2019 Trackday chat

[Kingster]

Fingers crossed that the mist clears quickly. Have a great day!

[Andrew]

11 hours ago, Chris King - Webmaster and Joint North East AO said:

Fingers crossed that the mist clears quickly. Have a great day!

Mist what mist? Wall to wall sunshine all day.   (Drove through some proper pea soup on the way home though. )

Unfortunately the car was battling me! Plagued by start motor issues.. but when it ran all was good. 

Thank god for a willing pair of hands. My lad did a good job getting it sorted. We didn't actually lose much track time.. but it was just a pain in the 

 

[Mole]

well done Andrew. Glad you had a good day!

[Andrew]

14 minutes ago, Mole said:

well done Andrew. Glad you had a good day!

Yes, so that's Sunny trackdays 1 ….. Wet trackdays 0

Unbelievable weather for February!

[Dave Licence]

Hopefully it will be good weather for all our track days 

 

I’m now booked at Castle Combe 29 April and Llandow with ckc on 18 May

[Dave Licence]

@Andrew do you put your footage online that we can view?

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, HappyDave said:

@Andrew do you put your footage online that we can view?

Yes, just click on the banner below. Not got any from yesterday up yet, but it wont be long.

[Dave Licence]

2 hours ago, Andrew said:

Yes, just click on the banner below. Not got any from yesterday up yet, but it wont be long.

Thanks Andrew

Ah I’m using my mobile’s browser which isn’t showing banners. I will check on the laptop later. 

[Ruttager]

Morning

I'm off to look at @mr_mcp Westfield in the next week or so and providing everything goes to plan I'll own my first westy. High up on my agenda is getting it on track, preferably before June. I've done many track days on a bike but never in a car. On the bike you get split into ability groups, novice inters and advance. I rode mostly in inters. Sessions were 20mins with a warm-up lap at the beginning and a sighting lap in mornings and after lunch. How does it work with car track days? Is it essentially a free for all or is there some ability structure to it as above?Would someone be able to give me an idea of what a typical day would be like at a track. 

Really itching to get into trackdays and touring this year. 

[Kingster]

Car days are nearly always “open pit lane”.

I too went from bikes to the Westy and had done bike track days in groups. 

After initially being apprehensive I now find open pit lane much better. You can just get on track as and when you like and stay out if you are having fun. 

Only downside is if the muppets over book (only happened once) and then there’s a lot of queuing up to get out. But that’s rare. 

Really enjoying it!

[Kingster]

Oh the format is pretty much always the same I’ve found:

sign on, briefing, noise test (unless it’s only drive-by), three sighting laps, open pit lane, lunch, open pit lane. 

[TAFKARM]

Blyton or Bedford good for your first track day, neither is intimidating. I’d avoid Oulton and Caldwell for your first couple. 

Open pit lane, drive at your own pace and get some instruction. 

[Kingster]

Yeah Blyton is definitely a very good track to learn on with loads of run off pretty much everywhere. 

[Ruttager]

Thanks all,

Instruction is very high up on my list. Did some training schools on the bike and it transformed my riding. It was expensive but totally worth it. Any pointers here would be very much appreciated.

I'm in the Midlands so my local track is Mallory (fell off on my bike there getting on the throttle too quick out the chicane. Spun my foot round almost 180 and was lucky with only a fracture. It's not the best track on a bike and can't imagine it's much fun in a car.). I love Silverstone but it's going to be £££. I'd love to give donnington a go as well. 

The downside of the bike days were the absolute idiots it could attract. I'm hoping the car scene has less of that. 

 

 

[Ruttager]

Open pit lane sounds good. Does a westy fuel tank manage a full day or is the odd Jerry can required. I actually ran out of fuel at Silverstone once, embarrassingly, no fuel gauge and I was having so much fun. Luckily I was able to coast up the pit lane so didn't interfere with other riders. Did have to push the bike to the far end of the pit though. It's a looooong walk in leathers on a hot day.