RAF Marham April 2012 trackday weekend

[B'stard Child]

From the Organisers

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is with great pleasure that we can announce our next charity track event, which is scheduled for the weekend of 28-29th April 2012.

The website has since undergone a complete redesign by the kind folk at MPR IT Solutions, who have not charged us for their services! We can't thank them enough for their work!

Now that we have a confirmed date, we can extend an invite to you and all of your members to attend our event.

We on the track day team have listen very carefully to all of your suggestions over the years and we are pleased to announce a number of improvements to our event.

The first change is the new Marham Track Days Website. This website will have all the usual facilities for booking and paying (PayPal) for entry. PLEASE DO NOT SEND CHEQUES ANYMORE. The website will also contain all driving information, maps, photos of past events and FAQs. No need for moderators to collect details anymore. We will take all the info we need from our website.

The major change is to the format of the day. For the first time in our 7 year history we will be changing the track direction half way through the day (lunch break). This means that you get 2 TRACKS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!! This should help out with tyre, suspension and brake wear too.

Prices are unchanged for 2012 at £60 per car and first driver. £10 for each additional person, up to a MAXIMUM OF 4 People in any vehicle. If you book the whole weekend your passengers come free on the second day.

E.g. Car + Driver = £60
+3 passengers = Total = £90 for one day

If coming for two days
Car + Driver = £120
+3 passengers = Total = £150 for the whole weekend saving £30

We have 180 car places per day, 360 places in total.

The website can be found at www.marhamtrackday.co.uk

The payment side of things is being finalised as we speak, and should be available to accept money very soon. Once this is working I will send out another email to inform you all of this.

We can't take any bookings until then and won't take any details over the phone or by email. Website entries/payment only.

If you have any questions or queries, please get in touch with either myself or George Denman, by emailing us at adminATmarhamtrackdayDOTcoDOTuk Or via phone on 01760 337261 x6514 or x7146.

We have a couple of other new ideas in the pipeline which I'll give you more details on at a later date.

Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you in April!!!!!

Rob Swanson

[7litrebig]

A bit of a silly question, but...

How high are the speed bumps at the Marham entrance? - my Ultima is low and much as I'd love to attend another Marham track day I don't really want to leave the front splitter at the gate!

Cheers
Paul

[kg55]

Trailer or get a 7.5t truck with a tail lift thats what we use no problem

[B'stard Child]

7litrebig said:

A bit of a silly question, but...

How high are the speed bumps at the Marham entrance? - my Ultima is low and much as I'd love to attend another Marham track day I don't really want to leave the front splitter at the gate!

Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul

I'm hoping someone from the admin team at Marham will provide an answer - I haven't been on base for a year now and things sometimes do change - from memory the bumps tend to be long and flat topped and in sections of roadway where you can snake over them with zig-zag approach if you understand what I mean.

Fully loaded down with 8 wheels (with tyres), tools, 50L of fuel in cans, 5L of coolant, 5L of Oil, 1L of brake fluid, trolley jack, two axle stands, safety helmet, cameras and lenses, and plenty of spare warm clothing my lowest point on the car is the mid box and I reckon I have a max of 3 inches clearance and I zig-zag across them don't make regular contact

Example below from back in 2004 when I only used to take 4 spare wheels and tyres...... (My packing skills have improved considerably - they needed to)



We've had Ultimas on the track days before without issues that I am aware of.....

[7litrebig]

B'stard Child said:

Hi Paul

I'm hoping someone from the admin team at Marham will provide an answer......from memory the bumps tend to be long and flat topped and in sections of roadway where you can snake over them with zig-zag approach if you understand what I mean.....We've had Ultimas on the track days before without issues that I am aware of.....

Yeah - not to worry - I can bring a couple of lengths of 4X2 as a little helper if need be Not a fan of trailering her about - built to be driven, thrashed, then driven home!..... as long as I don't break anything!

[rtv]

Paul.

I'll do some measuring of speed bumps and get back to you mate.

Rob.

[B'stard Child]

rtv said:

Paul.

I'll do some measuring of speed bumps and get back to you mate.

Rob.

See I knew someone would be along shortly - Thanks Rob

[2woody]

they are pretty tall from memory.

I'm sure that someone from the station could shepherd you around them - just at the start and end of the day, perhaps ?

[garyfrogeye]

My frogeye's exhaust scrapes the bump at the gate so they must be fairly high.

[dom187]

Hi Folks, I am looking to do something like this so I can learn abit more about my 350z. Got a few questions (if this is the right place).

Will the track be swept prior to the event to reduce stone chips?

Am I guaranteed to need some new tyres before the drive home? I know alot of this is solely down to how you drive the car.

Is there alot of road cars at the event?

Basic equipment I will need, fitted fire extinguisher, helmet, new pants! Anything else?

[B'stard Child]

dom187 said:

Hi Folks, I am looking to do something like this so I can learn abit more about my 350z. Got a few questions (if this is the right place).

I'll start the replies off.....

dom187 said:

Will the track be swept prior to the event to reduce stone chips?

Marham used to have a reputation for being very chippy despite surface sweeping etc before the event but year before last they got some new kit and boy did it make a difference - in a stripped out car with no carpets it's very obvious when there are a lot of small stones about even with a safety helmet on but I didn't hear much at all

However Marham has huge space on track to accomodate a lot of cars and two long wide straights so do your overtakes there and give the car ahead plenty of room and you won't have problems in my opinion

IF you sit up the backside of other cars on any circuit you can expect to get a dose of gravel rash - Marham is no different

If you want to protect the front edge of the car - wax polish the front before the event and use a close matching colour duct tape - it'll come of easily then but provide good protection

dom187 said:

Am I guaranteed to need some new tyres before the drive home? I know alot of this is solely down to how you drive the car.

Majority of the circuit is very very grippy and consequently abrasive on tyres if you are over driving the car - the planned "reverse circuit" for the afternoon should even the tyre wear out but you really should consider a second set of wheels to open your options

On a big heavy front engined rear wheel drive Opel if I'm running part worns 2-3mm I'll need two sets of tyres to last a day - on part worn slicks I can do the whole day before hitting canvas but then I do lean on the tyres a lot!!!

dom187 said:

Is there alot of road cars at the event?

I'd say a higher proportion are road cars with a track bias rather than out and out track cars

dom187 said:

Basic equipment I will need, fitted fire extinguisher, helmet, new pants! Anything else?

Plenty of warm clothing it gets a bit breezy on an airfield, some oil top top up if you need too, coolant is never a bad idea either

Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 11th February 19:50

[B'stard Child]

Marham is a friendly place/event - if you want someone to sit with you on your early laps to get a feel for the lines and gain some confidenceon track there will be several regular attendees who will be happy to do that (mainly the weekend crew who do both days and know they will get more than enough track time to be able to help and guide new attendees) alternatively blag a pass lap with one of the regulars in their car on the first session

[2woody]

I'm up for a bit of that as ever. If you want to sit in for a couple of laps at the start, or the full "driver-training" bit - I'd be happy to oblige. There are a lot of drivers at the event that have benefitted from this sort of thing.

According to which day you go - I'll have a "driver-training" car available.

[dom187]

Thanks for the responses guys, I would love to sit in and get feel for it all.

In a nutshell I am in a place where I am itching to get out on the track, but my Zed is alot of car to track in terms of the cost to replace it if I smashed it up. I have looked at getting another car which I can drive to and participate in track days. But the costs for this are quite high as well. Anyone give me any advice? (Should I start a new thread for my question?)

[pantera chris]

Im very interested in this in the RX7.

[7litrebig]

dom187 said:

Thanks for the responses guys, I would love to sit in and get feel for it all.

In a nutshell I am in a place where I am itching to get out on the track, but my Zed is alot of car to track in terms of the cost to replace it if I smashed it up. I have looked at getting another car which I can drive to and participate in track days. But the costs for this are quite high as well. Anyone give me any advice? (Should I start a new thread for my question?)

My personal view From my prior visits to Marham, this is probably the best opportunity for you to have some fun and not risk smashing your pride and joy up - wide open spaces, long track, lots of space for everyone and no solid objects. Of course tyre wear is dependant on your driving style. The other thing is that it's a very cheap way to see if you like taking it on track - if it's not your cup of tea then just park her up in the paddock. You'll find there'll be lots of others similarly nervous / first timers with a huge variety of cars - so always someone or something interesting to see.

[7litrebig]

rtv said:

Paul.

I'll do some measuring of speed bumps and get back to you mate.

Rob.

Rob - did you get any indication of the bump height at the main gate? - hopefully it's not an Official Secret

[dom187]

7litrebig said:

My personal view From my prior visits to Marham, this is probably the best opportunity for you to have some fun and not risk smashing your pride and joy up - wide open spaces, long track, lots of space for everyone and no solid objects. Of course tyre wear is dependant on your driving style. The other thing is that it's a very cheap way to see if you like taking it on track - if it's not your cup of tea then just park her up in the paddock. You'll find there'll be lots of others similarly nervous / first timers with a huge variety of cars - so always someone or something interesting to see.

Thanks for the reply chap I think I will give it a go, I have seen you can get track day insurance do people bother with this?

[markCSC]

dom187 said:

Thanks for the reply chap I think I will give it a go, I have seen you can get track day insurance do people bother with this?

Normally it isn't worth it as the excess is something like £2-3000

[B'stard Child]

dom187 said:

7litrebig said:

My personal view From my prior visits to Marham, this is probably the best opportunity for you to have some fun and not risk smashing your pride and joy up - wide open spaces, long track, lots of space for everyone and no solid objects. Of course tyre wear is dependant on your driving style. The other thing is that it's a very cheap way to see if you like taking it on track - if it's not your cup of tea then just park her up in the paddock. You'll find there'll be lots of others similarly nervous / first timers with a huge variety of cars - so always someone or something interesting to see.

Thanks for the reply chap I think I will give it a go, I have seen you can get track day insurance do people bother with this?

I believe most don't bother

I certainly don't as I'd rather have it in the back of my mind that if I bin it it's my problem rather than driving thinking I'm all covered and not care - probably phrased that wrong but hopefully you'll get my point