Disapointing Guildford cruise to Goodwood.
Discussion
Good to see you guys at guildford this morning, and what a great turn out but I thought the cruise was more like a thrash!
I thought the idea of a cruise is to keep it pacey but stay together! 10 minutes into the run after the A3 turnoff at Witley we lost about 15 cars and five of us ended up staying together. The others didnt really stand a chance and more consideration should be given to cruising. Whoever leads should think about the pack.
steve
I thought the idea of a cruise is to keep it pacey but stay together! 10 minutes into the run after the A3 turnoff at Witley we lost about 15 cars and five of us ended up staying together. The others didnt really stand a chance and more consideration should be given to cruising. Whoever leads should think about the pack.
steve
Not always that easy....we noticed a few cars pulling over but decided to carry on (as we'd have blocked the road if we'd all pulled over!).
I agree it would have been nice if we'd all kept together, in the end even our mini convoy ended up as me (Capri), Z3, and the two Tuscans.
I guess we need to agree up front to all stick together, or at least understand if anyone's planning to stop on the way.
I agree it would have been nice if we'd all kept together, in the end even our mini convoy ended up as me (Capri), Z3, and the two Tuscans.
I guess we need to agree up front to all stick together, or at least understand if anyone's planning to stop on the way.
Sounds like you made the fundamental error of setting the pace too high at the front; the car that needs to go the fastest is always at the rear! Therefore, decide the maximum speed that the rear car is willing to go and subtract around 20 mph for the lead car's datum speed. Also, the most inexperienced or slowest driver needs to be behind the leader - increasing in experience and performance as the tail grows. Finally, unless using motorways, dual carriageways or wide A-roads with little traffic, a maximum of 10 cars in a group is all that is manageable.
Del
Del
Edited by delbox on Monday 5th June 14:06
Twin Turbo said:
I agree it would have been nice if we'd all kept together, in the end even our mini convoy ended up as me (Capri), Z3, and the two Tuscans.
As the tail-end Tuscan, I actually enjoyed the convoy immensely, and can add on 2 more cars I know were in the convoy and were on my tail throughout - always at a safe distance - a black Lancia and a yellow (loud!) Tamora. The gunmetal grey Diablo (I think) also tacked onto the end of the convoy after a brief stop in Haslemere. Agreed it would have been amazing to have 20+ - the main issue likely being that everyone left fairly "individually" from Guildford. Nonetheless - an absolutely smashing day, brilliant weather, company, drive and event. Really really worth making the effort.
Hands up... I was the lead car. I did frequently hang back at junctions and pull over when opportunities arose to let backmarkers catch up. I even wore flip-flops to try and curb my speed but I'm afraid the lure of those gorgeous roads proved too much.
I think the biggest pain from Guildford is the traffic lights leaving the retail park. They have a sequence which is too short for the number of cars we had. Might help to start from another location in future... and I'll go at the back
Sorry to have disappointed you Steve, though I'm pretty sure everybody had a good time? Certainly those that I caught up with at Goodwood did.
I think the biggest pain from Guildford is the traffic lights leaving the retail park. They have a sequence which is too short for the number of cars we had. Might help to start from another location in future... and I'll go at the back
Sorry to have disappointed you Steve, though I'm pretty sure everybody had a good time? Certainly those that I caught up with at Goodwood did.
Hi guys,
Also want to say it was a cracking day, and yes, the convoy did end up very split up, but with 15 cars, multiple junctions and traffic lights it's never going to be easy to stay together.
At least we all got to drive some lovely roads while they were quiet, and enjoy the sound of those engines. Thanks two the guys in the grey Cerbera and the blue Chimaera for the audible delights when I was following you - they certainly do sound fantastic.
Also want to say it was a cracking day, and yes, the convoy did end up very split up, but with 15 cars, multiple junctions and traffic lights it's never going to be easy to stay together.
At least we all got to drive some lovely roads while they were quiet, and enjoy the sound of those engines. Thanks two the guys in the grey Cerbera and the blue Chimaera for the audible delights when I was following you - they certainly do sound fantastic.
steve.sammut said:
Good to see you guys at guildford this morning, and what a great turn out but I thought the cruise was more like a thrash!
I thought the idea of a cruise is to keep it pacey but stay together! 10 minutes into the run after the A3 turnoff at Witley we lost about 15 cars and five of us ended up staying together. The others didnt really stand a chance and more consideration should be given to cruising. Whoever leads should think about the pack.
steve
Steve, I could have sworn I saw the red Fezza, turn onto the A286 @ Milford, (think you went A283,) guess I was wrong as the rest of the convoy followed me for a while then seemed to tail off (not sure where, obviously didn't trust my sense of direction
) Went most of the way with an M5, and picked up a few nearer to Goodwood, including some of the original starters
Edited to add: My son and I had a great day none the less!
Edited by hbeck on Sunday 4th June 19:11
hbeck said:
Good to see you guys at guildford this morning, and what a great turn out but I thought the cruise was more like a thrash!
I thought the idea of a cruise is to keep it pacey but stay together! 10 minutes into the run after the A3 turnoff at Witley we lost about 15 cars and five of us ended up staying together. The others didnt really stand a chance and more consideration should be given to cruising. Whoever leads should think about the pack.
steve
Steve, I could have sworn I saw the red Fezza, turn onto the A286 @ Milford, (think you went A283,) guess I was wrong as the rest of the convoy followed me for a while then seemed to tail off (not sure where, obviously didn't trust my sense of direction
Went most of the way with an M5, and picked up a few nearer to Goodwood, including some of the original starters
Edited to add: My son and I had a great day none the less!
Edited by hbeck on Sunday 4th June 19:11
That could have been me (Red 355). I did not leave with everyone else as I was waiting for another car to arrive so I thought I was travelling on my own. I cannot remember the exact route as I was following the navigation route but A286 sounds familiar. I think I picked up the tail of the convoy just before actually arriving at the circuit.
Re previous posts, I think that there were too many cars to ever have a chance of staying as a group and would suggest that smaller groups are a way to go.
Mustang Baz said:
I agree it would have been nice if we'd all kept together, in the end even our mini convoy ended up as me (Capri), Z3, and the two Tuscans.
As the tail-end Tuscan, I actually enjoyed the convoy immensely, and can add on 2 more cars I know were in the convoy and were on my tail throughout - always at a safe distance - a black Lancia and a yellow (loud!) Tamora. The gunmetal grey Diablo (I think) also tacked onto the end of the convoy after a brief stop in Haslemere. Agreed it would have been amazing to have 20+ - the main issue likely being that everyone left fairly "individually" from Guildford. Nonetheless - an absolutely smashing day, brilliant weather, company, drive and event. Really really worth making the effort.
Seconding the enjoyable convoy - I was in the Lancia and thought it was a great run down.
Bit dissapointed with the turnout at Goodwood though. I mean, apart fromt the Enzo, F40, Lusso, Testarossa, F430's, Various Lambos, 288 GTO(was it a rep?), Delorean, Bugatti, Daytona, some very tasty De Toamsos and the like, there wan't really much to see, was there?
, however I enjoyed the day. delbox said:
Sounds like you made the fundamental error of setting the pace too high at the front; the car that needs to go the fastest car is always at the rear! Therefore, if decide the maximum speed that the rear car is willing to go and subtract around 20 mph for the lead car's datunm speed. Also, the most inexperienced or slowest driver needs to be behind the leader - increasing in experience and performance as the tail grows. Finally, unless using motorways, dual carriageways or wide A-roads with little traffic, a maximum of 10 cars in a group is all that is manageable.
Del
How about posting a definative set of rules in the events forum? I think we all know how easy it is to get lost if you`re 
on unfamiliar territory etc etc 
Willingly, I would provide the detailed guidelines that I have used successfully on many occasions; however, Twin Turbo and Gruffy think that their (different) solutions are simpler - so I bow to their superior knowledge.
Edited by delbox on Monday 5th June 14:07
Edited by delbox on Monday 5th June 14:08
I thought considering the spread of junctions/lights/tractors we did pretty well to keep as together as we did, i was running in a good sized pack of the diablo/griff/MX5/Cobra (good flames!)Z3 etc and we were making good progress but keeping it all together too until i broke a shock absorber! although i did catch up again. it was just nice to meet a few more PHers and enjoy a drive down with a few other nice cars on a sunny morning thanks to Gruffy another enjoyable meet.
Gruffy said:
The only rule you need on a group run is to always keep the car behind you visible. If everybody does that then you can't go wrong.
Having done many convoys (and led some too) it is very very difficult - however, it's that advise which will sort it. I have ended up in situations before where person in front of me has gone bounding off while I've been trying to wait for person behind so he can see me; then you're fecked. If people just ensure they can always see the car behind, it will work fine.
That, and make sure the leader is good at it too - it's not as easy as driving your car. A passenger always helps too!!
I completely agree Delbox, the guy at the back has the most challenging/fun drive. As with anything there are many ways to achieve it. With a group I think the simplest solution is usually the best. The simplest solution I can think of is to never lose sight (within reason) of the man behind you.
When I'm at the front I'm always conscious of potentially holding people up and spoiling their fun - particularly when they're piloting an Ultima This way it doesn't matter if people overtake each other or what speed they want to do, it's still just one simple rule. In my experience, most people tend to stick to this one anyway.
When I'm at the front I'm always conscious of potentially holding people up and spoiling their fun - particularly when they're piloting an Ultima
This way it doesn't matter if people overtake each other or what speed they want to do, it's still just one simple rule. In my experience, most people tend to stick to this one anyway. Edited by Gruffy on Monday 5th June 15:05
Agreed. Route planning is pretty important but it's so difficult to keep traffic lights etc out of a run. Indicators are the key too. After a good few large northants runs, we discovered that as long as the leader indicates early and everyone else indicates as soon as the car infront does, it's much easier to stay together.
Route planning is pretty important but it's so difficult to keep traffic lights etc out of a run. Indicators are the key too. After a good few large northants runs, we discovered that as long as the leader indicates early and everyone else indicates as soon as the car infront does, it's much easier to stay together.In our convoy we had the leader in the lotus,the lambo,ferrari and the bmw m series and thoutoughly enjoyed our run but would have been great to share this with the others.Convoys on motorbikes is a lot easier.
You always have one nomiated back marker.
If the leader makes a turn the second person pulls over 50 yards before the juction( or afterwards on a roundabout) and indicates the direction of travel. the back marker then flash's the person pulled over on to rejoin the pack, its then its rotated throughout the route that way the convoy can stay together. Maybe it could work with cars. I do agree with convoys out of guildford and traffic lights and maybe a different loaction is needed.
Secondly agree cars were a bit average lol.
You always have one nomiated back marker.
If the leader makes a turn the second person pulls over 50 yards before the juction( or afterwards on a roundabout) and indicates the direction of travel. the back marker then flash's the person pulled over on to rejoin the pack, its then its rotated throughout the route that way the convoy can stay together. Maybe it could work with cars. I do agree with convoys out of guildford and traffic lights and maybe a different loaction is needed.
Secondly agree cars were a bit average lol.
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