Carlimits Airfield day - chimaera
Discussion
Anyone been on a carlimits (North Weald,Andy Walsh) airfield day in Chimaera? -
- I've got one coming up soon, has anyone been on one,and what tyre pressures did you run?
I've got TI-Rs all round, usually run 26 front, 28 back, the suggest running high tyre pressures to save the tyrewalls - does anyone have any view as to what pressures to run?- I'm wary of overinflating too much as it will result in the car behaving differently to normal (although it has less grip on the airfield than on the road then that may not be a bad thing)- anyway, welcome comments from anyone whose been to one of his days?
- I've got one coming up soon, has anyone been on one,and what tyre pressures did you run?
I've got TI-Rs all round, usually run 26 front, 28 back, the suggest running high tyre pressures to save the tyrewalls - does anyone have any view as to what pressures to run?- I'm wary of overinflating too much as it will result in the car behaving differently to normal (although it has less grip on the airfield than on the road then that may not be a bad thing)- anyway, welcome comments from anyone whose been to one of his days?
He'll tell you all about pressures I'm sure...
some info here
http://www.tvrmonster.com/tyrestrack.html
some info here
http://www.tvrmonster.com/tyrestrack.html
A good read Andy.
I was running 24-26 when cold last Monday.
Should have checked and lowered them.
Even though grip was good, the tyres didn't get as hot as they have been, probably because it was a fast track, should have lowered them a tad, trouble was I was enjoying it so much, it went out me ead!
HCM.
I was running 24-26 when cold last Monday.
Should have checked and lowered them.
Even though grip was good, the tyres didn't get as hot as they have been, probably because it was a fast track, should have lowered them a tad, trouble was I was enjoying it so much, it went out me ead!
HCM.
Ive been on a car limits day at Norh Weald, and have another one coming up on 18th June. I pumped up the tyres as they recommended on the day, but they said it was'nt really necessary and was more aimed at the heavier cars (Evos, Subarus etc.) The surface is also pretty poor and not what i imagined of an airfield, but it was a brilliant day (hence why i am doing another 
)
ETA
2 places remaining on 18th June
Only £38 per car!
)ETA
2 places remaining on 18th June
Only £38 per car!Edited by lewis s on Sunday 16th May 21:37
I did one and wouldn't hurry back.
Too many drivers, not enough instructors, inadequate briefings prior to the exercises. "Drive down there and turn left as fast as you can" "What for?" "Just do it then come back, join the queue and do it again".
Poor surface and unable to see the drainage grate we were supposed to be using as a 'corner' until it was too late. Several of us left before the day was over.
Too many drivers, not enough instructors, inadequate briefings prior to the exercises. "Drive down there and turn left as fast as you can" "What for?" "Just do it then come back, join the queue and do it again".
Poor surface and unable to see the drainage grate we were supposed to be using as a 'corner' until it was too late. Several of us left before the day was over.
I did this a few years back. Thought it was brilliant and a real eye opener as to what a Griff/Chim is really capable of.
With regards to the above post, there was only me and another dude (in an Elise) when I did it so we got loads of 'personal' time with Andy. Perhaps it's more a case of more people, lower cost, less tuition nowadays ?
With regards to the above post, there was only me and another dude (in an Elise) when I did it so we got loads of 'personal' time with Andy. Perhaps it's more a case of more people, lower cost, less tuition nowadays ?
The only drawback I have found (having done 3 of these now) is that you occasionally get a "Driving God" attending who is far too good to need any instruction, however these usually wander off in a sulk part way through the day when their belief in their own ability fails to match up to reality and they are not big enough to accept instruction.
However if you go with the attitude that you want to learn something, and listen to the instructors and try to put into practice what they tell you, at the end of the day you will know a good deal more about the way your car handles at the limit and may have improved your ability to drive it.
Andy Walsh will advise on tyre pressure at the briefing. The high pressures are only really necessary for heavier cars. I ran my Cerb about 4 psi above normal. You can tell from the amount of scuffing on the sidewall if you need to up the pressure.
Have fun!
However if you go with the attitude that you want to learn something, and listen to the instructors and try to put into practice what they tell you, at the end of the day you will know a good deal more about the way your car handles at the limit and may have improved your ability to drive it.
Andy Walsh will advise on tyre pressure at the briefing. The high pressures are only really necessary for heavier cars. I ran my Cerb about 4 psi above normal. You can tell from the amount of scuffing on the sidewall if you need to up the pressure.
Have fun!
Tanguero said:
However if you go with the attitude that you want to learn something, and listen to the instructors and try to put into practice what they tell you,
All fine and dandy IF they actually tell you what it is they want you to do and why.As lazyitus says, it's no good if the instructor/driver ratio is wrong. 10/1 on the day I went. Its an activity day - not a one on one training day. The clue is in the price.
My experience is that you get out of it what you are prepared to put into it. Despite there being rather more than a 10-1 ratio, if you express an interest and ask questions you can get a lot out of it.
Shame it didn't work for you, but Andy Walsh has a lot of happy customers, myself included.
My experience is that you get out of it what you are prepared to put into it. Despite there being rather more than a 10-1 ratio, if you express an interest and ask questions you can get a lot out of it.
Shame it didn't work for you, but Andy Walsh has a lot of happy customers, myself included.
Tanguero said:
Its an activity day - not a one on one training day. The clue is in the price.
My experience is that you get out of it what you are prepared to put into it. Despite there being rather more than a 10-1 ratio, if you express an interest and ask questions you can get a lot out of it.
Shame it didn't work for you, but Andy Walsh has a lot of happy customers, myself included.
+1, although agree the surface wasn't the greatest.My experience is that you get out of it what you are prepared to put into it. Despite there being rather more than a 10-1 ratio, if you express an interest and ask questions you can get a lot out of it.
Shame it didn't work for you, but Andy Walsh has a lot of happy customers, myself included.
Unsure if you can find out in advance on how many cars are in your session, when I did it (in an evo) there was an Elise a mate in his porker and I think one other car that escapes me.
Having just done a Ride Drive day (AWESOME) I found alot of what I learnt with Andy helped on the road.
SwampySi said:
I thought these were always either 2 or 4 cars..
They do some like this which are basically 1:1 sessions for the whole day, but obviously they cost more. It seems that what we're talking about in this thread is the other kind of day, which costs ~£40 and a whole load of people attend to do the same exercises.mrmr96 said:
SwampySi said:
I thought these were always either 2 or 4 cars..
They do some like this which are basically 1:1 sessions for the whole day, but obviously they cost more. It seems that what we're talking about in this thread is the other kind of day, which costs ~£40 and a whole load of people attend to do the same exercises.mrmr96 said:
SwampySi said:
I thought these were always either 2 or 4 cars..
They do some like this which are basically 1:1 sessions for the whole day, but obviously they cost more. It seems that what we're talking about in this thread is the other kind of day, which costs ~£40 and a whole load of people attend to do the same exercises.However, I decided to try a 4-person day, which I did last week and there were just three of us. You get plenty of time, lots of focused attention, and I thought it was well worth while.
I did it a couple of years ago and found it one of the most informative days I've ever done.
A big part of the day is the left turn exercise. Andy gets you barrelling up to an imaginary left hander at 70mph. You then take your feet off all pedals and steer around the bend with one finger (literally). You lean an immense amount about the balance of the car and what it can do (and more importantly what it wants to do). You learn not to fight the car around corners.
It sounds a bit weird but it's very informative. Much better than on track where the constraints of the circuit require you to dial in steering, brakes, throttle etc just to get around the bend. That's a lot of variables you end up throwing in, complicating the interpretation of what's going on.
A big part of the day is the left turn exercise. Andy gets you barrelling up to an imaginary left hander at 70mph. You then take your feet off all pedals and steer around the bend with one finger (literally). You lean an immense amount about the balance of the car and what it can do (and more importantly what it wants to do). You learn not to fight the car around corners.
It sounds a bit weird but it's very informative. Much better than on track where the constraints of the circuit require you to dial in steering, brakes, throttle etc just to get around the bend. That's a lot of variables you end up throwing in, complicating the interpretation of what's going on.
In the morning you start with the high speed corner. As Ted says it is definately not just a case of "Drive down there and turn left as fast as you can" but a staged exercise in limit handling with minimal driver input and ending up touching on trail brakining techniques.
For the rest of the morning 2 different short courses are laid out which emphasise different aspects of handling at the limits of grip. You are free to move from one to the other as you chose. Both have instructors who will give guidance and advise, but you do tend to have to ask rather than assume it will be volunteered.
In the afternoon they lay out the sprint course used for the MSA North Weald sprint (usefull practice if you are a sprinter!!) and you spend the afternoon doing timed runs in an informal competition. Again advice and instruction is available for those who want to take advantage of it.
Andy is also happy for you to use it as a testing/adjusting session and has offered me very useful help setting up suspension for sprinting and trying new tyres.
For the rest of the morning 2 different short courses are laid out which emphasise different aspects of handling at the limits of grip. You are free to move from one to the other as you chose. Both have instructors who will give guidance and advise, but you do tend to have to ask rather than assume it will be volunteered.
In the afternoon they lay out the sprint course used for the MSA North Weald sprint (usefull practice if you are a sprinter!!) and you spend the afternoon doing timed runs in an informal competition. Again advice and instruction is available for those who want to take advantage of it.
Andy is also happy for you to use it as a testing/adjusting session and has offered me very useful help setting up suspension for sprinting and trying new tyres.
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