LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

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Andy G
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by Andy G » Fri Nov 01, 2019 10:59 am

great to catch up with everyone! Fantastic trip.

311 was absolutely epic - now my fav Lotus ever.

Loved both days on track, the weather was perfect, and my god have a I crashed back to reality since getting home.

Hope you all got back safe and have great weekends. Thanks for the laughs, beers and friendship. Truly the spirit of SE, and even the ghost of Tut got a mention....
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C7Steve
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by C7Steve » Sat Nov 02, 2019 5:35 pm

A few videos from Donnington and Oulton Park. I did not set up the GoPro until after lunchtime at Donnington, so that is why there is only a couple of sessions of footage.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Brilliant tracks and cannot wait to go back there. :thumbsup

Any tips regarding lines etc from anyone would be appreciated.


Steve.

Ps Cannot believe that I forgot to do up my helmet strap on the Oulton Park Session 4. :oops: :oops: :oops:

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by Ferg » Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:10 am

Great trip. The conditions, chat, friendship were all top shelf. Reminded me why I have the car.

Love the vids Steve. 👍🏼

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by C7Steve » Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:27 pm

This is for you Campbell. Hopefully you can make a trip next year.

Small write up from last weeks trip to Donnington and Oulton Park and a selection of pictures from those that were there.

I left my house on the Sunday morning just after 08:30 and headed to Gary’s for the start of the trip. The exit from Gary’s drive has a sharp angle, so I had to tentatively pull out on to the main road. Gary started to do the same, but he soon noticed a car coming, so slowly reversed back onto his drive. He soon caught up with me as we passed through Peterculter and I noticed that his front number plate was missing. I was unsure if it was fitted before we left and I tried to see if it was sitting on his dash, but I could not really get a good view. It turns out that it had ripped off when he reversed and Pauline was able to retrieve the number plate to be refitted upon his return home. We were soon down in Edinburgh and crossing over the bridge. We even manage to take the new one this time. Image

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We met Clarkie at the Petrol station beside the bridge then I arranged to meet Stu further down along the road of Campbell’s route plan. I took the lead down the A702 towards Moffat and the guy in the white Discovery certainly knew which way the road went. We stopped for a short break in Moffat and waited for Stu to arrive.

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We did not have to wait much at all as Stu appeared just as we where sitting out in the sunshine enjoying our drinks.

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Stu took the lead from here onwards and it was pretty much straightforward until we took a wrong turning and ended up travelling across some farm roads for a few miles. All part of the adventure. Image. We soon were back on track and heading towards Scotch Corner for some fuel needed for the last motorway leg to our destination for the night.

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It did not take long at all to travel down the A1/M1 and the traffic was fast flowing even though there was the usual amount of lane hoggers and we had two incidents of seeing the Police Patrol Cars travelling past us with the cars in front moving out of the way relatively quite quickly. Soon we were at the Premier Inn at East Midlands Airport where we quickly checked-in and regrouped in the next door hotel with the others. Tom very kindly was doing the shuttle runs with us squeezed in to all available spaces in his car.

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The curry we had was delicious and my choice of Lamb Jalfrezie was very hot and spicy, it was hotter than my usual choice of Madras.

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A couple of taxis were ordered and we went back to the bar for a nightcap before retiring to bed for the night.

Up early for breakfast with Gary, Clarkie, Ed, Tom and Stu before venturing out to the car park to see all the cars covered in frost.

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Only the mighty ST had a heated windscreen. Image

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I followed Stu along the road while the others turned into the circuit at Donnington and I presumed that Stu was heading to fill up with fuel, but he knew of another entrance further along the road which avoided any speed bumps. We were soon all together again and parked up in the paddock and a couple of garages were claimed before we signed-on and attended the driver’s briefing.

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Donnington is a fast flowing circuit and really good fun. I did have a chuckle to myself as we drove round for the siting laps as everywhere I looked, there were tyre skid marks all over the place and the grass was covered with them too. A little reminder to take it easy and build up speed progressively.

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A few little issues were soon sorted out and the mornings session was over quick enough.

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This is a customary scene at any trackday with Stu.

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I had a quick forty winks on a present that I had seen someone using on last year’s French Frolic at Dijon. Kinger, it is much comfier than a car seat. I can confirm that a 430 Evora’s exhaust is loud enough to wake you up. Image

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The afternoons session was good and I managed to setup my GoPro to record the last couple of runs.

We then packed up just after three o’clock and decided to head off to miss some of the commuter traffic. A quick refuel was done before we were on our way.

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The roads were very busy and at one point I looked out across all of my windows and all I could see was roads disappearing in all directions. A quick reminder of home and how quiet we have it. We soon all split up for various reasons and travelled on different roads before arriving at the next Premier Inn for the night. We then ventured to the bar downstairs to regroup before heading out for the staple SE diet of curry and maybe a drink or two.

No nightcap for me this time and I had an early night as I was looking forward to tomorrow’s time on track. Up again at 06:45 for a shower and then I went downstairs to meet Gary and Clarkie for breakfast.

The windscreens had to be defrosted again before we travelled the short journey to Oulton Park.

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We were soon out for the sighting laps and as I was coming out of the hairpin I noticed that there was some salt that had just been put down on track. The tarmac was wet and greasy with the area just after the next chicane being the worst for the first few laps until a dry line was made from the cars that were first out. Stu had clearly enjoyed his first session and I imagined he would have had the car sliding about on every corner.

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Oulton is a great circuit with slow, medium and fast corners, a hairpin, two chicanes and a couple of blind crests, but there is not much run-off and it would be a different prospect in the wet.

The on-site fuel was only open at selected times during the day. Stu was wondering if there would be any fuel left for him considering all the thirsty V6s in the queue.

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These two cars were not hanging about.

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I love the central driving position of this.

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Big D swapping his rear tyres over for even ware.

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V6s a common site.

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Andy G and Uncle Ron’s track weapons.

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I asked Andy if he could give me a pax in the 311 and what a machine it is. Going up Clay Hill and over the blind crest in my V6 was daunting enough. You would have thought that most of the cars were on their sighting laps given how easy it was to pass them by. Andy’s car control was effortless and I joked with him afterwards that it would take me three weeks to process those laps out with him. Image

Thanks to Robin for his advice too, but I will probably give the one about looking out of the side window, close your eyes, foot to the floor, a pass. Image

Ferg and Kinger.

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The day on track was soon over and we packed up, said our farewells until the next outing.

I was not looking forward to the long trip back home, but it had to be done, so got some music on and then travelled in a group of four along with Gary, Clarkie and Stu again. We stopped at Tepay Services for a much needed toilet stop (oh how I could of done with one of Kingers bottles of Irn BrewImage)and double expresso caffeine hit before getting on the road again. Stu was first to peel off, then Clarkie. Gary and myself stopped for a short five minute break at Stirling Services. The section from Dunblane to Perth has average speed cameras and it is the same from Dundee to where we turned off on to the Aberdeen bypass at Stonehaven. There was resurfacing works taking place just north of Dundee and the convoy vehicle workforce protection system held us up for a brief period too.

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Thanks to everyone who made this trip enjoyable and cannot wait to do another one in the future.


Steve.

Ps. Thanks for the present Kathy. x

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by ClarkyBoy » Mon Nov 04, 2019 12:51 pm

Great write up Steve!!
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by ed » Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:17 pm

Cracking write up, what a great trip it was. Can't wait til the next one! :drive :cheers
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by Stu160 » Mon Nov 04, 2019 1:30 pm

Great write up 👍😎😎
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BigD
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by BigD » Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:17 pm

Nice write up Steve. We had a more straightforward route down via the old M74 which was empty. 😎

Made it home the 244 miles on a single tank of fuel. Good old frugal v6. 😂 Wonder what Doug’s mpg was in the M2?

Also huge thanks to Neil for letting me borrow one of his shocks after I realised one of mine was leaking on the Friday. And thanks to Monty for removing it and letting me pick it up from there.

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by C7Steve » Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:30 pm

Big D,

I filled my car up to the neck and managed 268 miles including a quick break at Stirling Services.

These days, I need an empty before the car needs filled up. ImageImageImage

Image


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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by BigD » Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:40 pm

C7Steve wrote:Big D,

I filled my car up to the neck and managed 268 miles including a quick break at Stirling Services.

These days, I need an empty before the car needs filled up. ImageImageImage

Image


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Doesn’t count if you stop. ImageImage

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by C7Steve » Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:45 pm

BigD wrote:
Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:40 pm
Doesn’t count if you stop. ImageImage
I didn’t want to take the chance again. 😉

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by campbell » Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:38 pm

campbell wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:23 am
Draft route idea from central Scotland.

Haven’t done Brampton to Piercebridge in many years but memory says the section across the heights at Alston is lovely.

Views?

https://goo.gl/maps/Pbg2YDQrKmoC1QGu6
Route re-post for Steve.

Photo to follow too.
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by campbell » Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:40 pm

Image of the fun part of route.

Image
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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by C7Steve » Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:56 pm

campbell wrote:
Mon Nov 04, 2019 4:40 pm
Image of the fun part of route.

Image
Fun part of the route. :damnfunny

Well it would be if we took that way. Our route was slightly different. We were ok from Moffat to Alston and Scotch Corner to the Premier Inn. The ‘fun bit’ in the middle is a bit of a grey area, but it was on the A689 from Alston and some farm roads towards possibly the A68. We eventually ended on the A1 and then drove south to Scotch Corner.

Maybe Gary, Stu or Clarkie can fill in the blanks.


Steve.

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Re: LoT - Donington & Oulton - 28-29 Oct 2019

Post by C7Steve » Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:48 pm

After conferring with Gary, I think that this is route we took.

https://maps.google.com/?daddr=Alston%2 ... 29f27b4ad5

Ninebanks should be renamed nine-point-turn. 8)


Steve.

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