Anglesey trackday May 27th and BBQ and beer 26th :-)

[AdamR]

b*******. Oh well. Definitely the MX5 then... Probably not a bad thing given the oil in the Westy has developed a smell of fuel

Still be great fun going sideways everywhere at 7mph with 2bhp!

[JeffC]

we will see, as said last time forecast was for torrential rain all day and we never saw a drop  so fingers crossed .   

[Andrew]

we will see, as said last time forecast was for torrential rain all day and we never saw a drop  so fingers crossed .   

 

I've "liked" that Jeff..

 

What do weathermen know anyway..

[AdamR]

Passed you on the M6 earlier Andrew!

Off to pack the van and load the car... I'll bring the Mazda just to ensure its sunny for you guys.

[alexander72]

Adam - whats up with the Westy mate ? 

[AdamR]

Noticed the oil smells very fuel-y (haven't had chance to investigate yet but I'm fairly sure that's not anything I can fix myself tonight) and my passenger has no wet weather gear...

[alexander72]

what a bummer !!!  good luck with it mate...

[Andrew]

Passed you on the M6 earlier Andrew!

Off to pack the van and load the car... I'll bring the Mazda just to ensure its sunny for you guys.

 

I didn't see you on the M6 or at the circuit Adam.. thought you'd given it a miss as the weather was so "good"

[AdamR]

I spoke to you by the toilet block early in the morning!

Had my hood up though, so maybe I just looked like a random thug...

How did everyone get on? Just got back home, was a strange day for me (billy no mates) but got sideways plenty of times and the car was faultless as always, so can't complain.

Not a lot of grip at any point though, one particular moment that sticks out was getting it sideways flat in 4th (only about 90 though given the MX5s power output...) going through the right hand kink just before Rocket. Instructor **** his pants, which will make a good video

[Andrew]

     My eyes probably weren't working after being open all night Adam! Sorry. Don't think I got a wink of sleep in our little tent, I didn't expect to still be in Wales by daybreak.. it was so stormy! Which Mazda were you in?

 

I think most of us "well ard Northerners" gave up about lunch time. I found the track was OKish.. ( perhaps getting a bit aquaplaney later..) but my biggest problem was visibility. After a few laps it was like someone spraying my face with a hose pipe. Couldn't close the visor because it steamed up, and the slightest gap seemed to allow huge ammounts of spray in. So one layer of spray on my glasses, one on the inner visor and of course the outer, translated to where the hell am I?

 

Got some splashy video that might get an airing at some point.

[JeffC]

yeh what a **** weekend that was, howling winds all night rocking the awning that was strapped to my car kept me awake all night so had 4 hours and was up fixing the awning before 6 then the heavens opened, so yes after 4 moments on  the last session enough was enough, I had a moment in the same place as you mentioned adam as did ross, was a bl**dy close one for me as I was hitting over 110 up that back straight on sh*tty road  tyres ( i couldnt be chewed to swap onto wets) track offered a fair bit of grip but my tyres really struggled on the standing water. just on with a video now but its not so good as I couldnt get the camera at a decent angle with my roof on.

 

5 and half hours home , roads were at standstill out of Wales. think will be a long time before I make that journey again       

[AdamR]

Haha, I thought as much, I'll let you off Andrew I tried to camp there in similar weather last year - gave up at 2:30am slept in the driver's seat of the car instead - so I know how sandy your eyes will have felt!

I was in the Blue Mk1, think I did spot you on track once or twice. Will see what video I have, but to be honest there's nothing spectacular, mostly going sideways.

Ah, I did wonder where everyone from your garage had gone - that's a shame you called it a day so early.

Had similar visibility issues when I went to Blyton a few months back (

), some anti-fog and Rain-X type stuff seemed to do the trick... maybe worth having for next time. Mazda wasn't great either, above ~70 the wipers barely touch the screen, they just flail around aimlessly

Major bummer for you as well Jeff (and sorry I didn't come say hello - didn't want to interrupt). I'm sure we'll see each other sometime though!

Here's that vid

bl**** phone, can't get it to embed...

[JeffC]

couple of laps from today, as said tyres struggled with standing water and I couldnt use 2nd gear at all, was hard work putting power down in 3rd 

 

 

[SteveH]

Yep, that was a tough one for sure, very little sleep the night before as due to the wind and then pretty heavy rain with very strong wind during the day.  

 

I really enjoyed the driving, there was naff all grip even on the wets but it's all good car control practice and was fun overtaking all the 4wd and fwd kit that should have been running away from us   .  Still, even with full waterproofs on I was getting pretty moist by lunchtime and felt we'd done enough!

 

On the subject of visibility, I updated my lid last year and got a new Arai Chaser, it's a bike helmet but the only thing that a full Snell approved lid would have that this doesn't is a fireproof lining which seems a bit pointless unless you are wearing full fire resistant kit anyway (wouldn't have been a problem yesterday for sure!).  The new lids are superb for de-fogging, they use a Pinlock insert on the inside of the visor which entirely eliminates it, quite amazing and well worth the money, it meant I had no visibility issues yesterday aside from when I was kicking up so much water on right-handers it was just flooding the outside of the visor!

 

[Andrew]

He he, it sounds like a Pinto when you let the revs drop right down in third.