Jonothan Palmer Race Day
Discussion
Had the pleasure of spending the day at Bedford Aerodrome on Monday on a race day and what a fantastic time.
Started with single seaters which are very quick, very hard and great fun. Felt like a proper F1 driver albeit my telemetary was somewhat different to a pro.
Then onto Jaguar Le Mans 2 seater with sequential gearbox (no clutch on way up, clutch on way down. Very quick. Why do the instructors ignore brake boards. I've still got "power on, power on" ringing in my ears.
GoKarts next. Slideing all over the place, even on the straights, and my wrists are still killing me.
350Z round a short track with lot's of hairpins. Basically the idea was to drift it and kick up as much smoke as possible. Horrible car with treacle for suspension. I spun out on every lap.
Clio with sequential gearbox on same track. Much more fun but I must remember forward on the stick means dropping down a gear. Whoops, here comes the valve bounce.
Nissan 4x4 over a good course bouncing tennis balls off the mirrors and centre of windscreen.
Caterham pusuit on 2 identical tracks. Won my shootout 3-0. Don't those things squirm under hard acceleration in 1st.
Very nice lunch and then onto
Porsche C2 and general consensus was this was the best event of the day. Did pretty well but ended up on the grass on a couple of occassions. Lifting off the throttle at 100 mph in mid bend is not the way to do it. Interestingly, the cars were all Tiptronic. They must be quicker or something. They'ed coverted the steering wheel buttons to flappy paddles but basically a stripped out standard car with roll cage.
Last event was Caterhams on a shortish track. Mega fun and only one spin but if you get the corners right you can really get the power down early and not do a 360.
Fantastic day which I would thouroughly recommend and I'll be back next year to shave a few seconds off my lap times.
Started with single seaters which are very quick, very hard and great fun. Felt like a proper F1 driver albeit my telemetary was somewhat different to a pro.
Then onto Jaguar Le Mans 2 seater with sequential gearbox (no clutch on way up, clutch on way down. Very quick. Why do the instructors ignore brake boards. I've still got "power on, power on" ringing in my ears.
GoKarts next. Slideing all over the place, even on the straights, and my wrists are still killing me.
350Z round a short track with lot's of hairpins. Basically the idea was to drift it and kick up as much smoke as possible. Horrible car with treacle for suspension. I spun out on every lap.
Clio with sequential gearbox on same track. Much more fun but I must remember forward on the stick means dropping down a gear. Whoops, here comes the valve bounce.
Nissan 4x4 over a good course bouncing tennis balls off the mirrors and centre of windscreen.
Caterham pusuit on 2 identical tracks. Won my shootout 3-0. Don't those things squirm under hard acceleration in 1st.
Very nice lunch and then onto
Porsche C2 and general consensus was this was the best event of the day. Did pretty well but ended up on the grass on a couple of occassions. Lifting off the throttle at 100 mph in mid bend is not the way to do it. Interestingly, the cars were all Tiptronic. They must be quicker or something. They'ed coverted the steering wheel buttons to flappy paddles but basically a stripped out standard car with roll cage.
Last event was Caterhams on a shortish track. Mega fun and only one spin but if you get the corners right you can really get the power down early and not do a 360.
Fantastic day which I would thouroughly recommend and I'll be back next year to shave a few seconds off my lap times.
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