Silverstone: Would I be outclassed?

[WeirdNeville]

Hi all!
I could partake in the Silverstone Track day on 24th September. It's the South Circuit with an open pit lane.
My concerns looking at the list of attendees are that you need a fast car to appreciate the open sweeping nature of Silverstone. It's all Evos, Caterhams, hot porsches and elises and the like.

With my meagre MK1 MR2 and experience limited to a day at Llandow, do you think I would be better off going for a different circuit?

I like the idea of having a go round silverstone and it's close by for me, but I worry that I will spend all day looking in the mirrors and off the best lines holding up people in cars worth more than my house.

[boxsey]

With Silverstone being so wide and having long straights it's one of the easier circuits to let faster cars/drivers pass without affecting your own enjoyment. A must do circuit IMO

[GBRM]

Is it the South circuit or the Stowe circuit? Silverstone is pretty quick but when I watched the MR2/MX5 race at the Powernight last year the MR2s looked fast enough.
If it's the Stowe circuit you'll beat anything, it's very tight and short so to speak.

[pugster]

Don't worry about it.

We've stopped doing it now but every time we used to go on a trackday in our humble 205 we'd say "oooh gonna be spending a lot of time looking in our mirrors today" after viewing the various other cars taking part.

In reality it never ends up like that as it's down to the skill of the nut behiond the wheel, not the cars themselves

Have done the Silverstone GP track a couple of times now and it's bloody great.
Last time out there were race spec GT3 porsches and Ferraris in attendance (even had a Lola T70 on track as well)
It's plenty wide enough to not get in the way even though our car was a bit asthmatic for the straights.

Have fun.

[JimmyCricket]

Dont worry about it, its not a race, its about fun.

Too many people seem to forget and worry too much what others think. They think nothing, as they too busy driving their own cars.

And you will be suprised how well you can do with a bit of driving talent, something having a flash car cant buy you!

[System-G]

I've not done the South Circuit in my MK1 MR2 - only the GP which was more fun than I was expecting and we definately weren't the slowest out there.

As said above it's not racing, so just follow the rules and have fun

[philevo6]

As said..its all about fun and learning your car.

As for maybe being slow.....not all people who own fast cars can drive fast.

You will be surprised what you overtake.

enjoy!!

[nsi]

Hi there!

I'm booked onto this day. Sorry I can't comment on the suitablity of your car, but just wanted to say hi, and hopefully see you there! There's always a mix of cars on every trackday, so like others have said "Don't worry about it".

One other thing, you mentioned that you've seen a list of cars which are signed up. Do you have a link for this?

Cheers.

ETA: I found the link.
http://www.circuit-days.co.uk/attendees.php?venue_...

Edited by nsi on Friday 29th August 21:14

[LuckyP]

No - do it!!

Llandow was my first track day...if you can call it that. You will be grinning from ear to ear being on a proper race track and forget within 5 mins that you might not have the sharpest tool on the track. Keep your eyes on your mirrors and one hand hovering over the indicators. Check and double check before you take your line for the corners and once you are on-line forget whose behind you and enjoy!!! Then back on to your mirrors and ready for the next bend!!

You will love it!!

Then the mod/upgrade feeling will kick in and you'll be hooked and scouring the adds for something more potent!!

Enjoy.

Lucks

[WeirdNeville]

Thanks everyone.
I've bitten the bullet and booked. I need a treat after the month I've had.
Now I've just got to get the brakes refreshed and I'm good to go.

Thanks for all the positive comments and the implication that I may have "talent". I assure you I do not! I've decided to use the exotica there as a draw, it'll be great to see sme evos and even an Ultima in full flow.

[Darkslider]

WeirdNeville said:

Thanks everyone.
I've bitten the bullet and booked. I need a treat after the month I've had.
Now I've just got to get the brakes refreshed and I'm good to go.

Thanks for all the positive comments and the implication that I may have "talent". I assure you I do not! I've decided to use the exotica there as a draw, it'll be great to see sme evos and even an Ultima in full flow.

It's always good when you're off your session to have a wander around the paddock and look at all the nice machinery! At a track like silverstone there'll be a few cars you've only ever seen on the web or in magazines so it's nice to see such stuff up close.

[Elderly]

There's a pdf of Silverstone here:-

http://www.silverstone.co.uk/pdf/track_days_southe...

with the 'Southern' circuit in red.

You will have fun; it's a much more interesting track layout than the 'National' IMO.

I don't know what the circuit limit is but with 65 cars booked in, it could be busy, but as you can see, if you are worried about faster (as opposed to quicker) cars, there is the Hanger straight and lots more places where they can pass without compromising your day.

There are some strange aspects to the Southern circuit for anybody used to other layouts at Silverstone (I know the OP is not); the pitlane entry is at the end of the Hangar straight and the exit is on the exit of Stowe; you go through Island the 'wrong' way and I found it hard to sight where I was at Becketts/Chapel because I'm used to having Maggotts come first .

[WeirdNeville]

Hi all!

I would just like to say that I had a fantastic day. Yes I go overtaken a lot, no it didn't spoil my day (and likewise I hope I didn't get in anyones way!) and I had a ball.
I did about 160 miles in the day, learnt loads, came away thinking about suspension upgrades and one spin. :O

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10522...
^Full write up here (IMOC.co.uk) and many thanks to everyone there for making a Newbie feel welcome!

Edited by WeirdNeville on Thursday 25th September 01:28

[LuckyP]

Congrats mate. Another addict to join the fold.

[dax turbo]

Cracking day out. Bit manic in the morning, but cracking afternoon. Interesting mix of machinery including a bentley continental GT convertible!

Got some video footage including a spinning grey MR2 as i was directly behind at the time! Will utube and send u the link when i get a min, but i'm out the country after today till next week.

[WeirdNeville]

dax turbo said:

Cracking day out..... Got some video footage including a spinning grey MR2 as i was directly behind at the time!

Errr, yeah, That sounds familiar... I hope I didn't upset anyone!

dax turbo said:

Will utube and send u the link when i get a min, but i'm out the country after today till next week.

That would be great! It would be amusing to see it from the outside.
Nev.

[Hypermonkey]

I was there as well in the White Golf GTi Mk1. I've got 3 hours of footage to get through and sort out over the weekend and will probably have most of you there on film. If you say what metal you were in I'll try to get all of it in one vid for you.

Cheers

Simon.

[Brummmie]

Hi Guys, was my first trackday yesterday and i had an absolute blast, only had one excursion when my brake fluid boiled!!! From then on i put myself on a 4 lap curfew!! I was in the Red Cerbera.

[GBRM]

Sounds like everyone had fun then!!

[Hypermonkey]

Brummmie said:

Hi Guys, was my first trackday yesterday and i had an absolute blast, only had one excursion when my brake fluid boiled!!! From then on i put myself on a 4 lap curfew!! I was in the Red Cerbera.

Was that the one with the Chevy lump? If so it looked and sounded amazing and went like stink!