Open Pit lane - But which one should I go for?
Discussion
Hi all,
My other half has duly treated me to something I have been banging on for ages about - An open pit lane in my new motor. Happy birthday me!
Once the car has been run and thoroughly bedded in, and the usual stuff checked, torques, levels, pressures...etc, I would like to travel to a track to learn how the car behaves :- that is, I want to know when and how the car behaves when pushed into o/steer for example.
I'm not really interested in speed, racing or how fast it goes, but as I live in the land of slippery B-roads, I want to learn the art of comfortably handling slides etc.
Of course, a blast will be par for the course, but the emphasis is on handling and learning the car's foibles for me.
Ideally a twisty track in the South of the UK with uninterrupted run offs that aren't going to stuff the rims in the event of an off, would be grand. I will be driving to and from the event, with possibly a stay in a Prem Inn or guest house. I would be happy to do a few laps with an instructor to raise the confidence level and to brush up on my skills.
I wonder if any of you chaps can give me the benefit of your experience with suggestions and info.
My other half has duly treated me to something I have been banging on for ages about - An open pit lane in my new motor. Happy birthday me!
Once the car has been run and thoroughly bedded in, and the usual stuff checked, torques, levels, pressures...etc, I would like to travel to a track to learn how the car behaves :- that is, I want to know when and how the car behaves when pushed into o/steer for example.
I'm not really interested in speed, racing or how fast it goes, but as I live in the land of slippery B-roads, I want to learn the art of comfortably handling slides etc.
Of course, a blast will be par for the course, but the emphasis is on handling and learning the car's foibles for me.
Ideally a twisty track in the South of the UK with uninterrupted run offs that aren't going to stuff the rims in the event of an off, would be grand. I will be driving to and from the event, with possibly a stay in a Prem Inn or guest house. I would be happy to do a few laps with an instructor to raise the confidence level and to brush up on my skills.
I wonder if any of you chaps can give me the benefit of your experience with suggestions and info.
A track day really isn't the right place for what you want to do IMO.
Judging by the picture of the rear lights in your profile, you've got an F-Type? You'll be relatively fast down the straights and relatively slow in the corners compared to everyone else, and that's pretty disruptive for the other drivers, and not helpful for you to concentrate on what you want to concentrate on.
I think what you're looking for is something like a Car Limits course.
http://www.carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?typ...
I've not done one but they do seem to be recommended on here.
Judging by the picture of the rear lights in your profile, you've got an F-Type? You'll be relatively fast down the straights and relatively slow in the corners compared to everyone else, and that's pretty disruptive for the other drivers, and not helpful for you to concentrate on what you want to concentrate on.
I think what you're looking for is something like a Car Limits course.
http://www.carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?typ...
I've not done one but they do seem to be recommended on here.
if you do go for a trackday, can't say fairer than Bedford Autodrome for a first trackday. nice long course, good mix of corners, acres of run off. castle combe, thruxton and brands hatch are further south, but all dont have a lot of run off and probably wouldnt be best for a novice with a powerful car. At bedford there are plenty of straights to get up to silly speeds, some fast sweepers to test your nerve, and hairpins/complexes to test a cars balance.
get some tuition and you'll have a blast.
get some tuition and you'll have a blast.
You sound like you want a car limits day, they are designed for you to learn the limits of their own car.
http://www.carlimits.com/
http://www.carlimits.com/
Thanks for the replies.
I haven't tracked for about 2 years (Brands), and recently an experience (tame day) at Millbrook, so I'm a bit rusty.
I had considered Bedford as it seems to have pretty much infinite runoff (I don't intend to use them, but...), and watched the Youtube vids to get an idea of the layout.
Car limits looks pretty much ideal as it won't impact on anyone else if I do want to push the oversteer and get a feel for it sideways.
A Drifting course may be a bit OTT and expensive on rubber.
I think my ideal would be to have a lap, lets say with an instructor with TC off feeling the limits of traction, experiencing O/Steer and then settle into a couple of more sensible 'proper' laps - the last thing I want is to impact on a racer.
The main thing I want to get out of this, is not be taken by surprise when the car steps out of line on a cow-pat covered B-road!
I haven't tracked for about 2 years (Brands), and recently an experience (tame day) at Millbrook, so I'm a bit rusty.
I had considered Bedford as it seems to have pretty much infinite runoff (I don't intend to use them, but...), and watched the Youtube vids to get an idea of the layout.
Car limits looks pretty much ideal as it won't impact on anyone else if I do want to push the oversteer and get a feel for it sideways.
A Drifting course may be a bit OTT and expensive on rubber.
I think my ideal would be to have a lap, lets say with an instructor with TC off feeling the limits of traction, experiencing O/Steer and then settle into a couple of more sensible 'proper' laps - the last thing I want is to impact on a racer.
The main thing I want to get out of this, is not be taken by surprise when the car steps out of line on a cow-pat covered B-road!
brillomaster said:
if you do go for a trackday, can't say fairer than Bedford Autodrome for a first trackday. nice long course, good mix of corners, acres of run off. castle combe, thruxton and brands hatch are further south, but all dont have a lot of run off and probably wouldnt be best for a novice with a powerful car. At bedford there are plenty of straights to get up to silly speeds, some fast sweepers to test your nerve, and hairpins/complexes to test a cars balance.
get some tuition and you'll have a blast.
Bedford is a good first track with loads of run off if things do go wrong, but MSV don't like drifting, and even have a warning sign for it.get some tuition and you'll have a blast.
Personally I would go to an airfield trackday if you want to get the back end out
In fairness, you can slide about a reasonable amount on most track days without issue. If you're going around half the corners at 45°, throwing up huge clouds of smoke and looking where you're going out of the side windows then yes, you're going to get black-flagged, but a bit of exit oversteer is hardly a problem.
My experience is that pushing the car hard and having it move about a bit is perfectly fine. Driving like you're a Top Gear presenter, spinning more than a couple of times or doing stupid things around other drivers will get you booted off, and rightly so, but TDOs aren't the fun police!
Another vote for Bedford as your venue, ideally the full "Gran Turismo" layout which is nicely varied and spreads cars out well, being four miles long. Plenty of challenging corners but being flat makes it a good learning environment.
My experience is that pushing the car hard and having it move about a bit is perfectly fine. Driving like you're a Top Gear presenter, spinning more than a couple of times or doing stupid things around other drivers will get you booted off, and rightly so, but TDOs aren't the fun police!
Another vote for Bedford as your venue, ideally the full "Gran Turismo" layout which is nicely varied and spreads cars out well, being four miles long. Plenty of challenging corners but being flat makes it a good learning environment.
oh actually, anything by Motorsport Events - majority of them are down south, and airfields with very little to hit. Did Keevil a year ago, and at the end of the day it was pretty much just me on track, had an epic time flicking it into corners on the brakes and having the back swing round, shift locking into the hairpin, marshalls didnt bat an eyelid 
silverthorn2151 said:
Snetterton would be an option and is more racing circuit than Bedford. I much prefer it in any event. I think having it out on any track day would be pretty cool though.
Snetterton is a lovely circuit, but the barriers are in places closer than at Bedford - only middling close, but I have had a few heart stopping moments there, especially in the damp. It is just possible to hit something at Bedford.....we have seen the video of the BM.....but it is frankly rare, and he kept his foot in ages after the rest of us would have seen the light and backed off.
I have seen two cars collide at Bedford, but that was sheer stupidity (overtaking on the wrong side in a corner) and could have happened anywhere
I've been to Car Limits days 3 times now, just for a bit fun around the cones. You are on the circuit one car at a time so no one else to hit. There are no noise limits but the neighbours are not happy with tyre noise and smoke. If you do have the odd slide it's not a problem, only when you are constantly drifting about do the organisers take a dim view about it. If you have never driven a track this could be a good introduction to car handling for you, you shouldn't trash your tyres as each stint is just a couple of minutes long but many of them, gives your car a rest as it were. For £50 it's a bargain.
Next step up would be an Airfield day, run just like a proper circuit with open pit lane. No armcos or tyre walls to hit, lots of run offs. Tyre wear is more than proper tracks due to a mixture of tarmac and concrete surfaces, some airfields better than others. You can get instruction on these days for about £20 for 20 mins. Javelin Trackdays and Motorsport Events are a couple of the better organisers and I've been to dozens of them with no problems. Bedford is probably the nearest to a proper circuit with nice smooth tarmac and quite a decent amount of run off.
Start off slow and build up your speed Tel and you'll be hooked.
Next step up would be an Airfield day, run just like a proper circuit with open pit lane. No armcos or tyre walls to hit, lots of run offs. Tyre wear is more than proper tracks due to a mixture of tarmac and concrete surfaces, some airfields better than others. You can get instruction on these days for about £20 for 20 mins. Javelin Trackdays and Motorsport Events are a couple of the better organisers and I've been to dozens of them with no problems. Bedford is probably the nearest to a proper circuit with nice smooth tarmac and quite a decent amount of run off.
Start off slow and build up your speed Tel and you'll be hooked.
QBee said:
silverthorn2151 said:
Snetterton would be an option and is more racing circuit than Bedford. I much prefer it in any event. I think having it out on any track day would be pretty cool though.
Snetterton is a lovely circuit, but the barriers are in places closer than at Bedford - only middling close, but I have had a few heart stopping moments there, especially in the damp. It is just possible to hit something at Bedford.....we have seen the video of the BM.....but it is frankly rare, and he kept his foot in ages after the rest of us would have seen the light and backed off.
I have seen two cars collide at Bedford, but that was sheer stupidity (overtaking on the wrong side in a corner) and could have happened anywhere
silverthorn2151 said:
Fair point, I took the front off the Radical and that was on a straight.
I had a 1200 degree spin at 90 mph on the main straight at Snetterton on a drying track. Both feet flat down, car spun round on its own axis and ended on the grass backwards, straight on at turn one.15 minutes later a racing MGB did the same thing at the same place, but wasn't so lucky - both ends of the car trashed on the Armco 50 yards beyond the pit exit.
I have also been off backwards at Hamilton with everything clenched (ooh Matron!!) but there was enough room to stop.
Was that on the brakes? Was there oil or something?Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff