Trackday - Best beginners track?

[Rowland]

When things do go wrong at Cadwell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_V8mC6BTlw

Ahem...

That you Rowland? Did you turn in a bit sharp resulting in oversteer? rumbling over the kerb with your front left wheel wouldnt have caused that would it?

Correct, back in 2008 in a mk2.
That corner usually requires a very small dab on the brake before entry OR a small lift.
I opted for a small lift since it was the last lap and was keen to have a last attempt at overtaking the red mk2 that I struggled to find a way past for much of the race.

I think a combination of too high entry speed and taking a slighly wrong line particularly on exiting the corner contributed to the big oversteer and contact with the barrier.

Over the years I've seen several mk2's and mk3's end up in the barrier there for similar reasons.

[ryan]

That wouldve scared me half to death Rowland

[Lauren]

Cheers Woz, I signed up on there earlier today, I'm out of the country for that Llandow day so I can't make it

The missus got me a track day experience thing for Christmas so I'll check that out to see where is on offer

Agree that Llandow is just boring. It's the one track I've been to where I wasn't interested in driving it.

Pembrey is good fun. Also Anglesey is very safe (though not the most exciting circuit), but nevertheless a good place to start for a newbie. Also Bedford would be fine. Alternatively you are looking at airfields, but I honestly think it's better to just go to a proper circuit. There is also Combe but that is pretty quick and there is potential for a bit of carnage. Mallory would be okay.

I'd avoid Oulton, Cadwell and Croft until you have more experience.

[monkeymax]

I popped my trackday cherry at Mallory in an MR2. I think it's great as a starter track (though I've only since experienced Silverstone) for a number of reasons. It's not boring, the track changes through the day (especially if you have on/off rain as we did) and it's not mega-long, so you can learn the layout fairly quickly.
As said before, whereever you go, just start out well within yours and your cars limits and work up from there. As you improve through the day, you'll gain confidence and learn more about yourself and the car, and ought to be happy with your progress by the end of the day.

[Rustyracing]

Stevie,

Noticed this thread, thought I'd post as I'm local (Newport) and was in a similar position to you a couple of years ago.

I notice some people are knocking Llandow, and its not my favourite, but it has its place as a first track to learn how a trackday works and as a good car tester (since its usually a cheap day - 80-100 quid). If you're based in Brecon, its handily local as its nearest track.

Downsides are its just less than a mile long, is a bit featureless and one of the few features they do have (90degree left after 1/4 mile straight, into a left, right, right, left complex) is a real car punisher as you hit the brakes from approx 100 to 30 within 100 yrds every lap. But, like I say, its a great place for learning how a trackday works and because its small and tight, there's not going to be too much relative speeds between yourself and faster machinery. Its my local track and I use it as a handy shakedown event for checking the car is working fine with a new upgrade before travelling further afield.

Pembrey only does about 1 car trackday per year, it's mostly about the bikes with them. Still haven't mananged to get there yet, due to conflicting dates.

Anglesey is a very good technical circuit, recommended. Although who knows what its like in the dry?!

Castle Combe is just the other side of Bristol and is my favourite local circuit. It has everything you'd want in a track. It does have a corner to be wary of however, Quarry, after a long fast section along pit straight and up a slight incline. As long as you treat that corner with respect, you should be ok (as long as its a proper trackday - don't ever do an "Action Day" that they run, too many cars on track and some truly awful driving going on). The only downside with Combe is they are very tight on noise, 100db and no more.

My advice, have a go at Llandow, learn the ropes, take it easy, see how you get on, see if you like it, make sure your car performs well on a track (vast difference to on road) then try something more interesting for a second go.

Hope that helps, and if you want someone to go with, get in touch
Damo

[smudge]

My mate and I are popping our cherries at the "RING" next May/June. We must be nuts but we're not gonna really thrash it as it's a long walk home! I'm going in my Rev2 G-Limited and he's going in his 200sx S14 but he's a bit of a pussy on corners, so should be quite close between us. He's got straight line speed but I've got the handling!?! Is there anything on here with times people have posted around the "RING"? Might try and have a go around Castle Coombe before hand as I don't want to get to the Ring and find out my cars xxxx when pushed, plus CC only 20/30 mins down the road from me. Just a thought but does anybody fancies coming next year to the Ring?

[Rustyracing]

My mate and I are popping our cherries at the "RING" next May/June. We must be nuts but we're not gonna really thrash it as it's a long walk home!

I doubt I'm the only one who thinks that's a really bad idea.

Get used to pushing your car close to the limit on a home track a few times first, and/or get some tuition.

At the very least get used to getting out of the way of faster stuff; a hesitant driver at a trackday can be as dangerous as someone driving beyond their means.

[smudge]

I won a Competition July 09 in Japanese Performance Magazine and got a days tuition at Prodrive with their chief instructor in the Mags own Impreza 330S, so I've got some experience and I'm a HGV1 driver so I'm used to people flying past me lol

[Rustyracing]

Ah, so when you say "popping your cherries", you don't mean that you've never done a trackday before. Clearly i misunderstood. Good luck with it.

[smudge]

I was the only car on the tracks(Tarmac Rally/Skid Pad/High Speed Handling) So yeah not done a Public Track Day... Yet! Will prob do Castle Coombe before the Ring, be daft not too

[Lauren]

I won a Competition July 09 in Japanese Performance Magazine and got a days tuition at Prodrive with their chief instructor in the Mags own Impreza 330S, so I've got some experience and I'm a HGV1 driver so I'm used to people flying past me lol

Don't bother or worry about setting times round the Ring, it's a recipe for disaster. Tbh it takes a while to build track experience on on track. One days tuition with Prodrive may help, but I'd advise getting a lot more than that if you can do.

Also learn the Ring on GT5 etc, will help massively with learning where the blind crests go.

[smudge]

Already ahead of you on the GT5 front although I'm a bit annoyed there's NO Mk1 & Mk2 MR2's just the MRS. Anyways as I said previously I'm not gonna try a set any records and drive sensibly I'm just gonna enjoy the experience and to say at least I've done the "Ring" and who knows... If all goes well I'd like to do "Spa" sometime. Anyways going back to the Original Thread... What about Thruxton as a starter track?

[Lauren]

Already ahead of you on the GT5 front although I'm a bit annoyed there's NO Mk1 & Mk2 MR2's just the MRS.

Just so you know there are all flavours of MR2s in GT5. Used car dealership.

[Steve Horrocks]

I popped my trackday cherry at the ring. Quite doubting actually! Was an odd experience, and no matter how confident you are in your car on the road, it's a different animal on track!
I just remembered that I wasn't going to push too hard and definitely NO TIMING EACH OTHER! lol
Was cracking fun though!
I'm def getting another car though now to pop another few track days in and a return to the ring again this year.

[smudge]

We should hopefully be going last weekend in May as the Fri and Mon are bank holidays cos of the royal wedding, or one the first 2 weekends in June.

[bri0905]

As far as i'm aware thruxton don't do track days. Which is a shame, as it's close to me and a great track!

[Lauren]

As far as i'm aware thruxton don't do track days. Which is a shame, as it's close to me and a great track!

Noise issues. No trackdays at Thruxton. It's the one track in the UK I"ve never been to.

[bri0905]

I did an experience day there and it is a great track. Don't think it's down to noise though as it's an active grass airfield, plus has very noisy cart centre there and ferrari/lambo/porsche days there. From what i gather it's simply because there calendar is so full of race days they don't have any spare to offer as track days.

[Rustyracing]

Nope, Thruxton don't do trackdays. They only offer experience packages (some of the more expensive ones are good) and tuition packages. I redeemed a load of tesco vouchers for a few hours of tuition around Thruxton in an exige, generally a very good experience but I wished I could then go out in my own car and consolidate what I'd just learnt.

The track itself reminded me of Combe, although with a bit of gradient here and there. Good track, shame they don't do trackdays but not something to lose sleep over.

[bri0905]

echo.....