Katana

Davyboy, i bet you had fun in your 944. Had one myself a few years back. That car was meant for the track, not Santa Pod.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Well...

What can I say?

I guess I was one of the only people to have some fun today & to fall in love

As usual turned up with the full intention of only doing a bit of speccing but sort of lost that argument with myself Resuly was I managed to have a gentle 1/2 day on track Even I was surprised that I was 84.7dB on the static test & as a result nearly didn't get my green sticker. FFS I've been there, what 4 or 5 times before with never a problem & I know the likes of W9 GTR have been out before, so it is a real shame that poxy Council regs are conspiring to turn that venue into a no-go. Echo Chris - what about the Harriers that used to use the airfield? Track was also shortened to the SW, so as to keep the cars away from the "local" village

On track it was somewhat sparse after all the black flags & noise regs, but once again it is a lovely track to have a play on. Keeping it sort of gentle as on my road tyres but still f***ed up by late braking into the last corner before the pits & did a little 360 Never mind - no damage & my passenger enjoyed it!

Love? Well, it was the Noble I don't think it was overly fast but the glorious sounds of the engine together with the fizzes of the dump valve had me virtually staining the seats I want one & many thanks to the lucky b'stard who owns it for taking me out for a few laps Front end grip is staggering & it was only the damp conditions that made the back twitch. Nearly stacked it into the back of someone at the first corner when he broke late & so did they! No ABS. Little spin too

I wish it had rained more but thats solely because it allows me to catch the more powerful cars quicker Noticed a lot of (Gossy apart) tail-happy scoobs which is not the norm. Driving etiquette was good but I do wish that people wouldn't suddenly slow down & indicate just before a corner when pulling over. Drive the corner then pull over as it puts me in a dodgy position if I overtake inside the braking zone or on the corner (Black 205GTi had this happen to him which is one of the reasons he got black flagged ).

Talking of Gossy, I went out before him & spent a couple of laps watching his antics in my rear view mirror. He must've been having a whale of a time Saw him eventually go grass-cutting in big style

I'm sorry that not everyone had as good a day as I but I'm sure that those concerned will be getting a refund. When I was signing up, there were some people already getting theirs, so I'm sure it won't be a problem. As to the extra expense, then thats no help I know but...

Good to see you'all again & the new ones. I didn't get a chance to speak to all but extra thanks for all those who asked after my career status Thanks to Jonathan (?) for recommending me as a "fast but safe driver" for someone to have a passenger ride with! Please inform my wife I'm that

Roll on 29th December

Josh L

Good evening Mr Boy.

Actually, I was running low on dilithium crystals, and my barillium spheres were starting to crack (translation- damp, dark, wet and some brass monkey issues).

In fairness to Bedford, one of the helicopters that flew in was Jonathan Palmer who, I'm lead to believe, flew up from Sussex to try to address the situation, and spent an hour in the village taking sound readings.

Whilst I appreciate the frustrations of those who were unable to drive, particularly those who'd had not problems in the past, nobody seemed to understand what was causing the problems today. Not that it's of any consolation of course, but it does appear that a combination of factors were conspiring against us today.

Josh

PS Still sorting through the pix, and too flippin' tired to post anything tonight.

Hoppy

I didn't realise so many peeps had noise problems. That is a major pi55er and I hope they are compensated. We should fight noise regs, but sadly they are inevitable. Exhaust manufacturers need to take a lead in ensuring we can enjoy our cars to the full. The SIDC could also offer an invaluable support service here. (With Tyres NH?)

Bedford is a great facility. I like: 1) the track - it's fast and fun, but with a few tricky bits and long straights to cool the brakes, 2) hard to hit anything, 3) remote pits keep thieving scum away, 4) anti-clockwise means less right-handers to give J Felstead's fuel-surge problems

I also enjoyed the mix of cars out today and the good driving manners (from what I saw, which was not much as I arrived late). The Noble was superb, though not actually as quick as I thought (in the wet). Nor the Ferrari. Great shame we didn't see Ian G's Westfield in anger. There were some loons for sure but there's so much space there it's okay. That Beemer looked out of control until he did a deliberate 360 in front of the pits. Top entertainment and respect

I'll be back

Richard.

PS I would like the SIDC to do a deal with Bedford for 2003, for the reasons given above. I know this will not delight peeps in the North and South, but if maybe the SIDC concentrated their efforts on a few popular North/South/Mids circuits it would help their difficult financial risk situation. Gimme some dates at Bedford for 2003 and I'll book and pay now for at least four days/evenings.

ian_sadler

Firstly I'd like to thank the guys who took me out as ballast, sorry passenger .

Fat Boy, thats one quite car

TaviaRS, some great action in the wet.

& Gossy who was great fun to be in a car with . Not once did I feel worried, felt sideways alot but never a prob.

Nice to meet a few names Craig - so soz you couldn't take the black beast out - Blade who says he's de-tuning his Evo down to 400bhp & Redkop to name just a few.

Also great to meet up with some old mates Pete C, MutantMatt & POC etc.

I'm kinda glad I decided not to put the scoob on track cos with the full SS decat etc. it can be a bit noisey. If I'd paid all that dosh have been black flaged I don't think I would have been as calm as most of you unlucky guys

Anyway I enjoyed the day but was glad I didn't get upto early, sorry Paul Palmer , cos when we arrived everybody was still being drive by tested.

Ian

gossythevaleter

well as the iitial bedford track day was advertised as driver development that is what i did develop my driving skills

Having spoken and been told that it was the best and safest place to push your self and the car to the grip limits this is what i did we where told to go for it by the guy in the briefing yes i was flagged twice i then went and spoke to same chap again and he told me the marshalls where just bein over caustoius (fair enough)

As far as iam aware i did not A. endangour any other persons car & B. any person

I dont recall any cemetn dust on the track for crying out load it had been pi$$ing it down all night and first thing in the morning what there was was a nice big puddle that i did go sideways through a couple of times

I enjoyed myself immensly however £170 for 4 hrs tack time is rather expensive but beggars cant be choosers

I apologise if my antics where not to every bodys taste however the tyres i had on where crap Avonn ZZ1 which i will not be buying again However if you want to go sideways then i cant fault em but no grip[ at all

Roll on the next Driver Devolpment day at Bedford Heres hoping they can sort out the noise problem

Thanks to SIDC for arranging this

Jeff Wiltshire

I didn't realise that they had dropped the noise limit. I feel for the guys who where stopped because of noise but this must give Palmersport a real problem in the future. Corporate days are in decline and they will need trackdays to make up some of the difference. With this new limit imposed on them it's going to be a problem.....

However if you turn up to a track day with a full decat system (which must be illegal on the road under the construction and use regs) you shouldn't be surprised that you fail the drive-by noise test. Some of those Scoobies where really loud....

Noise pollution is becoming a bigger and bigger issue and I'm sure that limits will fall even further in the future as local residents become more militant and this is not just Bedford either. I think that if you want to run on track then your going to have to have a relatively quite car.

It would be intersting to compare what modifications the Scoobies that passed the drive-by and ran all day had compared with the ones that failed.


Jeff

Danny Fisher

Jeff, as per the villages close by to these venues. They knew that the location of their property is close to this type of venue, so noise is an issue when buying the property. And before these sites where turned into track sites, they where normally ait fields. What sort of noise did that produce? Cars going around a circuit is a hell of a lot less than an areoplane of an helicopter.

Dan

PS. Davyboy I take it yours was the Porkie Turbo. Was great fun following it.

davyboy

Not as much as looking in my rear veiw mirror at you going sideways!

Chris L

True what Jeff says about full decat systems (although, I believe these are still road legal in terms of noise levels). It wasn't just Scoobs though - several of the RX7s and even the modded 205GTI fell foul of the limits. As Craig said earlier, the XTR2 was fully road legal with catted exhaust etc and this was still too loud - what's going on?

Echo Puff's thoughts on the Noble - stunning car. Top marks also to the 360 - don't often see these on mixed track days. It was well driven in some pretty testing conditions (although Mr Felstead did manage to catch and pass him on the twisty bits )
and the sound it made coming onto the pit straight was magic

Chris

Jeff Wiltshire

I actually got pass most things on the track in my 'humble' S4 including the Noble, Ferrari, a large number of Scoobies....The only Scooby I couldn't keep up with or pass was John F and I did have a problem with the M5 which seemed to have tremendous grip out of corners for a rear wheel drive car. The look on the faces of some of the STi7 owners on the back straight in the first few sessions was priceless when they where overtaken by an Audi.

The point about Bedford being an Airfield is valid of course but it's unlikely that a great deal of testing of aircraft was done at weekends....I'm sure that Palmersport have less of a problem during the week, infact talking to the guy who did the brief it appears that Palmersport don't even bother to try and run anything on a Sunday.

Tony_Rodriguez

I was out in my M5 for the first proper time on track today. My EVO is sick at the moment. I was being instructed all day, and once I got used to the concept of driving my big beastie on track, we seemed to go very quickly. We passed most things, including the 360 (nice dabble that one). After lunch, the only car I recall that would pass us was a (what seemed) very quick scoob with the number plate "KEVAN F". The S4 was very well driven, as was the TVR.

Had great fun practising 45 degree slides at the end of the pit straight into the first corner. Got about 1 in 3 right, with a few 720 spins

I really enjoyed the day, and love Bedford - thought the revised circuit better and more flowing than the GT circuit IMHO.

Did anyone get unoffical lap times? I managed 2m19, whilst my instructor did 2m15

I was amazed how well the M5 went. Rear traction (infact traction all round) was amazing. The car would never bite you, and it has a huge amount of grunt - the only quicker car I saw was the TVR - was that a 5 litre? Being an ex-Griffith owner, nice to see one so well driven - but I suggest you get better brakes, as I was easily outbraking you.

Speaking of brakes - I had RS19s and AP 6 pots on the M5 - didn't miss a beat all day! THat is 1700kgs of car - NO PROBLEM. Try them, they are fab

Tony_Rodriguez

Should just add - when I said the only quicker car, I meant in a straight line - though the S4 just about matched straight line performance with me. Understand that had 330bhp/400lbft?

Track etiquette was pretty good I'd say - just weird that alot of cars didnt seem so eager to get on track!

M5 was drinking fuel at 6 mpg!!! Did about 130 miles on track

CraigH

The TVR was driven well - makes a change to see one like that

Your M5 sounds v Tony - muted Nascar

Against my better judgement will have to defend Pete to some degree

The Westie is v v hard to set off - even with our clutch mods it's very grabby - your foot is supposed to be able to replicate small finger movements that the Busa clutch was designed for - ie it's tricky. And the throttle lol. To describe it as hair trigger would be equivalent to saying a Pagani Zonda is quite quick

But Pete? next time you don't need to chane up at 6.5k - is like changing up in a Scoob at 4!!

Still [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] about the day though

Jeff Wiltshire

The S4 is running around 330BHP 390ft/lb. What was interesting about the 'duel' with your M5 was that I expected to have you with traction out of the corners but there didn't seem to be such a large difference between the two cars. I understand know how you where able to pull some distance on us underbrakes ! (I've only got 4-pots and road pads !)

I'd forgotten about KevinF, he got past as well....very well driven.

I didn't see much of the TVR on the track and when Don Palmer was driving the Noble it just disappeared into the distance.

Track 'sense' was pretty good, with the exception if the red 206 which nearly rear-ended me while trying to outbrake the S4 !


Jeff

CraigH

That red 206 passed the noise regs?

FFS

Tony_Rodriguez

Craig - I was going to come over and say HI, but wasn't sure who you were - there were so many crowded around the XTR (which looked FAB). Think I should make the M5 LOUDER

Some new pipes on order

Jeff - I must admit I made a point of getting away from you, as you seemed to enjoy going past me in the morning when I was being tutored

Good gentlemanly dabbling I say! The Red 206 - hmmmm

Jeff - the brakes on the M5 are AWESOME - for such a big car too. Needs less roll though! Wish I had my EVO with me

Oh, I am detuning that to 450bhp from 500 - but also trying to drop another 1000kgs to 1100kgs Make it more reliable and even lighter.

Tony_Rodriguez

LOL! I meant another 100kgs

Swapping current cage for a light welded T45 one, lighter wheels (20kg lighter!), removing unecessary lower braces, the heater. Removing all the fancy carbon, the dash etc - just fitting a pod with a motec dash.

Also removing water injection, and a few other things - oh, and fitting polycarbonate windows to the rear.

Tony_Rodriguez

I was out with Ed Moore of Motorsport Events - www.motorsport-events.co.uk

fantastic instructor - and he can do all the stuff Don Palmer can do for a lot less money!

Josh L

Re the village, and it's proximity to the track. Talking to a few people at the track, I get the impression that they have to apply to the council to extend their licence every year, so they have to consider the residents.

Funny they never complained when it was an Aerodrome.

Josh

Jeff Wiltshire

Josh

When it was used as an airfield it was MoD property.....the locals probable worked there and therefore worked for the Goverment.....doubt if many peoples complaints got very far !


Jeff

davyboy

More please!

Josh L

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm OK



and



and




That's your lot

Josh

davyboy

Not even a little teaser of a Black 944?

Josh L

Oh go on then, if you insist

Tony_Rodriguez

Any of the black M5?

davyboy

Bah! Not quite what I had in mind

Josh L

Yup,




Josh

Danny Fisher

Well done Josh. Great sense of homour.

Dan

Tony_Rodriguez

Ok Josh... do you have proper ones, and if so, how do I get them?