Track / Cherish / Stupid Question

[flip flop]

cheers again for the advice,

the last few comments have got me wondering a couple of things

would we have enough novices to have a novice track night? possibly a cut off of 3 track events to qualify and keep the pace down. possibly with some kh instructors and some kind hearted track legends to offer advice aswell. or even open up to everybody for 2nd half of night.

I know the likes of Kayfur, Pete 039 and Tut all have their next generation coming through and may welcome a quieter track to cut their teeth, anybody else fancy it for themselves or patrners etc?

finally, would this be feasable?

cheers

[campbell]

You have the makings of a grand idea, I have a feeling something similar was mooted (but maybe not followed through?) possibly as a ladies night, a couple of years back.

Get onto the Trackdays segment of the forum, start up a poll, and get organising! Tut or whomever does the AMP3 event setup (Shug? Andy G?) would be able to give a bit of background on liaising with KH if needs be etc.

[tut]

That was an unfortunate experience Chris and can not understand how it came about. You were not at TT, but even though I was pretty busy, I went out of my way to both get pax out in cars in case they did not like asking, and also to get experienced drivers to sit in with the newer drivers if that is what they wanted. Shug was a case in point, he was out several times with Belinda and her son as it was their first time on track. My son Ian in his Audi TT also benefited from instruction, and Robin would go out with you as often as you wanted, as would several others, and still get plenty of track time in.

In a four hour session, if you count out the likes of myself and Mass, most people will spend half of that time in the pits, so have plenty of time to go out and give help. I do myself, and if the driver is happy, I will also drive their car with them as pax, which gives them confidence in what these cars are capable of.

I don't know how you went about asking drivers to pax with you, but I do not know of any drivers on here, and I know most of them, who would say that they could not do so because it was using up their own track time or their track fees.

I also had an Instructor on hand for free tuition, and he was used flat out for the four hours. Next time make sure you come and talk to one of the old timers, and I can assure you that you will not have the same experience again.

tut

[Corranga]

Sorry, i've maybe come accross a bit wrongly and i'd like to clear it up.

My (Erica's) experience was specific to a shorter 2 hour track day which is always that bit more hectic. I think a 4 hour session would have been better, but for Erica trying the VX on track for the first time, cost was an issue.
It was either a speedfair or amp3 session.

Someone mentioned SIDC or an SE event as a good first time track day. Most SE organised events tend to be 2 hours though from my experience, and i'm not sure they are so great as novice days.

Prior to the day, there was talk on the forum of people going out for tuition type pax etc, and no mention of pm'ing etc so I suppose that's why I figured I should just ask on the day rather than in advance, and tbh, I didn't really know how Erica was going to be so arranging in advance wasn't such an option.

I like the idea of a novice track day, but i'm not sure I fit into the novice category any more.

My best learning experience was the 6 (or 9?) laps with a KH instructor during the LOT full day at KH. It rained a lot that day too, and with the day being so long, the track wasn't too busy and I raked up something like 120 track miles.

Other than that, the VXR day I was just at was actually really, really good too.
The instructors were all either proper instructors or racing drivers of 1 form or another and whilst some just told you:
break, throttle, turn etc.
others were telling you about lines, giving proper advice, and the telemetry session was a unique experience (though I only managed 1 go in it) and one i'll plug on here for any novices when next year comes around.

I'd also like to add that my fear is mostly due to a bad experience / having spent loads on the car, and a general character flaw of not having much self confidence / confidence in my ability.

So my advise would be:

Do a KH tuition session / VXR day if the timing is right
Attend an SE/SIDC type day for some pax laps, ask lots of questions, remember what the tuition taught you.
Do an SE/SIDC day, ask a couple of people in advance about doing laps with you
Sorted.

Chris

[campbell]

Rainy days are great for learning at lower speeds...although in principle the crossover from grip to no grip is a lot faster

Does sound like it's worth looking for a 4-hour session to drive one's own car as a novice, but turning up at a 2 hr to purely pax with those that know what they are doing, is a pretty good bit of advance research IMHO.

[flip flop]

Hey,

will stick a post up on trackdays and see if there are any numbers up for a novice session, maybe even see if kh could do somethng for an hour before the amp3 if andyg was okay with that.

Did some advance research and got some great helpa nd pax laps off pete 039, kayfur, ian in the 9t3 and finally mass, came out a cross between and

[Shug]

If KH would let an hour go ahead before AMP3, that would be awesome - but traditionally, we're squeezed in between events and the minimum time on offer is 2 hours.

[Rusty]

Other than that, the VXR day I was just at was actually really, really good too.
The instructors were all either proper instructors or racing drivers of 1 form or another and whilst some just told you:
break, throttle, turn etc.
others were telling you about lines, giving proper advice, and the telemetry session was a unique experience (though I only managed 1 go in it) and one i'll plug on here for any novices when next year comes around.

I'll agree on this point! the vxr day was great.

I had been out in a single seater at croft (and a cayman to warm up) before the day so had a basic grip of what to do on track but the vxr day was brilliant cause they were able to help with the line, turn in and all the basics. After a building the track basis they did help push it further and how to be quicker. So will plug this as well when it comes round!

I'd love to take part in a beginner track day but not sure if the astra could keep up with track newbies in elises lol.

Getting out Pax does help look at the line whilst also watching where the driver is taking off lock and where to put the power down. (helped when i went out with the vxr day)

I'd maybe say try and do the track tuition before going to the trackday, or see if a beginner track day would work. I think it was previously looking to get a girls track day organised. I'm sure theres a few people with 350z who i know that want to get on track but at nervous about it all (so they may be interested)

[Rusty]

Cause of this thread i'm looking into sorting out a beginners track night,

only just thinking it through just now, but i'm asking around other people i know.

i'll post up in the trackdays section.

[Corranga]

I'd love to take part in a beginner track day but not sure if the astra could keep up with track newbies in elises lol.

It might not be so bad (not sure which model you have etc...) Erica's first track day (the one in the VX was her 2nd) was in a 1.8 mx5 and was an SE day. The mx isn't the quickest car in the world, but everyone was great about it and although she felt a bit like she was getting in the way, no one else had a bad word or complaint!

Chris

[flip flop]

lets get a quick poll up and see how many, if any would be keen for a novice track session. Poss upto 3previous track sessions or 5 as a cut off for novice? and poss a list of die hards willing to pax?

should we do this in general to catch peolpe who wouldnt normally look at track section or in trackdays?

[flip flop]

sorry rusty just realised I missed your post, will pop over and get my name down

[Rusty]

haha no problems,
http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... =6&t=26327

Chris, i don't think i'd be on track, would want to make sure everything went smoothly so that there is no bad words afterwards.

[Andy G]

go on a journey and find out what the car and yourself can do.

1 warning - it will besome a habit

French Frolic 2011 then ??

Exiges are made for the track, hugely confidence inspiring, and very well balanced.

to learn more check out http://www.carlimits.com - ask the boys about Walshy - do a day, get on track. Sorted.

[robin]

Not that I would consider myself qualified to teach, but if you have an organised novice track day I would be happy to come along and offer some tips from the passenger seat, subject to date - but I'll try my best.

As to the track/cherish question - it's not worth keeping as an investment - S1 Exige or 340R maybe - S2 Exige, not for the meanwhile - so if you don't want to thrash it to within an inch of it's life, sell it

Cheers,
Robin