Circuit driving DVDs released
Mark Hales shows how to be quicker on-track
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Racing driver and journalist Mark Hales has released two new DVD-based guides to a pair of well-known and much-loved circuits: Brands Hatch and Oulton Park.
The DVDs, made in 16:9 format, make you feel like you're sitting in the driver's seat, with every wrinkle of every corner explained, in real-time and in slow-motion. There's also a virtual lap that shows you where time is made and lost, and the ideal lines to take.
We were impressed with the production values that have gone into the products -- whether you're a track day enthusiast, a novice, or want to dip into racing, you'll get value from them.
Hales also has plans for further DVDs, with Cadwell Park and Snetterton in production, and footage already acquired for Castle Combe and Bedford Autodrome. Hales said he plans to cover as many tracks in the UK as possible, then move onto European tracks.
They cost £29.99 each and are available from the Circuit Driver site (link below).
About Mark Hales
Mark Hales has been competing at all levels of National and Continental European motorsport for the last 30 years. A multiple national champion in sports cars, saloons and GTs and more recently a prolific winner in historic machinery, he has won over 150 races, plus countless class victories and top three placings.
Hales has also been a working writer and journalist for over 20 years. He has successfully combined the engineering savvy gained from years of building his own racers with a keen interest in the theory and technology of the competition car, and added the special knowledge which is How to Win.
The book Into the Red which Hales wrote with Pink Floyd musician Nick Mason is a best seller and has just been released as a second edition after three reprints. Hales is also a senior contributor to the broadsheet Daily Telegraph’s Weekend Motoring section and he contributes to Evo magazine and Octane, for whom he is chief Track Tester.
Links
If you take the cost of a trackday, or testing session, to be (say) £150 and then work out what proportion of that you spend learning the track, it has to be more than £30. Then factor in the likelihood that you could spend all day out there trying to work out why you're not getting your lines completely right. Worst case scenario, you bin it at the end of the day in sheer frustration because you didn't understand what might go wrong if you push it too far on a certain part of the track... now that's expensive!
I've seen the Oulton Park DVD and it's impressive. Way better than the Silverstone In-Car Active one, and I thought that was useful. What's different is that with this one you get more of a sensation of being in the car and driving the track. It's not as complicated, either. You get a very clearly illustrated racing line and apex/exit points. There's no need to keep rewinding it either - it goes back over each section repeatedly from different angles whilst the commentary builds up a real understanding of what's going on, from the basics right through to how to look for/correct mistakes.
It's going to to make your first track day on a circuit a lot more fun, and if you're serious about trackwork I reckon you could save yourself seconds a lap.
). What Hales tries to do is to show people why the line is like it is, not just how to join the dots between one corner and the next. Sure you get a heads-up on how to drive a a particular track well, and that's always going to be a good thing when going out onto a track for the first time, but you also come away with an understanding of why your car is behaving like it does. He teaches you how to read a track, and that's a transferable skill that means you're going to learn every new track faster and more safely.
"A multiple national champion in sports cars, saloons and GTs and more recently a prolific winner in historic machinery, he has won over 150 races, plus countless class victories and top three placings".
...everyone has a bad day occasionally
andy zarse said:
I saw Hales race a 997 in the Porsche Supercup at Brands last month, where for some unknown reason he was asked to drive the guest car. Frankly, from what I saw, I'm surprised he's got the sheer brass neck to offer anyone track advice. I've seen better judged races in first year Formula Vauxhall. Missed apexes, ridiculous aggression, barging, multiple spins and finally the coup de grace, a massive crash at Paddock into the tyrewall. BANG! One badly bent Porker, he emerged puce in the face to jeers of derision from the spectators. He's useless. Don't listen to him, he knows nothing!
Go and win as much as he has, then I will take your ability to judge a good driver (and a good line) over his. I have seen him race over many years and he was usually a front runner and winner. Never met him, never been a fan, but so easy to critacise from sitting in the stands, less so where your side by side.
For the record I've had one-to-one instruction with the man himself and I also know just how hard it it is to walk into a one-make series for a one off drive. In Hales case if he'd done well it would because of who he is and if badly, then he's marked out as a t*****r. In other words it's a no win situation.
You don't win back to back TVR Tuscan Championships (when you team mate is Gerry Marshall), BTCC class championship, numerous historic races including the Goodwood TT three times and race Nick Mason's cars if your not up to the job.
As for the DVDs? Watch and learn. The man knows what he's talking about and that allied to some great footage and production makes them unique
mk1fan said:
hmmmmm dunno this fella but he seems to be holding the steering wheel in a funny way! I thought the racing way to grip the wheel was at quarter to 3 with your thumbs wrapped around!? Nothing like what he's doing!
He is part way through the bend!
SO!? You should always keep your hands still through a corner in racing! Look at Formula 1 drivers! They actually cross over their arms and Monte Carlo for example!
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