Help choosing trackday/instructor

[ajg31]

I am really in need of help finding the limits of the Nble round the twisty stuff. I have no experience of tracks and would say my driving standard on the whole is poor. I would like suggestions along the lines of 1 to 1 tuition on a airfield type track ie plenty of run off!!! I know its going to cost but whats the point of having a Nob if i cannot use it

[Mr Noble]

Car limits is a good place to start. Google for them. Andy Walsh does days (everyday I think) at North Weald airfield near Harlow. Nothing to hit. (but I still broke my car!!)

[T&T]

I did a day in X-factor's M12 last year at abingdon Airfield , which was instructor lead.

They have multiple airfield sites which have loads of run off .. , and you can book an instructor for your own car.

now I've got mine , I'll be doing a couple of airfield days before I touch a circuit

Have a look at

www.motorsport-events.co.uk/

[paulcundy]

I am obviously biased but I'd put Graham Horgan at Plansmotorsport at the top of any list. Book a couple of hours with him and you get to be tested on the stig track which is about the best way to test your car to its limits at all points of the envelope, slow / fast / tight / open / under and oversteer as well as basic car limits (like how late you can leave the braking - gulp!).

I've had instruction from several of the frequently recomended souirces and his was by far the best.
Regards
Paul C

[ACROWE]

paulcundy said:

I am obviously biased but I'd put Graham Horgan at Plansmotorsport at the top of any list. Book a couple of hours with him and you get to be tested on the stig track which is about the best way to test your car to its limits at all points of the envelope, slow / fast / tight / open / under and oversteer as well as basic car limits (like how late you can leave the braking - gulp!).

I've had instruction from several of the frequently recomended souirces and his was by far the best.
Regards
Paul C

I second that. You get the track to yourself as well so you will have no pressure from any other cars wanting to get past.

[C&C]

I've done both of the above, and would heartily recommend both.

The X-factor one - www.trackdaysreborn.co.uk/
You get to use their GTO3 and it is basically run as part of an airfield track day, so you do get instruction, but there are other cars on the airfield circuit (although it's not too busy). I thoroughly enjoyed it:

Reference to this (and a couple of other training days on here:
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=350511&hw=

The car limits with Andy Walsh I can yet again thoroughly recommend.
www.carlimits.com/ - see airfield driver training days.
This is a full day, and great value for money. There are only 2 or 4 cars on the day - you have the choice - 2 cars/drivers = £380 each, 4 cars/drivers = £190 each. Rather than just going round a track, Andy goes through all the basics with exercises in steering, cornering etc.. I last did this in the skyline with my wife. Write up on the day is here (Start of thread is Daz's experience, ours is on page 3 of thread):
www.gtr.co.uk/forum/upload/27121-car-limits-driving-day-andrew-walsh.html
I'm booked to go there in the Noble at the end of May.

In addition, they also run "activity days" where a much larger group of cars can attend so obviously there is less instructor time but a lower cost. The Skyline GTROC has booked one of these at the start of May, which I'm also going to so will be able to report back on that. Maybe a Noble day might be a possibility if enough people are interested at some point in the future?? I think around 20 cars would be needed for this....


ETA
Paul's recommendation also sounds very interesting - I would like to try that one too also.

Looks like you've got plenty of choice

Edited by C&C on Tuesday 10th April 11:06

[ajg31]

Thanks for the info. I had looked at carlimits which is an option. Also 2 slots available before i go to lemans.

[ajg31]

As a second thought, what do you guys do pre and post track in regards to servicing? It will be freshly serviced before, do you normally drop the oil and change the filter after? what else?

[mgbond]

..... Andy goes through all the basics with exercises in steering, cornering etc....

He also has a good video that covers everything you do on the day. I got hold of a copy way before and practised heel and toe and correct steering. This helped on the day.

Bondy

Edited by mgbond on Tuesday 10th April 19:27

[V6GTO]

I'd reccommend Andy Walsh...Why?...because twice people have got out of my car and said "F&*$ me!...you drive like Andy Walsh!"

Martin.

Edited by V6GTO on Friday 27th April 10:15

[ajg31]

booked with car limits for may 4th, and booked 2hrs at Plans too 4 days later

[nobleguy]

[quote=T&T]I did a day in X-factor's M12 last year at abingdon Airfield , which was instructor lead.

They have multiple airfield sites which have loads of run off .. , and you can book an instructor for your own car.[/quote]

I know it's a bit gay, but I'd really like to thrash someone else's rather my own.
Might give them a look.

[nickytwohats]

V6GTO said:

I'd reccommend Andy Walsh...Why?...because twice people have got out of my car and "F&*$ me!...you drive like Andy Walsh!"

Martin.

They mean this Andy Walsh:

Andy Walsh is a well known speaker on cleaning validation and has given numerous presentations over the past ten years with IIR, Barnett, WorldPharm, IVT and ISPE. He has hands-on experience in cleaning validation, which includes writing policies and master plans and developing swab methods for both HPLC and TOC. Walsh frequently speaks on using TOC for cleaning validation, developing master plans and setting acceptance limits. He is currently chairing a committee to write a cleaning guideline for ISPE and is a team member of ISPE?s Risk-MAPP (Risk-Based Manufacture of Pharmaceutical Products) team. Walsh has more than 17 years of validation experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies including Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough, and Hoffmann-La Roche. His validation experience includes equipment qualification, process validation, computer systems validation and cleaning validation. Walsh has a Master?s degree in microbiology and is currently working on a degree in computer programming.

[V6GTO]

nickytwohats said:

V6GTO said:

I'd reccommend Andy Walsh...Why?...because twice people have got out of my car and "F&*$ me!...you drive like Andy Walsh!"

Martin.

They mean this Andy Walsh:

Andy Walsh is a well known speaker on cleaning validation and has given numerous presentations over the past ten years with IIR, Barnett, WorldPharm, IVT and ISPE. He has hands-on experience in cleaning validation, which includes writing policies and master plans and developing swab methods for both HPLC and TOC. Walsh frequently speaks on using TOC for cleaning validation, developing master plans and setting acceptance limits. He is currently chairing a committee to write a cleaning guideline for ISPE and is a team member of ISPE?s Risk-MAPP (Risk-Based Manufacture of Pharmaceutical Products) team. Walsh has more than 17 years of validation experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies including Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough, and Hoffmann-La Roche. His validation experience includes equipment qualification, process validation, computer systems validation and cleaning validation. Walsh has a Master?s degree in microbiology and is currently working on a degree in computer programming.

M.

[obes]

[DanH]

The thing to remember with any of these guys is that they show you what you need to learn. Its hours of wheel time that actually give you the skills.

I've got some instruction with Mike Franey on Monday. Will be my first session with him, but he's by all accouts an awesome wheelman (ex professional sports car racer who packed in the racing late 70s). He's also a properly qualified instructor unlike so many. However a fair chunk of what I'm studying is roadcraft. He does go to bruntingthorpe with you for a few hours though. In fact my wife spend last Monday with him herself and the first thing he did was take the big corner completely sideways in our e90 3 series. Apparently the F1 driving instructor Rob Wilson was there on the day too - not sure if he was teaching an F1 driver at the time though as my wife probably wouldn't have recognised them

Here's a Porsche forum thread on instructors with some other suggestions :

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=48&h=&t=229661