My day out at the Oulton introduction to Drifting
Discussion
The people mentioned are on Northloop, and I`m too lazy to re-edit 
I`d booked on a Drift Introduction day at Oulton and asked if anyone else wanted to come along too. Stan said that as it was his Birthday, it would be a good present and he`d love to join me. Plans were made and at 06:30 this morning we set off in convoy for the 1hr 25min drive to Oulton Park.
Uneventful journey, stopped to fill with fuel just before arriving.
Steady journey on the motorway gave me decent economy in the Z
Quick tyre check before starting. Yep, they look Black, Round and well worn
Met up with the other guys on the course, there were only 8 to begin with, a couple of others joined in later.
Fortunately, it was the first time for some of the others, but one guy with a dedicated drift car had done the last 8 events 
There were the expected spins..
Cones AHOY !
Had lunch and then continued Drifting.
Stan had to pull over, the dry track had caused his NSR Tyre to de-laminate Quick directions from marshall and after cutting off the offending part he carefully drove to a local tyre fitter for a replacement. The Guy in the drift car also had the same problem and had to cut short his day 
I asked if he was disappointed but he said that out of all the events at Oulton he`d been to, this was the best ever It was the first time there had been such a low number of drivers, as a result the marshalls said they wouldnt `wet` the tarmac and so it was the only dry track time he`d ever had there. No queuing and he did more laps in the morning, before his tyre delaminated than he`d ever managed in a full day
As the day progressed, we became quite proficient B)
Stan with Weeman passengering
Managed to get a friend to take some pics of me too ! WOOHOO ! !
Whoops Stan
Well saved...
After 94 miles of drifting, the fuel consumption wasnt that impressive...
Said our goodbyes and drove home. Inspected my rear NS Tyre...
whoops, that will be because of the constant drifting I did then
There are upsides and downsides to the dry track. The tyre breaking up is the problem, but that was because we were out for long sessions. If the tyres didnt need replacing, I wouldn`t have hammered them with such long stints and they would have held up fine.
I set up the bulletcam, unfortunately, it was too low so you cant see enough of the track. This was just before lunch, I was better later, much less hand twirling, but didn't have the camera running
[URL=http://www.vimeo.com/1129891]Bulletcam footage[/URL]
[URL=http://www.vimeo.com/1143011]Footage from circuit 2[/URL]
When I`ve had a play before, in empty carparks etc, there is always that moment when your heart rate shoots up, until everything in controlled. I had the same experience first thing on the drift day, but by mid afternoon, I was much more comfortable and wasn`t `seizing up` as much.
My arms are really aching at the end though, far more than on a trackday !
To summarise, it was the most FUN I`ve ever had in a car. We were all grinning from start to finish. Made much better by knowing someone else there, although I`m sure I would have still thoroughly enjoyed myself alone.
It wasn't as exhilarating as going to the ring or on a trackday, but I had a blast
Massive thanks to Lou for entrusting me with her Z. I didn't hit anything and apart from being a little dusty, its fine :thumb:
I`d booked on a Drift Introduction day at Oulton and asked if anyone else wanted to come along too. Stan said that as it was his Birthday, it would be a good present and he`d love to join me. Plans were made and at 06:30 this morning we set off in convoy for the 1hr 25min drive to Oulton Park.
Uneventful journey, stopped to fill with fuel just before arriving.
Steady journey on the motorway gave me decent economy in the Z
Quick tyre check before starting. Yep, they look Black, Round and well worn
Met up with the other guys on the course, there were only 8 to begin with, a couple of others joined in later.
Fortunately, it was the first time for some of the others, but one guy with a dedicated drift car had done the last 8 events There were the expected spins..
Cones AHOY !
Had lunch and then continued Drifting.
Stan had to pull over, the dry track had caused his NSR Tyre to de-laminate
Quick directions from marshall and after cutting off the offending part he carefully drove to a local tyre fitter for a replacement. The Guy in the drift car also had the same problem and had to cut short his day I asked if he was disappointed but he said that out of all the events at Oulton he`d been to, this was the best ever
It was the first time there had been such a low number of drivers, as a result the marshalls said they wouldnt `wet` the tarmac and so it was the only dry track time he`d ever had there. No queuing and he did more laps in the morning, before his tyre delaminated than he`d ever managed in a full day As the day progressed, we became quite proficient B)
Stan with Weeman passengering
Managed to get a friend to take some pics of me too ! WOOHOO ! !
Whoops Stan
Well saved...
After 94 miles of drifting, the fuel consumption wasnt that impressive...
Said our goodbyes and drove home. Inspected my rear NS Tyre...
whoops, that will be because of the constant drifting I did then
There are upsides and downsides to the dry track. The tyre breaking up is the problem, but that was because we were out for long sessions. If the tyres didnt need replacing, I wouldn`t have hammered them with such long stints and they would have held up fine.
I set up the bulletcam, unfortunately, it was too low so you cant see enough of the track. This was just before lunch, I was better later, much less hand twirling, but didn't have the camera running
[URL=http://www.vimeo.com/1129891]Bulletcam footage[/URL]
[URL=http://www.vimeo.com/1143011]Footage from circuit 2[/URL]
When I`ve had a play before, in empty carparks etc, there is always that moment when your heart rate shoots up, until everything in controlled. I had the same experience first thing on the drift day, but by mid afternoon, I was much more comfortable and wasn`t `seizing up` as much.
My arms are really aching at the end though, far more than on a trackday !
To summarise, it was the most FUN I`ve ever had in a car. We were all grinning from start to finish. Made much better by knowing someone else there, although I`m sure I would have still thoroughly enjoyed myself alone.
It wasn't as exhilarating as going to the ring or on a trackday, but I had a blast
Massive thanks to Lou for entrusting me with her Z. I didn't hit anything and apart from being a little dusty, its fine :thumb:
Glad you had fun. THe rally track at Oulton is great. In august when the group B rally cars to play it is very entertaining!! Would love a lap round there in one othe MSV Cossies or a group B rally car. Hopefully they will be letting people pay for a few laps like they did last year!!
matt a couple of years ago i had to do hundreds of hotlaps on gold cup day in one of those escort cossie rally cars with all the group b machines.....i has no aircon/vents and it got warm after a few hours!! some of the drivers were a little er..... slow but the machinery was awesome.have you any pics of me in the red/white cossie doing hotlaps? (union jack on side of helmet).
ps still trying to get tuscan resdy for tuesday
ps still trying to get tuscan resdy for tuesday
parxy said:
matt a couple of years ago i had to do hundreds of hotlaps on gold cup day in one of those escort cossie rally cars with all the group b machines.....i has no aircon/vents and it got warm after a few hours!! some of the drivers were a little er..... slow but the machinery was awesome.have you any pics of me in the red/white cossie doing hotlaps? (union jack on side of helmet).
ps still trying to get tuscan resdy for tuesday
I wasnt into photography last time the Gold Cup was in town. I looked at pictures I have of the Cossies from when i have been to various trackdays and cant see no Union Jack!! Good luck with the TVR.ps still trying to get tuscan resdy for tuesday
) instructing, still a few spaces left and details They do some stuff at Santa Pod which is a good hour further south but it's not a low friction course so it's pretty heavy on tyres. As far as I know the stages at Oulton are unique for their polished tarmac - not a fast as the competitive drift scene but varied corners and a few slopes thrown in and good for playing on or seeing how your car reacts in a slide 
The trackaction event has some guys coming up from the south and stopping locally the night before and its only about 2 1/2 hours from London so not so far really
The trackaction event has some guys coming up from the south and stopping locally the night before and its only about 2 1/2 hours from London so not so far really
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