EVO track evening 12th June 09

[TomHunnisett]

Anyone booked in on the evo track evening at Bedford on 12th June?

Has anyone got any hints and tips about Bedford in particular, and also generally about how to maintain brake and tyre life for as long as possible (although both have sustained punishment from Brands earlier this year) other than the obvious 'go slower'...

Also, what are these evo events like? I've heard good things and am an avid follower of all things evo so am looking forward to it already!

Cheers!
Tom

[Porkie]

Go out with an instructor. You won't regret it. Its a big circuit and very flat and featureless so takes a while to get into... you will be very underwhelmed at first I suspect.

Then you will get to know the track and relaise that the featureless nature on it means you can push VERY VERY hard safely... and it it all goes wrong 99% of the time you will get away with it at Bedford.

I'll be there on that day, I'll show you around if you don't wanna spend the money of an instructor. (I've been about 30 times now)

Some people suggest dropping tyre pressures to stop them overheating. I always do this.

Other people swear by over inflating there tyres.... Less grip that way though thats for sure!

Both brakes and tyres are going to wear alot more when temps get up... so rather than doing 10 hard laps. Do 2-3 fast ones and then cool down for few.

HTH

Edited by Porkie on Tuesday 28th April 15:11

[Chris71]

Tempted, but I don't think I'll have anything capable of passing the noise test in time.

[*Fletch*]

Whats the permitted decibel limit at Bedford?

[jleroux]

Porkie said:

Then you will get to know the track and relaise that the featureless nature on it means you can push VERY VERY hard safely... and it it all goes wrong 99% of the time you will get away with it at Bedford.

Unfortunately, far too many people now head there with this in mind. I'm aware of more car-to-contact occuring on track days at Bedford than any other circuit - thankfully none of them on BaT track days!

Jonny
BaT

Edited by jleroux on Thursday 30th April 10:06

[TomHunnisett]

Well hopefully my Panda 100HP won't be causing too many problems, although pushing VERY VERY hard in my car is more than likely pretty different from pushing hard in a lot of faster machinery! Corners might be fun but straights are somewhat tedious......80.........90......come on!!

I have booked an instructor (I didn't at Brands Hatch in Feb and regretted it) but definitely open to advice from seasoned track enthusiasts!

I'm fearing the worst on my pads, discs and tyres to be honest, already been noticed by the chaps at my local dealer: "they look a bit worn for new tyres, maybe you should get the tracking checked out"...

[Furyblade_Lee]

Good luck..... i did an EVO trackday at Brands in 2005, and it was the worst display of driving I have EVER seen before or since by the attendees on any trackday. They shut the track at 11.30 after 7 red flags and several seriously bent cars, and we had to have another briefing. I hope they are better organised by now, there was a bit of showing off if i recall....

[Porkie]

jleroux said:

Porkie said:

Then you will get to know the track and relaise that the featureless nature on it means you can push VERY VERY hard safely... and it it all goes wrong 99% of the time you will get away with it at Bedford.

Unfortunately, far too many people now head there with this in mind. I know of more car-to-contact occuring on track days at Bedford than all other UK circuits combined - that's quite a scary statistic given the relative numbers involved. Thankfully none of them on BaT track days!

Jonny
BaT

I did think that when I was typing actually....

But I think its quite easy to spot the drivers that you KNOW are going to be a problem. Just make sure you stay away and only REALLY push your car when you 100% KNOW there is nothing within 100m or so behind you to collect you if it all goes wrong.

Late on in the day is best at Bedford I find. Tracks empty and all the knobs have normally gone home.

rather than following some idiot around and potentially adding to the potential of them running out of talent, just backing off and finding your own space on track is always a safe option.

Or THUNDER past

[Chris71]

Jesus. Is it really that bad at Bedford? Surely if the clientelle are such nutters they'd drive like that at other circuits too and natural selection would take its course.

[jleroux]

Chris71 said:

Jesus. Is it really that bad at Bedford? Surely if the clientelle are such nutters they'd drive like that at other circuits too and natural selection would take its course.

It's all relative. I'm not saying it's dangerous, nor am I saying your are likely to have (or even see) an incident. I'm just saying that car-to-car contact is more likely at Bedford than anywhere else.

Thankfully incidents like this are very rare on track days.

[Porkie]

Chris71 said:

Jesus. Is it really that bad at Bedford? Surely if the clientelle are such nutters they'd drive like that at other circuits too and natural selection would take its course.

No its not.

For ME its still easily the safest circuit in my opinion and experience.

[Furyblade_Lee]

it cannot be anymore dangerous than doing a French trackday orgainised by the French! They treat it as a race, 3 abreast into the corners with two as rear guard to pile in if the 3 up front make contact! And half the cars pump out blue smoke dripping oil everywhere. Class. Thank god they mostly run in sessions so we have entertainment between drives. Folembray is the best. In contrast when Lotus-on-track organize there then the day is safe as houses. I would have thought Bedford would clamp down on dangerous driving, it is certainly no shy with the noise Police.

[jleroux]

Porkie said:

Chris71 said:

Jesus. Is it really that bad at Bedford? Surely if the clientelle are such nutters they'd drive like that at other circuits too and natural selection would take its course.

No its not.

For ME its still easily the safest circuit in my opinion and experience.

you hit the nail on the head earlier Porkie. For an experienced driver who recognises the risks it's a very safe venue. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of attendees are novices and the target market for people reading threads like this is again, newcomers to Bedford.

Jonny
BaT

[neil-f]

*Fletch* said:

Whats the permitted decibel limit at Bedford?

98db I think!

[jleroux]

I spoke at length last night to Ian Berry - the Group Track Hire Manager at MSV and have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that there has been a review of operations at Bedford and they are now going to be monitoring driving standards much closer and keeping a log of spinners and incidents - much as they do at the other MSV venues already. The intention is not to chastise drivers but to educate them and check they know what they're doing wrong and offer advise as needed.

The bad news is i need to apologise for the misleading comments I made about car-to-car contact at Bedford. I have no formal statistics to back this up (sadly there are no such records kept across the track day industry) and it was misleading for me suggest otherwise.

I maintain the mentality of a proportion of the visitors to Bedford is incorrect and can lead to issues but I sincerely believe the new MSV policies will go a long way to reducing or eliminating these concerns.

Jonny
BaT

[boxsey]

I would agree that it's one of the safest venues to start out track driving because of the good run off on most corners (probably only airfields like Bruntingthorpe have less objects to hit). However, it is very, very hard on brakes so you need to be aware of this (long straights mean you are often braking from high speed). I enjoyed the couple of days I went there but since sampling proper racing circuits I doubt I will go back...I would rather drive smooth rewarding laps of Oulton Park than go balls out at Bedford.

[Chris71]

Have to say my experience of driving standards on the (smallish number of) track days I've been to (principally MSV organised) has been pretty good. I think I've heard about one minor car-to-car in 6 events, but I've never seen one myself. Plenty of people failing to check their mirrors admittedly, but no contact...

Edited by Chris71 on Thursday 30th April 11:02

[TomHunnisett]

boxsey said:

However, it is very, very hard on brakes so you need to be aware of this (long straights mean you are often braking from high speed)

Ah...so much for reducing impact on my wallet!

Sounds like Bedford is a good place to get into trouble if you're stupid or rash. Noted. I'll be mindful of closing speeds - my 115mph max is clearly at a disadvantage - maybe I should invest in some larger mirrors(!)

[swampy56]

TomHunnisett said:

boxsey said:

However, it is very, very hard on brakes so you need to be aware of this (long straights mean you are often braking from high speed)

Ah...so much for reducing impact on my wallet!

Sounds like Bedford is a good place to get into trouble if you're stupid or rash. Noted. I'll be mindful of closing speeds - my 115mph max is clearly at a disadvantage - maybe I should invest in some larger mirrors(!)

I think your motor will hold its own as they will prob use the smaller circuit not the long GT circuit. IMO

[TomHunnisett]

Now it's a bit closer to the day, any more takers for this track evening?

Does anyone know if this event uses the South-West circuit? Been looking at MSV and it looks like there are a fair few looong straights, brake cooking straights...