help.....training days/ track days

[claypole 7]

hi everyone,

I have recently been able to finally buy a s2 exige-my dream for many years and firstly want to thank everyone on this forum - it literally became my bible for the past six months before finally purchasing an exige with the peformance pack.I have already done 2.7k miles in just over 4 weeks and just cant stop smiling!!!

However I am not the best driver and feel I need to learn how to drive the car a lot better, so need some advice on which is best one day training for the exige s2/111r and is best to use your own car or pay the extra and use theirs??

Any advice/reommendations would be very much appreciated.

[andy_s]

Best mod you can buy - good choice - www.carlimits.com Andy Walsh is the peoples favourite on here I think. Lotus also do days at Hethel so killing a few birds with one stone.

Edited by andy_s on Wednesday 11th June 11:07

[bogie]

yep - carlimits or Lotus factory, the first one is about £200 and in your own car on an airfield...not sure about the Lotus ones these days - theres a few levels you can work your way through, but they are £500+ each, but to offset this, its in their car, on the Hethel test track

[steve_j]

I did a group day with CAT driver training at Millbrook last year. I thought it was excellent and got a lot out of it - we started in the morning with some basic stuff - threshold braking on the straight mile, emergency lane changes and "feeling" the car (effect of bumps etc) on the high speed bowl, followed by laps on the Alpine course and on the flatter handling circuit in the afternoon, ending with a timed shootout around a cone course in their Subaru.
They also provided a race mechanic who checked over the cars before we started and at lunch and then checked up again on anyone who had any problems before we left.

Instructors were great and took everyone at their own pace. It wasn't about getting the car sideways, but about how to drive quickly within the car's limits, i.e smoothly, anticipating, setting the car up in advance for corners etc. I found it very useful for real-life road (and trackday) driving.
You can use your own car or you can use CAT's Elise, Caterham or Subaru (depending on the training you are taking)

www.catdrivertraining.co.uk

The day I did was similar to what they are now describing as "club days"

And as a bonus for petrolheads, you get to see inside Millbrook! You have to leave all cameras etc at the gate, as various manufacturers use it for pre- and post-production testing, but that doesn't stop you keeping your eyes open ;-) When i was there, there were a few boring rep-mobiles doing endurance tests, plus some serious military trucks on the off-road course, plus a trio of Astons blatting around - two with what looked like salesmen demo'ing to customers and one which was wearing disguise.

[ganglandboss]

Somebody at a NORLOG meet advised me against an airfield day. The reason he gave was that an airfield is quite abrasive to tyres. I asked him what he thought about doing a track day and going out with an instructor and he told me that isn't wise either as they will be more inclined to teach you the track rather than what your car is capable of. He did highly reccommend the Hethel session though.

These are not my opinions so I'd be interested what others have to say too.

[miles_stylus]

There's also the training offered by Plans - 200 for 1-2 hours with the Top Gear Track to yourself.

Graham's pretty good too.

[Davey S2]

ganglandboss said:

Somebody at a NORLOG meet advised me against an airfield day. The reason he gave was that an airfield is quite abrasive to tyres. I asked him what he thought about doing a track day and going out with an instructor and he told me that isn't wise either as they will be more inclined to teach you the track rather than what your car is capable of. He did highly reccommend the Hethel session though.

These are not my opinions so I'd be interested what others have to say too.

Airfields can be abrasive but are not that bad. If you do a day with Andy Walsh at North Weald you can expect to redice your tyre depth by a few mills which is nothing really.

I have also heard good things about Hethel but its a lot more expensive than a Walshy day.

You cant really go up to 100% on a trackday as there are still lots of things to hit whereas on an airfield you can go right up to the limit to see how the car behaves without fear of damaging your car.

[Davey S2]

ganglandboss said:

Somebody at a NORLOG meet advised me against an airfield day. The reason he gave was that an airfield is quite abrasive to tyres. I asked him what he thought about doing a track day and going out with an instructor and he told me that isn't wise either as they will be more inclined to teach you the track rather than what your car is capable of. He did highly reccommend the Hethel session though.

These are not my opinions so I'd be interested what others have to say too.

Airfields can be abrasive but are not that bad. If you do a day with Andy Walsh at North Weald you can expect to redice your tyre depth by a few mills which is nothing really.

I have also heard good things about Hethel but its a lot more expensive than a Walshy day.

You cant really go up to 100% on a trackday as there are still lots of things to hit whereas on an airfield you can go right up to the limit to see how the car behaves without fear of damaging your car.

[bogie]

just go into an Aston dealer, pretend you are serious about the car, but not sure over the Vantage or a 911 - you can get a day at Millbrook ragging the arse of the Aston range to make your mind up

[andy_s]

bogie said:

just go into an Aston dealer, pretend you are serious about the car, but not sure over the Vantage or a 911 - you can get a day at Millbrook ragging the arse of the Aston range to make your mind up

Millbrook alpine course is brilliant - bespokedriving.com will get you on there if you feel the need. Its where they did the 007 roll, and as said before, you may get to see some prw production models if lucky.

[Davey S2]

bogie said:

just go into an Aston dealer, pretend you are serious about the car, but not sure over the Vantage or a 911 - you can get a day at Millbrook ragging the arse of the Aston range to make your mind up

But not much help in teaching you how your newly acquired Exige handles at the limit

[RobM77]

Davey S2 said:

ganglandboss said:

Somebody at a NORLOG meet advised me against an airfield day. The reason he gave was that an airfield is quite abrasive to tyres. I asked him what he thought about doing a track day and going out with an instructor and he told me that isn't wise either as they will be more inclined to teach you the track rather than what your car is capable of. He did highly reccommend the Hethel session though.

These are not my opinions so I'd be interested what others have to say too.

Airfields can be abrasive but are not that bad. If you do a day with Andy Walsh at North Weald you can expect to redice your tyre depth by a few mills which is nothing really.

I have also heard good things about Hethel but its a lot more expensive than a Walshy day.

You cant really go up to 100% on a trackday as there are still lots of things to hit whereas on an airfield you can go right up to the limit to see how the car behaves without fear of damaging your car.

My own dislike of airfields is that some of them are so bumpy they tend to jolt the car over the limit long before you actually get to the true limit through pure speed alone. At least that's been my experience in the stiffly sprung cars that I've ridden in around airfields such as Bruntingthorpe. However, I think that would be massively overshadowed by the teaching ability of someone like Andy and the insights that he can bring. I should also add that I've never driven on the airfield that he uses.

With regard to having nothing to hit, I would reccommend Bedford Autodrome for a first track day. I always drive at 100% on track, but I care greatly about my Elise so I've only ever done track days at Bedford. Oh, and the odd trip to the Nurburgring...

[TIPPER]

I'd look to spending some time at Carlimits to learn about how your car behaves at the limit and how to control it.
When you want to go on track join Lotus on Track. Great track days, no hooligans etc, etc. Good vfm too.
Bedford is great for a track novice as there is very little to hit (although I've seen it done!). I did my first three TDs there and now feel confident enough to start tackling some real tracks. LoT also has instructors available and they will help hone your driving skills as well as helping you get the lines right. I think LoT have their next Bedford day in November - just makes sure you don't have a noisy induction or exhaust as Bedford have very strict and rigidly enforced (one strike and you're out) limits.
Seloc in conjunction with LoT are also organising a novice evening at Brands in July (I think) - looks like it could also be a great introduction to track driving.