Car Limits Activity day Sunday 22/02/09

[Green George]

Car Limits are running an activity day next Sunday (22/02) at North Weald in Essex for £46 for the full day. Is anyone else from here going along?

[unclegrouch]

I saw that one last night, doesn't look as if there's many entries yet ! Isn't that the one that states n.b. "AW not present" ? Not sure who's running the training that day but I guess with AW absent it's less popular.

Still quite tempted to take my old animal there, if only for the amusement ;-)

what's the deal with passengers at these carlimits days? I see most of the people who have booked have got a passenger, are they only allowed to spectate or can they use some of "my time" to play with the car ?

Edited by unclegrouch on Sunday 15th February 14:33

[Green George]

I checked at the time of booking and the cost is per car. So two of you car share the driving.

[unclegrouch]

Sounds good to me George, although if my passenger isn't permitted to have a go, it's still a day out & he can laugh at me when it all goes pear shaped

Presume you're taking the MX are ya ? Looking at previous events, there seems to be a wide variety of cars so even though mine it a bit on the heavy side & more a cruiser than housefly, i think it will be fun to try it out.

Will check my workload tomorrow & probably book it :-) Hope to see you there.

[Green George]

[quote=unclegrouch]Presume you're taking the MX are ya ?quote]

No I will be there in a friend's Monaro, which should be amusing.
Hopefully will see you there.

George

[Chris71]

Would do if I was around. Did the event a couple of weeks back and it was superb value for money and great fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

This day only went live recently. All 220 of our other days at north weald were up a year ago.
Sorry I cant make it I am going to be somewhere warmer
For those that have been a few times before.
Darren will be running the day, I will let him tell you how good he is but he has won a few championships.
Robert will be marshaling the other circuit in the afternoon.
If anyone does have a question on the day that either of the instructors cant answer I will be phoned, to explain from my sun lounger.

[dan_t]

Shame I've only just spotted this! Any idea what kind of track layouts they do? I know speed will depends on car but rough idea? 100mph? 50mph?

If the other half wasn't working I might have been able to blag this as me taking her out for the day lol

[Green George]

dan_t said:

Shame I've only just spotted this! Any idea what kind of track layouts they do? I know speed will depends on car but rough idea? 100mph? 50mph?

Hi Dan

The morning is spent on a left hand bend which consists of a narrow lane onto the runway. There is a acco type drain down the centre of the runway which is an imaginary wall which is NOT to be crossed! Unless going backwards enveloped in expensive tyre smoke... Entry speed vary between 65 - 75 (for the majority of people) although the fastest (successful) entry speed is apparently 104 mph! By successful, I mean that the car got through the bend without spinning.
It is a technical exercise and there is alot to be learned; and also calms everyone down for the two or three circuits. A lie detector in the form of a radar gun is regularly used when drivers are a little optimistic and normally culminates in more spectacular spins as the drivers actually try to do the speeds they have quoted to Andy!

Circuit 1 is run on the runway and is very open with only bare minimum of necessary cones marking the course. This is a predominantly 2nd and 3rd gear course and is lot of fun. It is a great place to hone your skills. My car is a Mzda MX5 1.8i and I normally do this in about 1.08 to 1.09. Elise's do this in about 1.04ish although they do approach the minute mark if well driven.

Circuit 2 is a more technical (and shorter) course and the layout can vary due to the conditon of some of the tarmac. The key to a really quick time seems is a slick handbrake turn. I normally do this in about 54 seconds and gain the Elises are closer to 50 seconds.

Circuit 3 is I belive the MSA Sprint course and is the longest course which loosely combines both circuits and uses the left hand bend from the morning with the full width of the runway available to you. It is very fast and at times character building! Not really sure about the times for this circuit as I have only used it once or twice.

Hope this helps.

George

Edited by Green George on Thursday 19th February 18:15

[dan_t]

Sounds pretty fun especially for the money spent - I'd have issues with the hand brake but I wouldnt be there to try and set any records either so wouldnt be a problem. That and learning to grab 1st gear on occasion! - first car I've had thats got no lock-out on first gear, and also first car thats soo long a geared you need first as well lol

I can't see I'll be able to do this one but may well put my name down for one later on in the year

[unclegrouch]

Just had another look at the 10 confirmed bookings ..... looks like a club Lotus meeting Is it worth going in a lardy old GTO

re: the other thread, apparently my poor old girl is about do dissasemble itself & is far too lardy & soft

[Green George]

unclegrouch said:

Just had another look at the 10 confirmed bookings ..... looks like a club Lotus meeting Is it worth going in a lardy old GTO

re: the other thread, apparently my poor old girl is about do dissasemble itself & is far too lardy & soft

Come along, you will have fun and learn a little as well, in a safe environment with like minded individuals.

[Chris71]

unclegrouch said:

Just had another look at the 10 confirmed bookings ..... looks like a club Lotus meeting Is it worth going in a lardy old GTO

Yes, it's definitely worth going.

Can't deny the Lotus presence is a bit overwhelming though. Virtually everyone else there when I went was a SELOC memeber. They all knew eachother and had done it before. Everyone had their nicknames down on the board, except after my first go at the main circuit my time registered simply as 'TVR - worst so far'.

After that I left the Lotus boys to it and went over to the tighter circuit which was virtually deserted and lapped it almost uninterupted until the end of the day.

[SFV]

I'll be coming along to this in my Z4. Interested to see how it reacts with the traction control switched off, which is not something I can practice freely on the roads. See you there

[dobbie]

I will be there in a TVR.should be a laugh.

[unclegrouch]

Well, might as well give it a shot, at worst you can all have a laugh at my lardy old GTO

ETA.... too late by the looks of it Will book earlier next time, I had to leave it until the last minute this time to see how work panned out today.

Have fun everyone

Edited by unclegrouch on Saturday 21st February 14:06

[git-r]

This is a fantastic day and has many different aspects to enjoy!

You can learn your car/drift/go for lap times all in a muc safer environment than a trackday

Very highly recommended!!

I'll be there in my skyline aiming to completely destroy my back tires

Going to take my video camera and hopefully my friends HD one too..

Can't wait

Cheers all,

Sam

[unclegrouch]

Shame i can't get to it this time Sam, would have loved to see the GTR do it's stuff. Next time maybe

[git-r]

What a great day!!

I turned up just in time to get 1 go at the high speed left hander and managed to keep my resulting drift going for at least 1 mm of tread;).. Was then happy to find we were going to do the 2 timed circuits from about 11-12. I had the most fun on these tracks! I only did a few timed runs as i was too busy 'learning' my cars (and my) limits.. Managed to make my tires last till 3.40 so job well done;)

Met a few of you - didn't catch your names in the Monaro, nice to meet Ewan and thanks for the spin in your lovely Z4! I've put the vids of your passenger lap in my car and my passenger lap in your car below... Hope this is ok..

Was it another win for the Elise boys?? -wouldn't surpise me!

CHeers all,

Sam

VID-me failing to do 1 set of corners without spinning;(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZM0E2kbbc