Castle Combe tips / advice
Discussion
I can second those comments about getting out of the corners quicker.
My first and only track day at Castle Combe I was going into the corners in the right gear, but then hanging onto the car all the way round and only accelerating once at the end of the corner.
Part way through the day I had an instruction session, and the instructor taught me two things:
1. I was trying to rev match when down shifting before each corner, to avoid locking up the rear axle. He told me to just drive like I normally do on the road and just let the clutch in with the revs lower, thus having a braking effect and getting the balance of the car further forwards going into the bend.
2. As soon as I had passed the apex, instead of hanging onto the car with a balanced throttle until clear of the corner, he got me to accelerate out of the corner. To my surprise, expecting this to force me off the track on the outside, it actually made the car handle better and I exited the corner faster and in much better control of the car.
My first and only track day at Castle Combe I was going into the corners in the right gear, but then hanging onto the car all the way round and only accelerating once at the end of the corner.
Part way through the day I had an instruction session, and the instructor taught me two things:
1. I was trying to rev match when down shifting before each corner, to avoid locking up the rear axle. He told me to just drive like I normally do on the road and just let the clutch in with the revs lower, thus having a braking effect and getting the balance of the car further forwards going into the bend.
2. As soon as I had passed the apex, instead of hanging onto the car with a balanced throttle until clear of the corner, he got me to accelerate out of the corner. To my surprise, expecting this to force me off the track on the outside, it actually made the car handle better and I exited the corner faster and in much better control of the car.
Good news, thanks QBee, glad it worked as, or better than, expected for you. Hopefully we'll have a similar experience 
Does seem an awfully big lapse before getting on it in the video, which is much easier to see in retrospect. Will work hard on it for sure, fingers crossed the car will last until an instructor is available next time
Does seem an awfully big lapse before getting on it in the video, which is much easier to see in retrospect. Will work hard on it for sure, fingers crossed the car will last until an instructor is available next time HDi-Julian said:
Good news, thanks QBee, glad it worked as, or better than, expected for you. Hopefully we'll have a similar experience Does seem an awfully big lapse before getting on it in the video, which is much easier to see in retrospect. Will work hard on it for sure, fingers crossed the car will last until an instructor is available next time
Yes, you were unlucky with the car. Better luck next time will come your way, I am sure. Does seem an awfully big lapse before getting on it in the video, which is much easier to see in retrospect. Will work hard on it for sure, fingers crossed the car will last until an instructor is available next time In five years and well over 30 track days in my TVR, the only thing you could call a failure on the car was when the alternator decided to start failing at about 4.30 pm on a hot track day at Cadwell Park. I still managed to drive the car the 45 miles home. It would seem that TVRs aren't unreliable after all.....
I am ignoring the time I had a spin in that car at 120 mph at Hullavington, having boiled the brake fluid with new race pads and completely lost the pedal! We simply swapped the old pads back in, topped up the fluid once it had cooled, and carried on. That was a case of operator error, not car failure - using new Carbon Lorraine pads with 12 month old fluid. Won't be doing that again.
That's not a bad run at all from the TVR is it Five years worth of use that most road cars will never see and still going strong besides a failure that could happen to any car at any time and the fluid not being able to cope with the speed / enthusiasm, I'd be a very happy man if I could say the same, hope it continues its good service to you
Hoping our bad luck is out of the way for another year now so onwards and upwards
Five years worth of use that most road cars will never see and still going strong besides a failure that could happen to any car at any time and the fluid not being able to cope with the speed / enthusiasm, I'd be a very happy man if I could say the same, hope it continues its good service to you Hoping our bad luck is out of the way for another year now so onwards and upwards
I must be going mad in my old age. I'll forget my name next.....
My engine gave up at the end of my last track day in October.
It didn't actually let me down on the track day, it was still running and giving full power, but by going home time there was a certain amount of smoke from the exhausts.
We initially thought it was just worn piston rings - the version of the 5 litre engine that i had at the time was particularly prone to wearing them - but as well as that it must have overheated at some stage in the previous two years, because once it was apart the experts could see that there was an unacceptable level of wear on the front crankshaft bearing and it needed a complete re-build.
All now rebuilt, but as a 4.6 (TVRs from the 1990s have Range Rover engines) so that it will be more robust this time.
But I still think you have been unlucky.
My engine gave up at the end of my last track day in October.
It didn't actually let me down on the track day, it was still running and giving full power, but by going home time there was a certain amount of smoke from the exhausts.
We initially thought it was just worn piston rings - the version of the 5 litre engine that i had at the time was particularly prone to wearing them - but as well as that it must have overheated at some stage in the previous two years, because once it was apart the experts could see that there was an unacceptable level of wear on the front crankshaft bearing and it needed a complete re-build.
All now rebuilt, but as a 4.6 (TVRs from the 1990s have Range Rover engines) so that it will be more robust this time.
But I still think you have been unlucky.
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