about the only way to do it on a road car really.
The last track day i did i was told i needed to install the towing eye in the front.
he doesnt look like he has it on his car either as you remove the fog cover and screw it in.

 

They should be getting black flagged if the marshalls are doing their jobs

 

the subaru and m3 looked nice motors too, i had a look after around them and feel gutted to the owners, the subaru lost it on woodgate i belief, i came off there a few seasons before him

 

It happened in the following group to us and near the end of the session, we suddenly got a red flag and that was it. The first I saw was the scooby going out on the back of a lorry, it looks as it's hit a wall which we were specifically warned about in the briefing.
Trev

 

The black M3 seamed to be out on a lot of sessions to


Anyone see the Dark blue bug WRX with gold wheels have a big moment and nearly take said M3 out

 

far too many cars out with different abilities for my liking....

both crashes seemed to be at the top end of the track just before the new complex..

 

I don't know how people can bring themselves to do it - tracking your' pride and joy. One false move or misjudgement and you could be facing a write off.

Now taking the same model car around which isn't your own - HELL YEH!

 

I've not been for a few years but TRAX seems to attract people out onto the track who wouldn't normal do track days or are very inexperienced.

Oooh Silverstone where the British F1 GP takes place... red mist comes down, the outcome isn't going to be good, at best a near miss, and new pants required or into the gravel and wheels need refinishing and you get stick as you got the session red flagged for your club session, or worst you total your pride and joy.

I am not saying any of the above apply to either the M3 or WRX drivers in the cars featured.

 

I 100% agree with scatty u have a 500bhp car with a very good driver then a saxo with young lad and then a van Something is bound to happen.

 

Or a ford anglia doing 20mph along the back straight

 

Trax used to put cars like for like a few years ago, so you didnt get a van and a 500bhp car on the track together so something must have changed,

re the brakes being standard, it doesnt matter what brakes you have if you run out of talent.

 

+1 i have seen it so many times both with bikes and cars, red mist and lack of talent.

I always let them go and find a clear piece of track and have my fun, then they can feel good about passing a scooby in their nova, last one that thought he was the stig at donny ended up on a trailer too,blown engine then into the barriers looked a right mess, far too many idiots on track these days.

 

So when considering going on track,

a) Should a car be kitted out to the drivers ability?
b) Should the driver be kitted out to the cars ability?

These are completly different scenarios.

If I had a 600bhp Subaru with suspension and brakes to suit, the car would definately be out of my league if I had no previous tracking experience.

Where as a 250bhp Subaru with decent brakes and suspension would clearly be more adapt to my driving ability with again no track experience.

I have track experience and I still find that I can make any car a handful when the "limit" is found, however I have also notice that in my experience, oem brakes are not up the job in most cases, and brake fade is evident quickly to the point of stamping on the pdeal to little or no effect , and im not just refering to Subaru's!

I agree the monster brakes wouldnt make much difference to a novice, however how many serious competition cars/driver use oem/basic brakes these days? Its all about control, and if you have serious brake fade then you have little or no control, thus you either learn from this and do what is necesary (cool, brake early, upgrade), or become blahzay and risk everything for ignorance.

rant over

Rob

 

The problem is that when the red mist is down, people forget about this bit...

"cool, brake early"

...and then run out of brakes.

On a stock or PPP'd WRX, well maintained 4 pots with decent discs/pads are fine on track if you bear in mind the above. They're not brilliant admittedly, but they work well enough so that it's not 100% necessary to upgrade them just to do the odd track day here and there. You will want to upgrade them of course, but you can make do with out.

 

In fairness there should be a few more leagues for people. Instead of novice, intermediate, advanced there should be

Novice

Stage 1 up to 200bhp
Stage 2 up to 350bhp

Intermediate

Stage 1 upto 300bhp
Stage 2 upto 400bhp

Advanced

Stage 1 upto 450bhp
Stage 2 unlimited

Yes maybe more work but at least youll be in a good class with very similar cars

 

Wouldn't hurt but I don't think it would make much difference... numpties would still be numpties.

 

bhp is no real indicator of talent, a well set up 250bhp car with a good driver will be all over a poorly set up 400bhp car with an average driver, so the above is not really workable.

Add to that most people are unrealistic and over estimate their own ability and level of skill right up until the point where they hit the barrier, which is when it becomes obvious to the rest of us, but more often than not the person involved still thinks they never ran out of talent and the excuses are rolled out.

Caution and calm should be the watch words, but no one likes being passed on a track day.

Most view it as a race, but it's not, it should be viewed as an opportunity to gain experience and use your car at non legal speeds in a controlled environment, to discover how it behaves under hard braking/cornering and gradually increase your skill and knowledge of the vehicle dynamics.

Unfortunatly there are those that view it as an opportunity to hoon about like a lunatic and spoil it for the rest, they need to be flagged and warned and if they don't heed the warning then GAME OVER, before they injure themselves or someone else.

 

I do.... so long as it's by something that sounds nice

 

This is what puts me off track days, it only takes one idiot to ruin it for the rest.

 

As above, I've never done a track day for fear of someone elses reactions in their car. Had a bloody good day out as a passenger at Cadwell mind, but going from what I've read above, the driving clientelle were a little more mature in their style that day.

 

From what I've seen Cadwell usually has better standards of driving than other places... Might have to do with the lack of run-off

 

Better to be doing it on track rather than down the high street, though, and track driving is brilliant fun and relatively safe as long as you don't go 100% ***** out.

You don't have to have a powerful car to have fun either, I bet something like a little mini cooper or saxo or something would be an absolute hoot around some tight tracks

 

Trackday etiquette is generally a lot better than at the Trax type of event.... especially if you keep your head and let the marshalls do their job (i.e. pull any idiots off the track).

Most other people their are driving their pride and joy too and don't want to crash either.

 

Very little run off indeed
Cadwell is my local track and to be fair you dont get alot of idiots there but last year two lads in a m3 decided smoking a joint before going on track would be a good idea - the bellends stopped laughing when the rescue vehicle had to pull it out of the barrier

 

oops

 

its the only way you can really exploit the capabilities of the car...once you have done it once you WILL be back for more, no point owning a quick car unless you go on track imo. That's what track insurance is for

 

+1

No point in trackday insurance for mine though as it's now almost worth less than the excess

 

Is it safe to say both will be on eBay by the end of the month after a repair and advertised as light damage?

 

cadwell is better suited to bikes, which is why you get a better class of driver,not much room for error, i used to love caning my nc30 round there, its 50 miles from me so almost local, and with a bike trailer in tow doesn't matter if i have problems, but never been round it in a car, only on r factor, i use donny for cars and its on my doorstep so not far to go if something breaks.

 

i done it in my volvo estate in february