I think the last SE day at Crail was 24th Nov 2004. This was my first ever track day.
I remember thinking that as it was an airfireld it would be nice and safe with lots of run off. It was also very cheap. I recall a couple of the SE dinosaurs saying that they thought that KH was safer due to run offs and gravel etc. Pfff! I thought, what do they know? That was before I went there on my first ever track day (I think I may have already mentioned that
)
The day started dry and an excellent turn out from SE. It was Lee and Mel who brought it all together. Being right on the coast and November it was absolutely baltic (wrap up well guys).
As well as the track, Willie allowed us to use the small figure of 8 which was cool for me as a newbie to get a feel for the car at a low speed. As the day wore on, the rain started to drizzle before turning to pretty wet. I had a couple of spins at the hairpin, but knew what I had done and no problem, however coming through the fast kink I spun it in the wet big time. A couple of full rotations and I was heading for conveniently placed metal gates. Whilst I was still spinning, I was already counting the cost of front and rear clams. Fortunately I came to rest before making contact and lived to tell the tale.
Yes the surface was a little rough, but probably no more so than most of the roads we drive on. Definitely can't compete with a permanent circuit surface. Yes there was one or two stones, but I don't recall anything big and again no worse than driving on the road.
I can't recall if there were marshalls but there were definately some of Willie's crew there. The circuit is flat and from memory no corners are blind (like KH) so corner marshalls are less important from that POV. I am pretty sure that helmets weren't required as I didn't own one at that time, but I would always recommend that you wear one if you have one for this kind of thing. If nothing else it will keep your head warm!
As can be seen from Rog's and BigD's vids, much of the track is defined by large tyres kinda like a gocart track. That wasn't an issue for me the last time, but could be a bit messy if you get it wrong.
As I am a big wuss and don't do track days without insurance (only covered for owners club TDs) I will not be on track, but will probably be along at some point for some banter.
In summary, you will be getting what you pay for and should be reasonable value. I would still probably suggest that this may not be the track for a complete TD novice although I am sure others will disagree.
