IMOC Ring Trip - 25-29 August

[Lauren]

My point was that speeding on a public road is dangerous, against the law and shouldn't really be bragged about. I fully appreciate that a race track is meant for racing on and pushing the limits, and everyone on the track is aware of these risks.
But poor old Mrs Jones in her Metro doing 50 in the middle lane on her way to see her grandchildren isn't as confident, stable, able and aware as some of the other road users, and this is the reason the speed limits are what they are and we have to abide by them. You cannot be prepared enough for the stupidity of those around you.

However, if you subscibe to the Clarksonesque view that we should all be allowed to go as fast as we see fit wherever and whenever we like, then I fear I am

As I am sure people here know - your vehicle has twice the kinetic energy travelling at 100mph, compared to 70mph, and therefore has the potential to do twice the damage - (to Mrs Jones' Metro as she inadvertantly wanders into your lane as you pass her doing 50mph more)

I thought this forum was about the cars and experiences - not some MaxPower type affair. I was just a bit disappointed.

I think you really overestimate the dangers that were present. I simply cannot, for the life of me believe we are having a debate at going 90mph (the reality was Mark was actually doing 85 which corrected would equate to 82mph).

Dithering Mrs Jones's do not usually drive all over the place on a deserted M20 at 3am in the morning.

Whilst i cannot condone speeding i at least admit that yes i will go over the speed limit on occassion. I think you wholly miss the point that speed is not the main cause of accidents. There was nothing dangerous about what we were doing. We weren't pushing the limits of anything tbh. The police were probably bored and had nothing better to do but just did a quick vehicle check and we were on our way.

Getting slightly frustrated, especially so when i have to justify every point of a post seemingly for the sake of it. I fully apologised to the marshal for the karting incident, i went for a risky move, Si ended up in the wall, the kart had a metal frame around it, so no damage was done. The wall was plastic fencing which moved as Si ran into it, all this meant was he stopped reasonably quickly, but without incident. Yes i know its a non-contact sport, i didn't intentionally think i'd stuff Si into the wall, i just went for a manouevre that was a bit risky. After this i karted for a further 40mins without incident. Yes of course there was the odd bump up the rear now and again as we were racing a fag paper apart, but this is inevitable in such a situation and was taken in good spirits by all.

[adman]

That was aimed at shish. I think he was trying to make a point about someone not being very experienced in a kart when he didn't even know how to spell it.

Lauren - that wasn't aimed at you geezer.

[Lauren]

That was aimed at shish. I think he was trying to make a point about someone not being very experienced in a kart when he didn't even know how to spell it.

Lauren - that wasn't aimed at you geezer.

Thats okay.

Did you read my post?

I am not a geezer!!!!

[cggrilli]

Hi

Yes, I agree, speed is not the cause of accidents - but it does make them worse.

Sorry - but you said 90-100mph, and travelling at 100mph is a bit silly, in my opinion. However, you were not, so thats fine.

I should not have made any comments in the first place as I seem to have kicked off WWIII.
Maybe you can understand, though, that from an outsider's point of view with the talk of doing 90-100mph and purposefully taking people out at karting it just appeared to be a bit MaxPower-ish. This was my one and only point in my first thread, and maybe I did harp on a bit.

The lack of respect for another persons equipment (even when hiring), in subsequent threads by the person karting with you, was also disappointing.

I apologise that I have made this thread digress from its intended path.

[Lauren]

Hi

Yes, I agree, speed is not the cause of accidents - but it does make them worse.

Sorry - but you said 90-100mph, and travelling at 100mph is a bit silly, in my opinion. However, you were not, so thats fine.

I should not have made any comments in the first place as I seem to have kicked off WWIII.
Maybe you can understand, though, that from an outsider's point of view with the talk of doing 90-100mph and purposefully taking people out at karting it just appeared to be a bit MaxPower-ish. This was my one and only point in my first thread, and maybe I did harp on a bit.

The lack of respect for another persons equipment (even when hiring), in subsequent threads by the person karting with you, was also disappointing.

I apologise that I have made this thread digress from its intended path.

Don't worry about it Christopher, your points are not taken with offence. I told Mark he'd have to do 90-100mph knowing full well that he'd maybe do 85 at a push. he said he wasn't happy about it, i just thought it was a quick dash to the ferry in the middle of the night if you see what i mean.

I got told off for my dodgy manouevre and rightly so, i fully apologised and didn't repeat the incident. I had no wish to damage the karts, lets just say i got a little over excited and tried a manouevre that was a bit iffy. It may have worked, well it did in the effect that i got past, but obviously i'd not wish one of my better friends to be injured by the incident. As it was, he stopped, got started again and then we carried on. I waved to him to apologise and check he was okay. he gave me the thumbs up, we then got cautioned by teh marhsal and heeded his advice. We had some good racing thereafter, even though the other people on the track were like moving chicanes and managed to avoid hitting anyone else despite the other karters crashing frequently, once instance which involved me having to lock the wheels mid-corner to avoid what might have been a heavy impact due to some fairly inept driving on the part of the guy that stuffed it into a wall 20 feet in front of me whilst i was full throttle and mid slide round a corner!

[Speedy]

Welcome back to IMOC Lauren

Carry on!

[adman]

sorry lauren. It's just an expression. I'm a cockney aint i.

It won't happen again man.

[ICEMAN]

Lauren That sounded like a great trip. Do you have any pics to post?

[greglebon]

Come on, people: give Lauren a break!

They've just returned from a great trip to the "greatest motor racing circuit in the world": who wouldn't be on a bit of a high?

So, they broke the speed limit: we ALL do that occasionally...So what?

Everyone got back in one piece: no damage to cars, people, etc..

Lauren is obviously a better than average driver.......every trip everyone ever takes in their car carries an element of risk: lapping on a race track maybe a bit more risky (but then the people driving there are likely to be SLIGHTLY better drivers anyway?)

Road awareness is everything: all you need to do is your best to drive safely.

Speed is not dangerous: its carelessness and not knowing your own limitations that kills..........

(P.S: Hi everyone!! only just noticed its my first post! )

[Lauren]

Lauren That sounded like a great trip. Do you have any pics to post?

We didn't take any pics/vid of the track action, though Mark took some great pics of the VLN racing on the Saturday, just awaiting him to put them up on his webshite. Si took some pics of us going round the Ring in the E36, am sure we'll get some stuff up in the next couple of days or so. we have got some karting pics and also some of the museum too.

[ICEMAN]

Lauren That sounded like a great trip. Do you have any pics to post?

We didn't take any pics/vid of the track action, though Mark took some great pics of the VLN racing on the Saturday, just awaiting him to put them up on his webshite. Si took some pics of us going round the Ring in the E36, am sure we'll get some stuff up in the next couple of days or so. we have got some karting pics and also some of the museum too.

Cool i look forward to having a browse.

[Blokey]

Hmmm... Something is an offence because it breaks local rules....

I've driven at 140mph+ on occasion on public roads. I don't consider that reckless, neither was it an offence (and it wasn't on the 'ring).

To do the same in the UK would constitute an offence but that in itself does not make the activity any more or less dangerous.

My experience of driving in mainland Europe is their lane discipline is far better than in the UK, so even if those speeds were legal in the UK I would never drive at them.

Speed doesn't kill - lack of concentration, distraction, preoccupation, tiredness and foolishness kill....it just takes less time to happen at speed and the bits go further at 90mph than at 70mph.

As for the karting.... I was driving with/against Lauren and this is my first post on the subject. We went for the same gap and neither of us lifted so we collided - we both could have lifted and we'd have collided.

I was more concerned that Lauren was ok than about the Karts - she was ok and we continued. What Lauren didn't mention was the Marshall involved came over and congratulated her at the end of our driving before the next drivers went out.

One collision on a tight twisting mostly full throttle circuit during an hour of determined racing with the circuit both empty and full does not in my book constitute a lack of respect for someone elses property. The rest were knocks and taps.

Back to the trip - I have some photos but will pass them to Mark, Lauren or Ben for postage.

B.

[gordy.r]

Sounds like a you had a great time Lauren!

Im so gutted i missed it

But there will be someone out there.... somewhere in the world.... who owns a red mr2.... who has just been to the ring for the day.... who will be wondering.... who is Gordy???

[Lauren]

Sounds like a you had a great time Lauren!

Im so gutted i missed it

But there will be someone out there.... somewhere in the world.... who owns a red mr2.... who has just been to the ring for the day.... who will be wondering.... who is Gordy???

LOL yes you would be absolutely right on that final point!!

Hope you can make the next trip!

Seriously though we had such a laugh, did some driving too... was just a very good social.

[blue2]

If I had a quid for every time "breaking the speed limit" is debated on this forum Id be a bl00dy millionaire!
Anyway I enjoyed reading the spa/ring trip post. Sounds like you all had a blast. Definatly one of my ambitions for the near future. A couple of questions, during the wet laps did you find everyone slowed down and took it easy or were you constantly checking the mirrors for people overtaking etc? and how much did it cost to drive around Spa?
Cheers!

[Lauren]

If I had a quid for every time "breaking the speed limit" is debated on this forum Id be a bl00dy millionaire!
Anyway I enjoyed reading the spa/ring trip post. Sounds like you all had a blast. Definatly one of my ambitions for the near future. A couple of questions, during the wet laps did you find everyone slowed down and took it easy or were you constantly checking the mirrors for people overtaking etc? and how much did it cost to drive around Spa?
Cheers!

When the Ring was wet, there wasn't that many cars out there. I had a couple overtake, though equally i caught and past a few others too. It was pretty quiet when the weather was bad. Even on the one dry lap i had i'd only encounter say 4 or 5 cars over teh 14mile lap, so it was very quiet really. I found people took their time to pass as did I, being careful was the name of the game due to the inherent lack of grip.

Spa was a bookatrack day so £225 for a days open pit lane. I was a second driver on Si's SC so there was no cost for me to do a few laps in his car.

[Blokey]

I didn't drive any laps this time around so I went off to try and capture photos of people. One thing I noticed was the rain kept almost all of the bikers off the circuit and the few that were out there were naturally enough I suppose also being very careful.

B.

[DoM]

Cool, sounds like you had fun, gutted I couldn't go! Those steaks in the pistenklause are lush!

I'm going this weekend , can't wait to get some laps in again..

Dom

[Lauren]

Cool, sounds like you had fun, gutted I couldn't go! Those steaks in the pistenklause are lush!

I'm going this weekend , can't wait to get some laps in again..

Dom

Best of luck, hoping you get better weather than we did!

[Speedy]

piccies?