My first trackday in the T350 - she performed brilliantly!
Discussion
Well guys I finally took the plunge yesterday and went along to a 'open pit lane' track day at Castle Combe. It was being run by the Audi TT Owners club who I still have connections with from my TT owning days. There were a few other cars there owning to people who had TT's at some point in the past. A M3 CSL, Porsche GT3, A few elises, a few RS4's, an S3 and a RS6.
It was mainly a novice track day, allowing me to get used to the car and feel for it's limits without any pressure from advanced trackers. I did 6, 5 lap sessions, the first session with an instructor who tought me about feeding the power in and which lines to take. It really is enlightening to kow how I should be driving the T350 compared to how I thought I should be driving it! It's all about STEADY delivery of the power, not fighting the steering and allowing the car to smoothly move along the lines of the track.
When we got there it was quite cold, but the track was dry, so i did 2 sessions, before a nasty fog came down and made the track quite slippy and too dangerous for my inexperienced liking.. At this point I came off and spectated. Over lunch the sun appeared and dried out the track, which was perfect as the afternoon session was bone dry allowing me to really explore the limits of the car safely!
The good thing about your 'open pit lane' format is you can go on and come off when YOU want. So if you think the track is going too fast or you do not feel safe, you can exit when you like. You are not bundled in with a load of other cars, so you can pick and chose when YOU want to go out.
That is exaclty what I did on the first afternoon session. I was still getting used to the car and all of a suddent here were quite a few cars around me, so i backed off and came of, then waited till the track was quieter before I went back on again.
If anybody is thinking about doing a track day for the first time, the only thing I can say is DO IT! Find a novice track day some where with an open pit lane It has helped me learn so much about the tiv and has helped with my confidence of driving the car, but in a way that not forgetting that these cars bite!
The T350 performed brilliantly and drove without any problems! The only slight problem I had was keeping the oil tempreture high enough. The ambient tempreture was cold so the tiv was being too effieicnt and the cold air was cooling the oil quite quickly!
Here's a pic taken by a prof photographer they hired for the day, who was selling the pics afterwards
It was mainly a novice track day, allowing me to get used to the car and feel for it's limits without any pressure from advanced trackers. I did 6, 5 lap sessions, the first session with an instructor who tought me about feeding the power in and which lines to take. It really is enlightening to kow how I should be driving the T350 compared to how I thought I should be driving it! It's all about STEADY delivery of the power, not fighting the steering and allowing the car to smoothly move along the lines of the track.
When we got there it was quite cold, but the track was dry, so i did 2 sessions, before a nasty fog came down and made the track quite slippy and too dangerous for my inexperienced liking.. At this point I came off and spectated. Over lunch the sun appeared and dried out the track, which was perfect as the afternoon session was bone dry allowing me to really explore the limits of the car safely!
The good thing about your 'open pit lane' format is you can go on and come off when YOU want. So if you think the track is going too fast or you do not feel safe, you can exit when you like. You are not bundled in with a load of other cars, so you can pick and chose when YOU want to go out.
That is exaclty what I did on the first afternoon session. I was still getting used to the car and all of a suddent here were quite a few cars around me, so i backed off and came of, then waited till the track was quieter before I went back on again.
If anybody is thinking about doing a track day for the first time, the only thing I can say is DO IT! Find a novice track day some where with an open pit lane It has helped me learn so much about the tiv and has helped with my confidence of driving the car, but in a way that not forgetting that these cars bite!
The T350 performed brilliantly and drove without any problems! The only slight problem I had was keeping the oil tempreture high enough. The ambient tempreture was cold so the tiv was being too effieicnt and the cold air was cooling the oil quite quickly!
Here's a pic taken by a prof photographer they hired for the day, who was selling the pics afterwards
Nice one Kev. Glad you enjoyed it.
Sounds like the oil probably kept up to temp if you were ragging around CC, just the temp sender reporting lower temps (some say due its position). I, like most people suspect the real oil temp stays up there (after all the engine is hot and being driven hard, so why would the oil temp drop?).
How did it hold up against some of those tuned TTs?
Make sure you come along to the TVRCC days at Cadwell and Oulton - as I'll be doing those.
T/.
Sounds like the oil probably kept up to temp if you were ragging around CC, just the temp sender reporting lower temps (some say due its position). I, like most people suspect the real oil temp stays up there (after all the engine is hot and being driven hard, so why would the oil temp drop?).
How did it hold up against some of those tuned TTs?
Make sure you come along to the TVRCC days at Cadwell and Oulton - as I'll be doing those.
T/.
targarama said:
Sounds like the oil probably kept up to temp if you were ragging around CC, just the temp sender reporting lower temps (some say due its position). I, like most people suspect the real oil temp stays up there (after all the engine is hot and being driven hard, so why would the oil temp drop?).
Thats what a few of the guys who were there said. In the morning when it was cold, I was going on the track with a 75 deg oil temp and I was lucky to get 2 laps in before it had fallen below 60 degs again! So I slowed right down a lap to let it get back up and then set off again. A bit infuriating, but rather that than have the Castle Combe circuit decorated in a nice collection S6 engine pieces and fluids! lol
targarama said:
How did it hold up against some of those tuned TTs?
To be honest I have no idea. The track was nice and quiet, so nearly all my sessions I was on my own in the section of teh track i was using. Others were using the track but I think the maximum cars on at one time was about 6 or 7 out of a possible 12 max, so we were all scattered about. On teh long straight I did manage to pull away easily from most things behind me though. I used it as more of a learning excercise to learn the cars limits, rahter than have friendly competition.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Kevin, ive been toying with the idea, but not too sure if i'd feel too guilty for ragging her too much!
Had my suspicions about the oil temp reading. My old T350 03 oil temp was always high but the new 55 reg, at this time of year on the motorway i cant get it above 40deg C even after an hours driving. Your not seriously telling me that the oil temp in the engine is this low surely especially when water sits at 90 constantly
Maxx-Waxx (nickfb1)
Had my suspicions about the oil temp reading. My old T350 03 oil temp was always high but the new 55 reg, at this time of year on the motorway i cant get it above 40deg C even after an hours driving. Your not seriously telling me that the oil temp in the engine is this low surely especially when water sits at 90 constantly
Maxx-Waxx (nickfb1)
maxx-waxx said:
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Kevin, ive been toying with the idea, but not too sure if i'd feel too guilty for ragging her too much!)
No 'ragging' was involved, and if you get taught properly, you won't need to either.
At the end of the day this is my everyday car which I am paying for, so there was no chance of mistreating her or the S6! Once the instructor had showed me how to feed in the power and use the bends/lines to carry the max possible speed, this eliminated all the tyre squeel you would normally expect to hear, and allowed me to drive the car in a comfortable manor without the need to 'rag' the tyres or bounce of the limiter etc.
Get on a track day mate, it's the best thing I could have done to learn about the car.
I'm doing another track day at Donnington Park next Sunday, the 26th. I did one last April at Oulton Park. It's was obviously a little warmer then. I had no issues with cold oil. In fact I was getting warning's as it kept tipping 100C, as did the water.
There's still places left at Donnington for £99 if anyone else fancies it?
Did you take out track day insurance, or does your policy cover it already?
I took some out last time. It is very expensive for a one day policy. Don't expect any change out of £200, with an excess of 10% of the value of the car.
There's still places left at Donnington for £99 if anyone else fancies it?
Did you take out track day insurance, or does your policy cover it already?
I took some out last time. It is very expensive for a one day policy. Don't expect any change out of £200, with an excess of 10% of the value of the car.
the car in that colour, as ever, looks fantastic. Glad you enjoyed the day and I'm sure you'll get the trackday bug now. They are addictive. As long as you avoid the red mist (I have to be very careful when I'm on track with M3s and 911's or ferraris for that matter) I'm sure you'll keep the car out of the kitty litter too.
In my opinion the greatest track in the UK is Brands hatch GP (ie the full circuit not the short 'indy' loop). It's a staggeringly exciting place to drive round and if you're an old F1 fan, it's hallowed ground. Silverstone GP (again the full circuit) is worth it for transforming the way you watch the in car f1 footage alone. You simply won't believe how fast an F1 car can corner until you try the circuit yourself. Then watch it on tv and prepare to have your flabber well and truly ghasted. Both the above tracks are expensive though. In peak times they'll want over 250 notes for a day.
Snetterton is a good track at more reasonable money and has a very long straight where you can unleash the S6 properly. It does have a few tricky corners which I still haven't got the hang of but it's a decent track. Donington's another corker but can also be tricky in places and unlike the other tracks is better in national format (ie not GP) as they miss out the fiddly melbourne loop. Brands is like a training ground for the Nurburgring!
In my opinion the greatest track in the UK is Brands hatch GP (ie the full circuit not the short 'indy' loop). It's a staggeringly exciting place to drive round and if you're an old F1 fan, it's hallowed ground. Silverstone GP (again the full circuit) is worth it for transforming the way you watch the in car f1 footage alone. You simply won't believe how fast an F1 car can corner until you try the circuit yourself. Then watch it on tv and prepare to have your flabber well and truly ghasted. Both the above tracks are expensive though. In peak times they'll want over 250 notes for a day.
Snetterton is a good track at more reasonable money and has a very long straight where you can unleash the S6 properly. It does have a few tricky corners which I still haven't got the hang of but it's a decent track. Donington's another corker but can also be tricky in places and unlike the other tracks is better in national format (ie not GP) as they miss out the fiddly melbourne loop. Brands is like a training ground for the Nurburgring!
Ahh.. I was the dude in the brown leather jacket there with a tall thin girl, poking around the T350 for a bit .
Nice car.
I meant to point out to you, there was a screw lying around which wasn't screwed into anything lying in the 'engine area' (sorry I can't be more specific!). It was on the driver's side, right where I would expect the bonnet to latch down (ie at the top of the engine bay, at the back-right driver's side corner of the bonnet opening). In the end I just figured that was normal for TVR ownership.. (just kidding
)
Russell
. Nice car.
I meant to point out to you, there was a screw lying around which wasn't screwed into anything lying in the 'engine area' (sorry I can't be more specific!). It was on the driver's side, right where I would expect the bonnet to latch down (ie at the top of the engine bay, at the back-right driver's side corner of the bonnet opening). In the end I just figured that was normal for TVR ownership.. (just kidding
) Russell
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