Donkey Punched...

[Scotty C]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QezDiCa47nk

Lunch time at Oulton.

Not ideal 2-11/ atom weather.

[ruadh08]

Passed Messers Gibson and Boag on the way up (tried to wake Iain from his Fresian dreams with a 'fly-by').

I had a wee go at a fly by, but with my limited power, and short run up distance, i only managed to buzz them at 125 tuts with the hazzards on

Yes we did notice you and then Ali fleeing by at a vast rate of tuts. Also just missed you at the shell garage, you were pulling out, as we were pulling in.

All in all a great fun day, despite the wet (Not sure if Andy will agree!) The afternoon was almost like having a private race track only for SE'ers.

I did appreciate the warm bum heated comfort of the X5 tho, did think of Scotty, Andy and Mass in the freezing temperature tho, but only briefly!!!

[BigD]

About a hour after, thats why I didn't call you as you would have got your ear bent from Mrs D

4 hours to retrieve a trackside exhaust bung, well done Oulton.

Thanks Scotty I was still in the vicinity but not the frame of mind. Went to 'Spooky World' nearby so as not to have a totally wasted trip.

Good luck in the 211 racing next year, if you need any 'support' at any of the rounds let me know.

[Scotty C]

Good luck in the 211 racing next year, if you need any 'support' at any of the rounds let me know.

what you going to put a tow bar on the Evo

[H8OAG]

Real Oulton........look at the trees.....and the width of the track

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JJDkZYhJR1E

[Scotty C]

Passed Messers Gibson and Boag on the way up (tried to wake Iain from his Fresian dreams with a 'fly-by').

I had a wee go at a fly by, but with my limited power, and short run up distance, i only managed to buzz them at 125 tuts with the hazzards on

Yes we did notice you and then Ali fleeing by at a vast rate of tuts. Also just missed you at the shell garage, you were pulling out, as we were pulling in.

All in all a great fun day, despite the wet (Not sure if Andy will agree!) The afternoon was almost like having a private race track only for SE'ers.

I did appreciate the warm bum heated comfort of the X5 tho, did think of Scotty, Andy and Mass in the freezing temperature tho, but only briefly!!!

I passed the shell garage just before you pulled out. I was going to stop for fish and chips, but I just wanted to get up the road.

[Kelvin]

Fantastic trip and great to see everyone again.

Despite leaving early from OP it still took me 3 hours to get to Ashley's house and she only lives 70 miles from OP. The M6 just doesn't work! Still mustn't grumble as I could have been driving back to Aberdeen in a 2-11.

BTW When I got to Ashley's on Tuesday she said..."Kelvin, I meant to ask Ali what the Donkey Punch t-shirt was all about?"...after a detailed description and some diagrams she said I pity his poor wife and has decided never to get in your car again.

[Pesky]

Found this video on Norlog (Password = shake and bake)

http://www.vimeo.com/2099808

[UncleRon]

My first posting & what can I say guys - What an EPIC DP trip that was !!!!!!!!! Been thinking about it all day today…….

I thought all the tracks were really good - Loved Folembray, partly because that was the first track I've ever done apart from Knockhill, it was my first lesson from Walshy and the 20 lap battle swapping about with Robin was great fun! Enjoyed it so much I even stayed out for another 20mins after Robin went in to see if I could practice on some of Walshy's pointers to help me inject that extra yard of pace for next time….

Woke up feeling pretty rough from the night before at Abbeville and it was a bit to tight & twisty for the way I was feeling in the morning in the dry but when the track got a bit damp with the rain in the afternoon that made it a brilliant track as I could practice some more controlled drifts at slowish/safe speeds in the wet - Was gutted when I ran too low on fuel to go out anymore - Thanks Ali for the PAX laps at the end.

Snetterton for me too turned out to be better track than expected and a sunny day too! Spent the morning learning the track & building up my pace then I had another sound lesson from Walshy after lunch and he really increased my pace again with another wad of pointers……Some man Walshy! Had good PAX laps there with Mass too - Cheers...

I was really looking forward to Oulton Park and was gutted when the sound police there rejected the Mule for being 107Db 'Sorry - Too loud for this track' was their chat….. Fortunately Craig had brought a random bit of 90 degree pipe that fitted on the end of the Mules tailpipe so I clamped that on, went back to see them, they gave me a kind of 'get that sorted for next time sort of look' but they gave me the all important passed sticker and I was out there….. Oulton wasn't the easiest to learn in the wet, especially Druids but what an awesome track…. Was so glad they re-opened it after the snow passed and we really had the track to ourselves and some great PAX laps with McKean - Wish I'd that level of car control in the wet !!

Have to say a huge, huge thanks to Andy for getting me to come along and lending me the Mule !!!!! What a tremendous piece of kit !!!! It has great pace for a K series, easily shamed a lot more fancy kit, was flogged relentlessly and never missed a beat the whole tour - I'm scared in case he decides to sell the Mule now cos I had such a good time I would just have to buy it……Also have to say thanks Andy for 'taking' these beers for me in Abbeville in an effort not to make me look such a 'lighweight' and Mrs Uncle Ron isn't so keen on me going on next years tour if you guys are going to keep forcin' me to out clubbing in French clubs full of 14 year old girls, one 15 year old and a 9 year old boy…...


Awesome - Thanks very much Guys !!!!!!!!!!!

[robin]

Which car was that (obviously S2 of some sort, but any idea which one it was?).

Shame about the downshift into Cascades ... the white car's spin up clay hill looked nasty ... did he stay out of the barriers? I was following Tut up there before lunch and he had a big moment but kept it straight, as you would expect from the old ninja

Cheers,
Robin

[Pesky]

Hi Robin

I understand it's a 135 which has been Honda'd - but it doesn't sound like any Hondas I've been in!

If that video is typical of the way most of those who spun, were driving, I can understand why they did!

I don't know if the white Elise avoided the barrier, as I only learnt about it from watching the video, & I left Oulton at 3.30pm.

Edit: Apparently he just got away without hitting any barriers - good news indeed.

[mrbennybennett]

Thought I would do a quick write up of my first SE foreign tour

Thursday

Gave the car a quick wash and packed up my stuff and headed down to MMC to meet Scotty, Ali and tut at about half 10. Scotty was getting a couple of bits done to the 2-11 so me Ali and Tut headed off down the A68 to the B & B by North Weald.

Trying to keep up with tut and Ali on the motorway!


Pretty smooth trip down with thankfully Alis new Tom Tom saving us getting stuck for over an hour after an accident on the M1, although thought I had been done for speeding when a traffic car flew up behind me with sirens blazing at about 120mph but thankfully he pulled in at the next junction and panic over!.

Arrived at around half 6 and met up with Scotty, Andy G, Walshy and his other half Emma at the Green Man pub for a few sharpers then back to the Pussy Willow B&B for food and a few more drinkies which resulted in a pretty empty booze cabinet . Rossco arrived from Glagsow and we headed out to the local night spot for more refreshments and a spot of Travolta esq dancing with the local ladies From the first nights antics I knew this was going to be a messy trip

Friday

Saddled up from the Pussy Willow feeling a bit worse for ware and headed down to North Weald for the activity day




A this point Robin and Ross and Dave (wheelie) had joined the crew as well as Darren a racing driver who was helping Walshy out with the day. I was the first out with Walshy to begin the day - after 5 minutes in the car Walshy asked if I had ever crashed a lotus before and looked very shocked when I said "No" - at this point I realised I had a lot to learn but came away from the day with a lot more knowlege of the car and its capabilities. At the end of the day uncle ron and PeterB arrived and we shot off to the Euro Tunnel to meet up with the other SErs - JJ, Hamish, Craig Wallace etc.

Once off the train me JJ and Rossco headed off towards Folembray stopping off for fuel on the way - a number of guys including SELOCers were at the fuel station filling up. As i waited to get to the pump behind one of the English guys in a 135r a 4 x 4 that was parked up in front of us revered out of its space and straight into the 135r which in turn was pushed back into my car Unbelievably neither cars were really damaged - i only had a very small scuff to the defendall on the front clam but I left the Del Boy of Glagow, JJ arguing with the foreign drivers of the car looking for compensation, by the time I had paid for fuel JJ had nabbed 100 euros off them for our troubles

Arrived at the hotel quite late and headed over to a nearby stakehouse with the SE crew for some food and a few beers - after only a couple of beers we were kicked out as they were closing but we still wanted more beers so they said they would order taxis to take us into town but after half an our standing about they never arrived so we just headed over to bed - probably a blessing in disguise after Thursday nights antics!

Saturday

Arrived at the circuit by about half 8 just in time to see Walshy car hobbling off the track as he had buzzed the engine on his second lap - not a good start to the day. By 9am the track was in full swing with Scotty and Andy G first out bumper to bumper but again after 2 laps Andy was in the pits with a driveshaft problem on the Atom - bit of a recurring theme here

Thought this was the best track of the trip - really enjoyed it with the good mix of fast and slow corners and felt i was getting quicker as the day progressed. Went out with Darren for 20 minutes instruction which was excellent showing me the lines and the pace that each coner could be taken at. Would definately like to go back and do this track again in the future. At this point the DP stickers were unveiled by Andy and a few special ones for Uncle Ron, Tut and Ali



Again headed off with JJ and Rossco towards Abbeville to the motel by the track. At this point the SE crew with Walshy and Darren grabbed a big table and the beers began to flow. after an hour of so it was noticed that Darren had gone AWOL from the table so we all piled into his room to find him asleep in a rather fetching pair of union jack boxers The plan was to go back to the room and gaffa tape him to his mattress and leave him outside for his blatent poofery but by the time we returned with Rosscos tape his door was well and truely locked so it was up to SE's resident design guru JJ to re-design his room from the outside



At this point the hardcore drinkers left namely Scotty, Andy G, Uncle Ron, JJ, Rossco and myself decided to order a taxi to take us to the nearest nightspot - a half an hour taxi ride later we were driven down a country road in the middle of nowhere where we headed up a driveway to a massive nighclub which was absolutely jumping. This was the most bizzare club I have ever been to - the place was full of people from ages raging from 8 to 58 One of the funniest sights of the night was an 8 year old boy busting a groove on the dancefloor at about half 2 in the morning.

I think Rossco enjoyed himself


Nearing the end of the night the lights came on and all of the locals headed to the dance floor and sat down and began some wierd rowing/line dance which had us all in stiches

10 points for the first person to spot Rossco who joined in the fun


Sunday

Due to the excesses of the night before and the fact we didnt get in till about 4am not surprsingly most of us missed the morning session at Abbeville. Me JJ and Ross arrived after lunch and signed on. Ali took me out for a few laps to show me the ropes and due the twistyness of the circuit I really did feel a bit green around the gills Went out on my own after my stomach had settled but i have to be honest I wasnt the biggest fan of the track as it was a bit narrow and twisty but was quite a laugh when it rained a bit for tail out action.

We left around half four and headed to the tunnel and eventually arrived at the hotel near Ipswich for a bit of food and an early night.

Monday

Early start again following PeterB to Snetterton which was about 25 miles away. Really loved Snetterton, a really fast track with fast corners and I had a couple of sessions with Walshy which was great but I know i have got so much more to learn!! I definately want to go back here as well in the future.

It was a fair treck to the next hotel near Oulton but we arrived, had a beer or two at the neighbouring pub then a curry in the nearby town - quite well behaved for SE standards

Tuesday

Awoke to hear the rain outside and feared the worst it was pretty wet. Headed over to Oulton for the briefing then out for a few sighting laps - the track was very wet and slippy and I wanst really keen to go out. Robin took me out for a PAX and shwed me the pace and some lines that could be handled so I finally plucked up the courage to do a few laps but I was very slow and a bit nervous of hitting something which is easly done at oulton. A few laps later I was back in the pits due to a red flag and 10 minutes later the snow was battering down. We all headed into the main building for an early lunch then we had a power cut at this point I decided to call it a day and head home following tut, craig and rossco. I really cant wait to do this track in the dry as it seems an epic track - hopefully next year

Got home to Edinburgh by 5pm with about 2,000 miles done in five days. Had an absolute blast and cant wait for the next one - I will definately be back.

Big cheers to Andy and Robin for their orgainisation skills, Walshy and Darren for their tips and advice and to the whole SE crew that went - great company and so many laughs on the way

Whoops this was a bit more than I thought I was going to write - hope I didnt bore you too much

Benny

[jj]

Tears of laughter here at Gary Glitter sitting on the dancefloor in the last photo next to what looks like a ten year old

You even got the wee guy in the white T in the podium shot, just below left of Rossco

[Andy A]

Oulton what a great track much more suited to an exige than Knockers even the weather never spoilt it for me although a few laps in the dry would have been nice
The grip levels were so different second chicane had loads then druids had very little
as you turned in under steer followed a four wheel drift or push which helped align you for the apex out, easy on the power until after the hump which spat one guy right into the barriers hope his car is not to bad,
have to try it the dry!! well worth another trip down.

Andy

titanium exige

[rossl]

Benny, that nightclub was awesome!

What a cock that guy on the podium is though!!