Day 1
Drove down to Kent, stayed at my mother's house.
Day 2
Drove to Clermont Ferrand which was a long tedious drive.
Day 3
Mas-de-Clos
Started driving as usual, learning the track. In the effort to make the rear tyres last the whole trip, I have managed to resist the temptation of going sideways too often. The RC6 was absolutely awesome. Very good bite and feel with no fade at all. This is a beautifully kept track with tyre walls made of brand new Tyres. Loved the track but looking back, I should have drifted more........
AndyG let me drive his 340R which handled very well with tons of grips 
. Had some fun chasing Neil in it until I was black flagged for no brake lights.In the usual AndyG fashion, he and Ed had stickers prepared for some of the SE cars as
Neil, bike R
AndyG, gRavel
Ed & Tom, piKKie
AliC, shes quick R
Robin, fast R
Mass, drift R
Frank, miRRor (my favorite)
Rob, Toy ota
Kev, Keyfur
Ron, uncle R
Sanj, talent mask R
Got a speeding ticket for going 127km in 90km limit on the way back to the hotel. Paid the fine of 90 Euros. At least no points were taken.....
After the track session, we headed into town for some food and drinks.
Day 4
Charade
The track is located on top of the hill and most corners are surrounded by concrete walls instead of tyres. An alarm bell started ringing as we knew if we had an off into the wall, it would be the end of trip. Near the end of day, a French S2 Elise hit the wall and their trip was over..... My tyre conservation mode was still on in the morning but I was having so much fun, I got carried away and started to slide a bit more than the previous day. By the end of the day, the rears were more than half gone. The conservation mode on again for the next two tracks.....
After the session, we went into the town ate and drunk, back to the hotel, packed, ready to leave in the morning to Anglet.
Day 5
Drive to Anglet
Ali, Andy, uncle Ron, Sanjoy, Kev and I headed to Anglet in convoy. It was a fairly long trip (over 500km) so we had to use the motorways for most of the journey. What the guys didn't realise was that I didn't have the transmitter box to go through the pay points automatically. Every time we got to one, they started a drag race leaving me behind for miles.... I had to gun down the motorway at a huge speed for several minutes each time to catch them up......... Not amusing
. Half way through, a torrential rain started and soon there must have been over 2in of standing water. Sanj was in front of me and started to drive at about 35mph to combat the aquaplane. I stayed behind for a while but decided to overtake him doing about 80mph. Had a huge moment with aquaplane myself as did all the other guys 
.The hotel was much better than the previous one with larger rooms & quiet aircon. A lot cleaner too. There was a swimming pool and guys started to have swim almost as soon as we got there. We decided to walk to the town thinking it will be a shot walk of 15mins, which turned out to be more than 1 hour. This was especially tiring as we had a long drive and the southern France was so unbearably hot. Anglet is very picturesque with some nice shops and restaurants. We went into an Italian restaurant on recommendation of Kev which has proved to be a very good choice
. Day 6
Pau Arnos
As soon as I got to the track, I swapped the two rears over to make them last a bit longer by getting an even wear. The track was very drifty and I couldn't resist going sideways for long. By the end of the day I knew I will be needing another set of rear Tyres. The front brake pads were getting very low too. During the lunch time, Ali, Sanj, Frank, Ron and I headed into a local town to get some fuel. The sat nave took us to a number of stations which didn't exist or closed for lunch. In the end, our fuel was getting very low but we just managed to fuel up as the engine was halting due to the starvation. In total, it took us nearly two hours to get the fuel and back to the track..... Next time, I will be taking 40 litres of fuel cans with me.
I found a tyre shop on the way to the hotel and went in there with Kev who helped me greatly in communicating to purchase the Tyres (pilot sports). I still had a bit of tyre left (about one hour session worth) so kept the old ones on.
Day 7
Drive to Bordeaux
Andy and Sanj needed their Tyres changed so their cars were taken to a local Ferrari dealer. Bad move! They took ages to change them and charged an extortionate amount. While waiting for the cars we were having some quality time sunbathing by the pool. Good times.
We left in convoy to Bordeaux and arrived at a shocking hotel in the middle of downtown with no aircon and dirty everything. Couldn't imagine to stay there for two nights. My mother decided to come to see me from Kent and flew into the local airport so I went there to pick her up, had dinner and checked her into the hotel (a different world compared to ours). Promised to see her after the track session the next day.
When I got back to the hotel, there were miserable looking Andy, Sanj et al in the lobby discussing the option to check out in the morning to head to Le Man after the track session. Called my mother, explained the situation and booked a chateaux hotel in Le Man for Andy, Ron, Ed, Tom and myself. In the meantime, poor uncle Ron forgot his bag in the hotel at Anglet so did a return trip to get it. He was shattered and got back to Bordeaux after mid night.
Day 8
Haute Saintonge
The track was very neat with nicely organised pits with garages and working fuel supply on site. The layout of the track was good too with a plenty of sideway opportunities. I wasn't worried about the tyre wear as I had the spare set in the support van. The worn R888 were great laugh
. The brakes left weak so I asked Steve to sell me a new set of RC6. I had a huge problem getting the front wheels off the car as the bolts were bounded to the hub due to the heat. Many guys helped to get them off and we eventually managed to put the new pads just before the afternoon session opened. The pads transformed the car totally. I shall be sticking to these pads, though they don't last long.Guys wanted to head to Le Man early so I had the tyres changed on site by the track mechanic. Both rear toe links were found to be f**ked (I can almost hear Robin saying, "rightly so!"). We left almost immediately after the tyres were on.
Following Ed and Andy in the country lane, the CR felt really weird but it wasn't until we got on the motorway that I discovered I had some serious handling issues. The rear tyres weren't balanced, non matching to the fronts, wrong pressures and loose toe links with knocked out geo meant the CR weaved side to side at over 80mph
. So I had to lead the convoy at my own pace to keep CR on the tarmac. Another monster torrential rain with some interesting moments, the car refused to steer even at 40 mph. We eventually got to the the hotel in Le Man which was a converted chateaux with nice ground. The restaurant was about to close but we managed to grab some food before crashing out.FFX10 has been fun and if I can, I will do it again. It was really good to see old and new faces, from Scotland, England, France and Holland. One thing this trip made obvious is that the SE rules the track
Most of the fast/nutty drivers were from Scotland . We had dry track days but guess we would be the only ones out on the track if it was wet. I really wanted to try Charade in the wet and it looked like it was going to rain right at the end...... may be the next timeI had some epic pax laps, the top three being,
AndyG trying to make the planted 340r go sideways which just refused to stay out of shape at Pau
. Going in too hot and lifting off mid corner only made it sideway for a moment before the car regained shape. Some set up you have there Andy. Keep the geo detail before changing it to an oversteer set up.Scotty driving the 211 very well at Charade, the whole package is a league or two above the Exige S. Phenomenal amount of everything. Loved it. You are a true racing driver
. The most amusing must go to Ali in the GT3 Exige at Haute Saintonge with a plenty of sideway actions. Really well driven with some long drifts out of the last corner
. After taking Nicola out in the CR, she told me I am a nutter and you drive too sensibly. I totally disagree 
.After the 3,500miles trip, I now have the following issues with the CR which are nothing too major.
Passenger side inside door handle not working
Rattle from the front end
Left and right rear toe links worn
Alignment knocked out
Front suspension making noise
Occasional Ignition cut out
Reverse gear noise
Second gear synchro gone
Already looking forward to the next one.
