My car control day @ Finmere with Mazda on Track. 30/01/10
Discussion
This is pretty much a copy/paste from my review on Northloop, so the names aren`t relevant. The pictures tell the story anyway 
Short version. It was great fun, lots of messing around, nothing hit and is pretty cheap too.
http://www.mazdaontrack.co.uk/car-control-days-56-...
Loaded up Friday, that was interesting, I reckon there was 25mm clearance each side of the Nissan between the alloys and trailer sides
. Drove down to MK to stay with Simon, traffic was awful, what did I expect for a Friday night?
Short 30 min drive to Finmere then ready to unload the Nissan.
A guy came over and asked if he could borrow my footpump, no problem. He came back 5 minutes later having broken it. "sorry...."
Cup of coffee, sign on then time for the most relaxed Briefing I`ve ever been to :thumb:
"don`t crash and have fun" were basically the rules of the day.
Then is was time for some sighting laps behind Al (who drove the quickest signting laps I`ve ever done...), immediately after, we started on the `handling course`, I say handling, but it appeared almost everyone treated it as a drift course....
Alex had a check underneath after hitting the `bump` partcularly hard.
Initially, some people were struggling with understeer, including this guy who`d won this car in the Raffle @ Bovington.
cone collecting...
Cone removal team in operation
The Nissan was easy to drift.
Matty was having a great time.
There were spinners too.
Alex
Simon
Then, it started to come together.
Even Al had a play..
After a morning`s instruction, Helen took to the circuit
Jim had a go and understeered..
Alex was the first to destroy a tyre.
Smoke, we liked Smoke
Jim drove Ian`s car, and span..
When spinning, the general consensus was that keeping it pinned was a good idea
Darren all wired up.
Just before Lunch, Nick pointed out my rears were down past the canvas and to the metal. Whoops.
Fitted the spare pair of `fronts` to the back, up to 45psi and away we went.
Lou went out for a go on the short track, she span a couple of times, but managed to get the back out and then save it, so for here, that was job done and she was happy
We`d brought some portable burners, frying pans, bacon, eggs and bread for lunch. Surprisingly, a queue formed....
The afternoon was pretty much the same as the morning, lots of fun and wearing out of tyres.
Helen was giggling from the passenger seat as usual.
I knew the tyres were well worn, took Simon for a couple of runs. The last one and I managed to get the transition from left to right in one slide, best I`d done all day, I was chuffed. Went towards the finish line sideways when the rear tyre popped. Ah..
Day over, so I had a few great laps with Alex as he tried to destroy the rear tyres he`d been `loaned`...
Loaded up and left around 4:30pm, back home just under 3 hours later after an awesome day.
I`d definately recommend the day, the surface looked bad, but was actually OK, the tyre wear was higher than expected, I destroyed 4 part worn tyres in 22 miles. Most of that was sideways with the tyres smoking, but you are much better going with a set of cheap tyres on an event like this. You`ll have just as much fun. Organisation was very relaxed, so long as you didn`t look dangerous, you were left alone, with advice being offered when needed.
Catherine, who spent the morning in the X5, had the inverter plugged in. Unfortunately, just as we were ready to leave, I tried to start the X5 and the battery was Flat ! OH NO !! Fortunately, Alex had a booster Pack we could use.
I can understand why people keep using MoT, they are a great set of guys
Couple of videos from the Day, unfortunately, the stabilisation had been turned off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfcNIb1D5PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljkdof12Y-w
Short version. It was great fun, lots of messing around, nothing hit and is pretty cheap too.
http://www.mazdaontrack.co.uk/car-control-days-56-...
Loaded up Friday, that was interesting, I reckon there was 25mm clearance each side of the Nissan between the alloys and trailer sides
. Drove down to MK to stay with Simon, traffic was awful, what did I expect for a Friday night?Short 30 min drive to Finmere then ready to unload the Nissan.
A guy came over and asked if he could borrow my footpump, no problem. He came back 5 minutes later having broken it. "sorry...."
Cup of coffee, sign on then time for the most relaxed Briefing I`ve ever been to :thumb:
"don`t crash and have fun" were basically the rules of the day.
Then is was time for some sighting laps behind Al (who drove the quickest signting laps I`ve ever done...), immediately after, we started on the `handling course`, I say handling, but it appeared almost everyone treated it as a drift course....
Alex had a check underneath after hitting the `bump` partcularly hard.
Initially, some people were struggling with understeer, including this guy who`d won this car in the Raffle @ Bovington.
cone collecting...
Cone removal team in operation
The Nissan was easy to drift.
Matty was having a great time.
There were spinners too.
Alex
Simon
Then, it started to come together.
Even Al had a play..
After a morning`s instruction, Helen took to the circuit
Jim had a go and understeered..
Alex was the first to destroy a tyre.
Smoke, we liked Smoke
Jim drove Ian`s car, and span..
When spinning, the general consensus was that keeping it pinned was a good idea
Darren all wired up.
Just before Lunch, Nick pointed out my rears were down past the canvas and to the metal. Whoops.
Fitted the spare pair of `fronts` to the back, up to 45psi and away we went.
Lou went out for a go on the short track, she span a couple of times, but managed to get the back out and then save it, so for here, that was job done and she was happy
We`d brought some portable burners, frying pans, bacon, eggs and bread for lunch. Surprisingly, a queue formed....
The afternoon was pretty much the same as the morning, lots of fun and wearing out of tyres.
Helen was giggling from the passenger seat as usual.
I knew the tyres were well worn, took Simon for a couple of runs. The last one and I managed to get the transition from left to right in one slide, best I`d done all day, I was chuffed. Went towards the finish line sideways when the rear tyre popped. Ah..
Day over, so I had a few great laps with Alex as he tried to destroy the rear tyres he`d been `loaned`...
Loaded up and left around 4:30pm, back home just under 3 hours later after an awesome day.
I`d definately recommend the day, the surface looked bad, but was actually OK, the tyre wear was higher than expected, I destroyed 4 part worn tyres in 22 miles. Most of that was sideways with the tyres smoking, but you are much better going with a set of cheap tyres on an event like this. You`ll have just as much fun. Organisation was very relaxed, so long as you didn`t look dangerous, you were left alone, with advice being offered when needed.
Catherine, who spent the morning in the X5, had the inverter plugged in. Unfortunately, just as we were ready to leave, I tried to start the X5 and the battery was Flat ! OH NO !! Fortunately, Alex had a booster Pack we could use.
I can understand why people keep using MoT, they are a great set of guys
Couple of videos from the Day, unfortunately, the stabilisation had been turned off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfcNIb1D5PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljkdof12Y-w
Edited by Wh00sher on Sunday 31st January 13:39
Excellent report, and pictures.
Looks like you had a great fun day.
I'm still undecided about whether I'd enjoy using my P&J on a day there though.
Without appearing over protective, did any of the cone clipping or stone chipping cause any damage to the paintwork on your car?
Loving the yellow "thing" ... Skyline? Looks like a great fun car to play around in.
Looks like you had a great fun day.
I'm still undecided about whether I'd enjoy using my P&J on a day there though.
Without appearing over protective, did any of the cone clipping or stone chipping cause any damage to the paintwork on your car?
Loving the yellow "thing" ... Skyline? Looks like a great fun car to play around in.
Glad you enjoyed the report, I told you I`d report back as honestly as I could.
The Yellow `thing` was Al`s, who is half of Mazda on Track, he is a pretty good drifter too.
I didn`t notice any stone chips, but did suffer some slight scuffing on one sill where I ran over a cone, but that will polish out easily enough.
The surface isn`t perfect, I won`t pretend it is. HOWEVER, I would rather go there than back to Oulton. The Oulton surface is much less abrasive and tyre wear is Less, BUT, where the tarmac finishes, there are big drops where the dirt has been worn away, if you spin off there, you could easily damage something on the car.
I have emailed MSV about it and ended up speaking to a very helpful guy high up, but basically, they won`t spend money on it and until they do, I wouldn`t risk my P&J there again.
At least with the concrete surface at Finmere, there are no nasty surprises. Halfway round the `long` circuit is a dip in the tarmac, most drove over as if it wasn`t there, a couple who were apprehensive, just slowed for that part and treated the course as 2 parts, instead of tyring to link it into one.
Neither are perfect, but out of the 2, I`d choose Finmere next time. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I`m going to be booking another when I can source some more part worn tyres
The Yellow `thing` was Al`s, who is half of Mazda on Track, he is a pretty good drifter too.
I didn`t notice any stone chips, but did suffer some slight scuffing on one sill where I ran over a cone, but that will polish out easily enough.
The surface isn`t perfect, I won`t pretend it is. HOWEVER, I would rather go there than back to Oulton. The Oulton surface is much less abrasive and tyre wear is Less, BUT, where the tarmac finishes, there are big drops where the dirt has been worn away, if you spin off there, you could easily damage something on the car.
I have emailed MSV about it and ended up speaking to a very helpful guy high up, but basically, they won`t spend money on it and until they do, I wouldn`t risk my P&J there again.
At least with the concrete surface at Finmere, there are no nasty surprises. Halfway round the `long` circuit is a dip in the tarmac, most drove over as if it wasn`t there, a couple who were apprehensive, just slowed for that part and treated the course as 2 parts, instead of tyring to link it into one.
Neither are perfect, but out of the 2, I`d choose Finmere next time. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I`m going to be booking another when I can source some more part worn tyres
Interesting comparison with Oulton. Last time I was up there, I was watching some people lapping in their own cars, and noticed the drops and rutts off of the sides of the tarmac. There are a fwe of them that look very deep ... We witnessed a few exhaust sparks, and an inside of a wheel rim running round the edge of the road could do a lot of alloy and suspension damage.
mat205125 said:
Excellent report, and pictures.
Looks like you had a great fun day.
I'm still undecided about whether I'd enjoy using my P&J on a day there though.
Without appearing over protective, did any of the cone clipping or stone chipping cause any damage to the paintwork on your car?
Loving the yellow "thing" ... Skyline? Looks like a great fun car to play around in.
Nissan Silvia S13Looks like you had a great fun day.
I'm still undecided about whether I'd enjoy using my P&J on a day there though.
Without appearing over protective, did any of the cone clipping or stone chipping cause any damage to the paintwork on your car?
Loving the yellow "thing" ... Skyline? Looks like a great fun car to play around in.
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