Car limits days at North weald

[doneitnow]

Thinking of booking a day at the above, does anybody know if the surface is concrete or tarmac at North Weald?

[Phooey]

http://www.petrolheads.co.uk/xforums/topic.asp?h=0...

"North Weald murdered my tyres. Even at max pressure, it totally murdered them.

Car Limits predicted 1mm wear - it was more like 3mm, and totally ground-away the shoulders.

Great day though..."

[Wallsy]

Surface is concrete (see below), think 1mm applies to lightweights such as Caterfields/ Loti, etc.

I’d still rather lose 3mm from a set of tyres than lose the car (it’s saved me twice already, so well worth it).

[bridey0]

Phooey said:

http://www.petrolheads.co.uk/xforums/topic.asp?h=0...

"North Weald murdered my tyres. Even at max pressure, it totally murdered them.

Car Limits predicted 1mm wear - it was more like 3mm, and totally ground-away the shoulders.

Great day though..."

Great day learnt so much but got blowout on m25 on way home it does murder tyres

[ZeroH]

its a fun day but very abrasive and dusty surface that is really brutal on tyres.

[rubystone]

K

ZeroH said:

its a fun day but very abrasive and dusty surface that is really brutal on tyres.

+1 and the stone chips can be bad too...but reat way of learning the limits of your car.

[MagicalTrevor]

Hmm, I was soon to be booking something with CarLimits and now I'm a bit concerned about trashing the new tyres on my Elise. I realise this topic is in the Porsche section and the Elise won't be affected quite as much but it's still a concern.

Any alternatives?

[BobTurner]

I did it in my 3.2 on a foggy, cold, damp day in November - hardly noticed any wear, probably 1mm, and that included my fair share of spins. Would suggest that if you're worried about wear (and engine temps.; the auto test/ sprinty bit at the end can be hot work) just do it in the winter...

Well worth doing, AW is very good, obviously.

[doneitnow]

Thanks for all the replies guys. So what about the Rockingham day referred to in the other thread, anyone had any experience?

[MagicalTrevor]

The Rockingham wet grip day looks good but I think it's something that's organised by clubs rather than by Rockingham themselves. PH, for example, could arrange a wet grip day? Either privately or official through Garlick

[DMC2]

My advice, hire Andy's Elise for the day, saves your tyres and any stone chips. That's what I've always done.

[MagicalTrevor]

DMC2 said:

My advice, hire Andy's Elise for the day, saves your tyres and any stone chips. That's what I've always done.

What's the cost of doing that?

[J-P]

I did it in the GTS on a boiling hot day in April last year. My tyres definitely lost some tread but nowhere near 3mm - I'd say 1mm was accurate for me. I did max the tyre pressure though, having said that I think I must be quite gentle on tyres in general - I did the handling limits day and 2 track days and 11,500miles and still had 3-4mm of tread left!

Surface is concrete.

[paulmoonraker]

I did one last year there. Its an abrasive concrete surface, however, really you do your tyres on the circuits and not the high speed bend (which is what the morning starts with). The surface has quite a lot of loose st on it too which will stone chip your car.

[J-P]

paulmoonraker said:

I did one last year there. Its an abrasive concrete surface, however, really you do your tyres on the circuits and not the high speed bend (which is what the morning starts with). The surface has quite a lot of loose st on it too which will stone chip your car.

This is true - also driving style makes a big difference here - If you ignore understeer signals, it can have a huge impact - one of the guys there almost delaminated his front tyres and had to leave early as a consequence!

Fantastic day though - I enjoyed it and you can use what you've learned the second you leave! And as Andy will tell you by the end of the day, you'll be able to steer with wheel, brake and throttle, so no problem steering!

If you're keen on track driving though - nothing better than spending a day with track tuition. You really learn loads! I did one of those last year and it was the best money I've ever spent on learning to drive better!

Edited by J-P on Sunday 17th June 10:50

[paulmoonraker]

J-P said:

paulmoonraker said:

I did one last year there. Its an abrasive concrete surface, however, really you do your tyres on the circuits and not the high speed bend (which is what the morning starts with). The surface has quite a lot of loose st on it too which will stone chip your car.

This is true - also driving style makes a big difference here - If you ignore understeer signals, it can have a huge impact - one of the guys there almost delaminated his front tyres and had to leave early as a consequence!

My Impreza understeered badly that day. I was using my track day tyres which had little tread left, so I really struggled to grip on the loose surface. I was also just driving like a loon with little regard for skill, but a greater emphasis on making myself laugh like a chid...

It is fun, but I found myself driving totally different to how I would on a track day.

Edit,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9vLDNVB_Ks&sns...

My mate filmed some of the laps. The tyres were virtually slick at the end of the day. This was in January and it was a bit damp too!

Edited by paulmoonraker on Sunday 17th June 10:55

[J-P]

paulmoonraker said:

My Impreza understeered badly that day. I was using my track day tyres which had little tread left, so I really struggled to grip on the loose surface. I was also just driving like a loon with little regard for skill, but a greater emphasis on making myself laugh like a chid...

It is fun, but I found myself driving totally different to how I would on a track day.

Edit,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9vLDNVB_Ks&sns...

My mate filmed some of the laps. The tyres were virtually slick at the end of the day. This was in January and it was a bit damp too!

Edited by paulmoonraker on Sunday 17th June 10:55

Nice vid - looked like you were really struggling for front end grip!

[paulmoonraker]

J-P said:

Nice vid - looked like you were really struggling for front end grip!

Yep. Damp, worn tyres and plus you only do one lap at a time, so you can't really develop any heat in the tyre... Still, it's a laugh and you do learn some of the limits of you and the car... I got really carried away on the high speed bend (after some egging on from the instructor) and attempted it at 110mph. Anyway, I lost my bottle and mashed the brake as I started turning in, which resulted in a quality spin with plumes of smoke followed by a bumpy ride across the grass!

[J-P]

paulmoonraker said:

Yep. Damp, worn tyres and plus you only do one lap at a time, so you can't really develop any heat in the tyre... Still, it's a laugh and you do learn some of the limits of you and the car... I got really carried away on the high speed bend (after some egging on from the instructor) and attempted it at 110mph. Anyway, I lost my bottle and mashed the brake as I started turning in, which resulted in a quality spin with plumes of smoke followed by a bumpy ride across the grass!

110MPH!!! Thats about the fastest Andy has done it in a Caterham! I got to about 90MPH but under control - Any faster than that and I reckon I'd have lost it! Considering when I started the day I could get past 60MPH, that was pretty good!

[paulmoonraker]

The instructor jumped in on my 3rd go and said 'in this car, 90 easily'. So, off I went and pulled it off (in a fashion) with him in the car... So, next run - I just seemed to get all over confident and hammered it (the speed that old STi could achive was something). Anyway, as I turned in I realised I did not have the skill to pull this off, so, errrr, panic, brake How I spun, and how everybody cheered!!!