Goodwood this morning
Discussion
Popped into Goodwood this morning to view a very busy Focussed Events party,(should have been their, but sick car), loads of Porchces, Subis, and lotus, got to say the metalic maroon 911 turbo, was so fast up the straight in front of the stands, awesome acceleration, was very impressed, the noisy silver subi was also quick, albeit he spent most of the stands straight placating the DB noise officials. Any of those two PHers, An off in the first session by someone, (dont know who), seem to cheese off not only the FE guys, after apparently a long speech about the wet track, but also a few of the other drivers, who were either flagged off the track during this session, or delaid in comining on to the second session. Track had dried when I left, hope they all had a goodtime in the afternoon, so wanted to be out there!
ricky s said:
got to say the metalic maroon 911 turbo, was so fast up the straight in front of the stands, awesome acceleration, was very impressed
That'll be me then (he says with Obama levels of humility!) I have to say that the day was a bit of a disgrace. Four 10 min sessions with over an hour in between is not on. Loads of p1ssed of people I can tell you. My first time at Goodwood and if the track hadn't been so good I would be completely upset. Won't go there with FE again unless they have much less cars.Gez, great car fella, far so superior on that straight, surely thats not bog standard, what have you done to it. Got to agree with you in regard to the amount of cars today, as soon as I saw the queue, thought to many for a day even, a right """" up for my opinion. Been and seen 4 events by FE now, and thought they were very well organised, today, spectating with wifey, partly glad my car was sick, but still wanted to be out there. Loved to have been a pillion in your car for a session, so much torque out of that chicayne to the staight. Still think FE are good events, but prehaps this was not one of them for today. great circuit though.
I hope it was just a blip for FE. I've never done a car day with them before but have done loads of bike days with them and they are normally very good. It's fair to say Kevin didn't look to happy himself and I hope he'll be thinking about what to do for the next one there because that format with that many cars is not workable.
Now I need to go and right a letter to Santa for some new brakes because mine were toasted after three or so laps. The pedal was going to the floor when I pulled in on the cooling down lap!
Now I need to go and right a letter to Santa for some new brakes because mine were toasted after three or so laps. The pedal was going to the floor when I pulled in on the cooling down lap!
Edited by _gez_ on Saturday 10th October 20:05
How many cars were there then? Normally on a 105db day you get 25 cars max, which gets you minimum 3 sessions morning and again in the afternon, and sometimes four if you get lucky. Sounds like they oversold? Though iirc, it was quite cheap wasn't it, so they would have had to oversell the spaces.
I,d agree, the time spent on the track was very poor for those attending, sure other attendents will shortly voice their opinions, all pro rata the cost, hell it was a whole day for very minimal time out there! Constructive liaison relayed to Kevin at FE, am sure will be taken on board and acted on for the future. Gez thanks for the PM, look forward to seeing you out there again, in fact will make a point of hunting you down, to see what you do next.
I spoke to Kevin and voiced my disapproval in no uncertain terms, he said he was unaware of the running order and was not advised correctly of how the day could be best approached, as the TDO surely this is what we are paying him for no?; I would sooner have paid 50% more and had double the track time - it was a shambles, end of 
It was the 11th time that I have attended this track ( it is the nearest to my home ) and I shared the car with my daughter and treated her to her first track experience. I will not use Focused Events again. If you stick with booking days at Goodwood through the GRRC you can't go wrong; the last day that I attended there I covered over 250 miles! where as I only covered 70 odd today, piss poor show, you have been warned.
It was the 11th time that I have attended this track ( it is the nearest to my home ) and I shared the car with my daughter and treated her to her first track experience. I will not use Focused Events again. If you stick with booking days at Goodwood through the GRRC you can't go wrong; the last day that I attended there I covered over 250 miles! where as I only covered 70 odd today, piss poor show, you have been warned.
Edited by GTWayne on Saturday 10th October 20:23
Hi everyone. I was there as well and agree it was not the best day with Focused. However i did speak to Kevin and he was pretty fed up with the day as well. He agreed that he should have charged more and got it wrong on this occasion, but it was only the 2nd time they had been there, the previous having been a 98db day. He said if Focused went back it would be significantly more expensive but would only run 25 cars. I also think that the amount of 2nd drivers was having an effect on drivers and i mentioned that to a few of them. At the end of the day we all knew that it would be short sessions and if we bring 2nd drivers then we are halving our time...thats why i was team sad B-----D and on my own. I thought he was a pretty fair bloke to be honest who admitted that he got it wrong, and bearing in mind he did'nt get it wrong and charge me £350, then a lesson learned for us all. Goodwood on 105db at £199 is too cheap. And although i heard a fair amount of moaning, they wer'nt moaning about the price !. this fella has been in the business for over 15 years and having surfed around before i booked, all i heard was praise for Focused..i will definetly give them a go again, and then we will see. At least the sky was blue and actually i manage 6 sessions, which was not that bad, glad i hung on to the end
And as wayne covered 70 odd miles, he must have 6 sessions as well at 2.4 miles a lap, and 5 laps and in, unless of course he was doing laps at around 1 minute 25... and its interesting to note that he would have paid 50% more and had double the tracktime.....hmmmm suggest you get your calculator out my friend, double the tracktime would have cost you twice as much....the thing here is that as usual in this country we are too quick to hang someone who is making it happen, he might have got it wrong today, but give him a chance, i have just had a look on their website, and it looks pretty good to me, and i thought the guy to be fair, honest and ready to admit his mistake, proves he'd never make a good MP i reckon.
And as wayne covered 70 odd miles, he must have 6 sessions as well at 2.4 miles a lap, and 5 laps and in, unless of course he was doing laps at around 1 minute 25... and its interesting to note that he would have paid 50% more and had double the tracktime.....hmmmm suggest you get your calculator out my friend, double the tracktime would have cost you twice as much....the thing here is that as usual in this country we are too quick to hang someone who is making it happen, he might have got it wrong today, but give him a chance, i have just had a look on their website, and it looks pretty good to me, and i thought the guy to be fair, honest and ready to admit his mistake, proves he'd never make a good MP i reckon.Edited by 944owner on Saturday 10th October 20:51
Edited by 944owner on Saturday 10th October 20:59
Edited by 944owner on Saturday 10th October 21:11
Well, I stayed until the end and only got 4 sessions. I think I was 3rd session out in the morning. Now, I know the "snake" is a Goodwood thing but that was another negative. Having to stay with your car and "shuffle" it along every 10 mins is a complete bind and, I think, unnecessary. "Normal" groups would have worked and, as I was told by others that have attended Goodwood with other organisers, does work. What if you have to nip off for fuel? You lose your place?? As I said earlier FE are not a bad company but they need to have a serious rethink for their next event at Goodwood.
Hi gez, well i was in the 1st and last sessions, but then i am always 1st on an easyjet flight as well....yes i agree with your comments, although the marshals told me they use the snake a lot there, i agree that i did'nt like it and Kevin told me he would'nt use it again and would do groups.
944owner said:
...as wayne covered 70 odd miles, he must have 6 sessions as well...
Sorry my mistake, that was including the mileage from my house and back 
You are indeed correct, Kevin did kind of hold his hands up and admit that things will be different if and when he rents the venue next time but in all fairness, that still falls short of a satisfactory day at the Wood.
Well wayne, its interesting to note that you choose to bend the truth, and now your backpeddling to try and give the guy a hard time (in my view).... just had a look at your profile as well and to be honest i would be remeasuring any work you did for me, just to make sure the quantities were correct, and i was'nt being overcharged. I can see why you had a bad day as you admitted to having the a second driver as well, which has halved your time....sorry to feel that it was a bad day for you, because as i said the sky was blue and i was having fun anyway
Well I was there today, first time at Goodwood. Great track which has real depth, but I was there all day and only had 3 sessions, which was disappointing. The fosussed events instructor however was one of the best I have had for a long time. I think they could have offered some sort of compensation or discount on the next booking just to show that they accepted some sort of responsibility
Edited by silver7 on Saturday 10th October 22:11
Well i would agree if i had paid £350, which is apparently the norm, but we did'nt. And i was there at 730am and organised, unlike others who rolled in after the briefing. I am just glad others were not as organised as i was. However i think its a bit rich asking for a refund or compensation, when to be honest we got a bit of an easyjet day instead of an BA day. We all know you get what you pay for and thats what we got. I do think though it was a mistake on their behalf, but he did not try to overcharge us for it. It was to me an obvious mistake, and most people make those. At the end of the day, you did'nt get the track time you hoped for, but then you wer'nt charged for it either !
I think you are missing the point. If you oversell a day which means people don't get a reasonable amount of track time then the organiser should take responsibility. We all make mistakes but if a small discount on the next booking was offered people would have at least felt some effort was being made and that were being listened to.
The day was cheap but don't forget it also costs for people to get to the track etc, 30 minutes track time and taking all day is not ideal in anyones book. By the time the tyres are up to temp and you are the groove you have 3 laps left and then have to wait hours to do it again.
I was there at 745 but didn't realise about the queue until briefing time as it was my first time at Goodwood. It just seems a shame for the organiser to lose potential customers and upset existing ones by handling the situation poorly.
The day was cheap but don't forget it also costs for people to get to the track etc, 30 minutes track time and taking all day is not ideal in anyones book. By the time the tyres are up to temp and you are the groove you have 3 laps left and then have to wait hours to do it again.
I was there at 745 but didn't realise about the queue until briefing time as it was my first time at Goodwood. It just seems a shame for the organiser to lose potential customers and upset existing ones by handling the situation poorly.
944owner said:
Well wayne, its interesting to note that you choose to bend the truth, and now your backpeddling to try and give the guy a hard time (in my view)...and a load of other old guff...
Confessing that I made a mistake in my odometer reading is hardly 'bending the truth' is it?, more like straightening ( in my view ) 
The 'backpedaling' you refer to was actually a re-consideration and summation of the man himself prompted by reflecting on the remarks you yourself made.
I frequent Goodwood on a regular basis, should you ever see me there be sure to come and introduce yourself, I would like to make your acquaintance
944owner said:
Well i had not been there until today, but asking the marshal who was running the noise check, he said that they don't run open pitlane normally, its usually sessions of some sorts due to the noise issues they have. Can anybody else advise us ?
Goodwood only ever run sessions as they have strict noise limits set by the local council. They run two types of days - 98db with 10 cars out at a time, and 105db with 5 cars out at a time. Never an OPL in the true meaning as the noise outweighs all other considerations.Sorry but you lot whinging didn't do your homework. £199 for a day at Goodwood means there is a catch. I do Goodwood all the time with GRRC and the circuit organisers and it's a £310 day every time, unless it's during the winter when the track closes at 4pm, so the price is accordingly less. If something seems like a bargain, there is always a reason or a catch, and at Goodwood it will always be numbers.
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