Castle Combe - Coopers at Combe and Bristol Pegasus MC Track Day

[B.RAD]

Hi All

 

Just thought I'd share some pics and vids from what has been a stand out track day for me - the Coopers at Combe / Bristol Pegasus MC track day at Castle Combe. 

 

I'm lucky enough that my dad, who got me hooked on mini's from about 8 years old, now has a fine selection of them including an absolutely mint mk3 Austin Mini Cooper S, with a Slark Race Engineering 1330cc engine and 91bhp.  I must have done something right as he very generously allows me to share the driving with him at select track days, including Goodwood and Castle Combe - proper circuits for a proper mini.

 

Anyway, yesterday proved to be the most fun I have ever had on track as I learnt you have to flick the Westfield rear wheel drive / mini front wheel drive techniques over BEFORE you get in the car!  Also my car handling skills are not good enough yet, and things felt a little slippy on the first few corners, leading to this:

 

 

Whoops!  Thoughts going through my head at that point? Much swearing, prayers not to let the following traffic pile in and pleas to dad to forgive me!

 

All was fine and once going again, I remembered that he'd fitted a rear anti-roll bar, inducing the much loved mini 4 wheel drift.  Once realised and understood, the car was absolutely sublime to drive and huge amounts of fun.  It really is the most fun I have ever had behind the wheel of a car.

 

I also managed to get a run out behind a Combe officiando, Nick Stansmore, in his rather lovely Cooper with a 100+bhp 1380 - a video of this will follow as it's a big file!

 

Thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoy the pics and videos as much as I did!

 

Cheers

 

 

Barny

 

 

[B.RAD]

 

 

 

 

[Marto303]

Good skills Barnstable 

[1959grantura]

We had a chin wag waiting for the sound testing in the morning , was a fantastic day

[B.RAD]

We did!  Sorry I didn't catch you again, I did see you out on track though and it looked like you were having a blast.  Car looked fantastic!

[jeff oakley]

I saw you as I was coming in from a run but did not realise you were driving the Mini. Your Dad must love you as a car like his is now worth a fortune so to get to drive it there is a great treat.

 

The Westfield you were keeping up with has a supercharged crossflow and was pretty quick so to hang with him was not shabby.

 

As normal it was a fantastic day and weather was just perfect. It is such a relaxed day. I gave a ride to the nephew of the owner of the red Westfield which left him with a grin from ear to ear, he was in his late 30's but it brings out the child in us all.

 

But the best thing for me was that Rob Crossland who sold his very quick car recently due to back problems, came over and went out twice with me and even though he clearly was in some pain, he was last heard muttering about a single seater, a great time with a great mate.

 

For anyone who wants to join us next year for Pegasus members it is just £129 with just 9 cars on track at any time with free instruction from Castle Combes instructor.

[B.RAD]

Hi Jeff, yes I was watching your runs with admiration - not only is your car a lovely looking motor, you also pedal it around rather nicely too! On one of the morning sessions you lapped all the other cars!

When will you be joining the speed series??

I agree with everything you said about the day, it is brilliantly run with a real respect for one-another. The briefing is always done with good humour, but is one of the only ones that really focuses on the rules of the day. Everyone wanders around for a chat and admires the other cars which is great.

Sorry I didn't get to say hello directly, we got all our runs done in the morning and headed off just after lunch - Dad was understandably keen to call it a day while everything was still working! We'll definitely be back next year

[jeff oakley]

Thanks for your kind words.

 

I would love to have a go at the speed series sometime but with aged parents who live in Yorkshire needing more help, time is against me really to do it justice. Also when I took Rob out on my last run I thought I was fast into Avon Rise at 115, until Rob told me he would have been doing 125+ at that point. This made me realise to go faster I would need to spend even more on brakes and more power to play with the big boys.

 

Will you bring your Westfield next year as it would be nice to see what it can do after all the work you have done.

[B.RAD]

I'll certainly try!

[TAFKARM]

Mini Looks great Barny, looking forward to the longer video!

Not nice being stranded on track after a spin (I imagine, it's never happened to me obviously) but alls well that ends well!

[B.RAD]

Here we go then, final session of the day and the most fun EVER!  Quite a long video, first three or four laps are where the fun is.

 

 

This video took almost a whole day to upload, any ideas how I can reduce the size on these things?  Using the GoPro software.

[TAFKARM]

They always take an age to upload. Takes me 8 hours from home vs 15 mins if I do it from the office.

[TAFKARM]

Good skills! Looks great fun!