battles, this is probably not the event for you. But if you want some useful tuition from helpful and experienced racing drivers, and a fleet of someone else's shiny cars to play with, it is a worthwhile day out.