has anyone got any more pics of the day?? vids would be even better

Would like to see some vids, especially of JBT and Barbz.

What happened to Mario then, doesnt sound good, hope everything is o.k.

Rear passenger wheel came off :-( not 100% sure why as I had done over 300 miles with those wheels on my car.

Will report back tomorrow with the extent of the damage and likely cause

I have a few short ones I will upload shortly

Great day and spanking good value.

A couple of vids I managed to record:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjeGd9XJ9CU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRlonPP4Znk

First one has a friend in-car giving advice for the right line, could be useful to someone doing the track for their first time.

I've got a few videos of my runs today. Will get them up tomorrow.

About as good a day as you could hope for November. Was VERY greasy first up, my lap times were around 2.08 then, and by the afternoon we had bright sunlight and a dry track, so I was able to don my slicks and lap times came down to sub 2 mins, best a 1.58 in my final run.

I don't recall being overtaken by another coop, bar Marco on my last lap when my brakes failed completely at the end of the start/finish straight at around 125, and I was limping back to the pits later that lap. Hairy!

Shame about the casualties, hope Mario gets fixed easily

Oh, and a cracking pork roast dinner en route home with the other half, Senny Dave and Flea.

Nom nom nom!!

A fantastic day even though I had problems with the car.
Gutted for Mario.
I enjoyed going out with JBT, he showed me the line to go around which meant doing a bit of rally cross
I don't think my mrs enjoyed the passenger ride with John though

Dave i liked your first video.Especially after 5:01

Didn't want to hold you up

I'd have liked to see how long I could have kept you in sight but some westfield / caterham was dawdling around.

That Corvette that shot past you earlier i managed to beat for 5 laps.On the straights i think he was gaining on me.On the bends i left it for dead.

Nothing came passed me on the day accept i let an M3 CSL past as his driving style when i was in the Corvette wasnt very good.

This is me very sideways on the gravel with Barbz hanging on for dear life.


This is Mrs Jbt enjoying her first ever track day despite spinning the car on the very first lap.


And this ones from mallory park.A Fiat bravo 20vt that i spent a week building.A clio got it wrong and smashed into him.
All that work.

sorry to here this mario your coupe was stunning but just get it repaired and it will be fine again mate.

not loving the pink trackday wheels

cant the bravo just be repaired?

Bit of a weird day for me being there with the Caterham but not actually driving it.

First passenger ride of the day was with Marco. I hadn't realised before I sat in the car that this was only his second ever trackday! We had a few late (very) braking moments on a still slippery track into the chicane and Melbourne hairpin, but we survived. Marco was certainly not lacking in bravery, especially when being chased by Hovedan, no lack of power from your car either. I wish I'd either kept quiet or did some proper coaching as I forgot that the sun visor camera was recording every word . It would be good to go out again on track if you're willing mate. I had offered to be a passenger with Mario and give a few tips, no chance of that in the end of course.

Next up was a passenger ride with Hovedan. Very quick and consistant lapping, especially impressive was the braking, even after 6 or 7 hard laps. Yes, we had a fair bit of vibration, but the strength of the braking plus grip from the cheapie tyres did surprise me.

Just before lunch on a dry track Dave took me out in the Westie. First time out in a Westfield for me, and it felt pretty different and quite open with having no roll cage in front of me. We had a good chat before hand where we agreed that getting used to rear wheel drive after a lifetime of front wheel drive took some getting used to, especially after that little accident on the road. We had a good steady run with only one little drama braking for the chicane where we nearly went into the litter, instead we went over the kerb/grass and thankfully avoided hitting the low sump . Sat up higher in the Westfield the airflow tried to suck my helmet off (oo-er!). The engine did sound good and it certainly had some straightline power.

We stopped for lunch and Dave kindly offered me a drive, it would have been rude to have said no. Dave wasn't sure if he wanted to be a passenger though, haha. A couple of warm up laps to explore the braking and cornering and then foot down. Very interesting handling characteristics with major lift off oversteer into corners, that was neutralised by applying throttle and/or opposite lock. As a result quite a few corners were navigated sideways! After checking Dave was ok with a thumbs up (you can't hear a thing) I pressed on and we passed plenty of cars and didn't get passed ourselves. Sadly only one Coupe out at the time as I'd have liked to have seen how it compared to one of the big power Coupes. Each lap I was pushing it a bit more and enjoyed trying to slide around the hairpin until going in to quickly and that lift off oversteer just stepped the back end out too far for a dab of oppo to catch it. A little half spin so time to cool down and come in before I do some damage!
I'll leave further comments to Dave, but I enjoyed it and with better tyres and a bit of suspension tweeking it will give more confidence, quicker lap times and less chance of future spins.

I left early to 'enjoy' the 4 1/2 hour drive back to Dorset in the light. Next trackday I will be back in the Caterham and happy to give passenger rides, especially to JBT so he can remember who I am and which car i drive. Cheers, good to see so many Coupes out on track, probably as many as I've ever seen.

Was good to see you Dave! It would have been great to have had a bit of a tutorial around the track! Hopefully next time once the car is sorted

Well I had fun

Massive thanks to Dave for the coaching!!
I've got a small ish list of things I want to do to the car to get her more planted.

Still uploading videos to you tube...

But photos are done

My mrs also managed to blag a passenger rid in a 300bhp time attack civic type R...

yer i saw the red civic over take on the vid and i was surprised how it didnt hang around

My first couple of laps.

Not pushed the car really that hard since a few changes so I was definayly being a miss daisy.

Struggle with my brakes as there was a massive lack of heat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QHphoSxRhY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This video is more interesting....

We have the grand master (fishy_dave) on board giving me tips an you can actually see my driving improve!!!

And you can also see me very confused calling homo Hovedan DaveT lol

Thanks Dave for the coaching!!!!

P.s dan you can see why I could not bloody catch you...
Too much traffic!!

A great day out on track, and great to see everyone. Sorry I didn't catch up with more people, but once the track started to dry at about 10:30 I was pretty much permanently out on the track (at least it felt like that!) until closing time

In total, the car did heading towards 200 miles on track! And my neck is certainly aching this morning ... which is a first from a track day for me!

I managed to give quite a few passenger rides ... I think at least 7 or 8 different people as passengers and at least 3 different drivers had a go But there were still some folks I missed (not least Marco and Mr Tickle) ... so sorry if I promised you a ride and didn't deliver. There will definitely be a next time though

I'm still very much in learning mode with the car, and certainly when pushing on ... hence the very slow start, slowly building through the day. Things definitely improved, particularly after the intervention from Dave ....



This was the highlight of the day for me .... taking Dave out as a passenger, and him giving me plenty of tips on where I can improve ... and then to be taken round in my own car with him showing me how hard it can actually be pushed! A great laugh spending almost every corner in some form of sideways slide

The laps with Dave showed just what great car control he has ... sliding all four wheels at upwards of 100mph with it all under control with throttle and opposite lock! They also clearly showed me how much more capable the car is than me ... a good thing, though, that there is plenty for me to learn and improve. I'll get there one day!

The comedy moment of the day occurred coming down the straight heading towards the chicane ... Dave driving 110mph+ ... the gearknob came off ... which he busily tried to demonstrate to me by waving it around in front of my face ... as I was busily trying to indicate that he might want to concentrate on the impending chicane

Probably the last track until March for me now! A great way to end the year

Hehe nice vid Marco. I like from 8mins 16 when we clear the slow moving traffic through craner. Now you see me, now you don't

Since when did it take HOURS to download onto the tube?

320 minutes remaining on my first (of three) vids

This video is with me and Nick (sedicicvalve)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYuZ6vXB4NU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Just went out to see my car after the battering...

Not too bad... Few suspension knocks...

My mrs noticed my brakes looked interesting



Also...
Got the photos of Marios car...:(


I can not tell you how sickening it feels seeing one of your good mates car sitting on the grass with a wheel off the car damaged after all of his hard work.

Classic kit-car stuff Dave, that's great

Sounds like a really good day guys, nice work, and hope the damaged coupes get sorted quickly and easily. That damage to Mario's car doesn't look all that bad - gutting, but looks like it could've been far worse. What happened? Loose wheel bolts, or did they shear?

Hey guys, damage is just superficial thankfully.
I will need a new rear bumper and some work on the rear quater which will involve straightening it out and re welding the seam in the inner cubby hole in the boot. There is no chassis damage or issues with the suspension.

What happend....
We have removed all the wheel bolts and have laid them out on the floor. the rear passenger wheel that came off had two shorter bolts as did the loose front passenger wheel.

I have never changed the wheel bolts on my car. They are the ones that came with the car when i brought it. Ive done track days before ie spa. So all i can imagine thats happend is before these smaller bolts were spread around the car, this time when the track wheels were put on they got mixed up and all ended up on one side. That combined with the stress of being on the track would have worked them loose leading to the wheel coming off.

Im pretty gutted I can believe how unlucky ive been
But hey, its just exterior damage, the car is still sound so I will be getting it fixed and back on the road in no time.

I have the track Bug now but LE41 will not be seeing another track bar spa. Its time for me and some amigos to purchase a track coupe

Great news Mario!!

A track coop is definitely the way to do it. Seriously, the amount of gravel on the track yesterday nearly took Dave_T's head off, let alone what it does for a1 resprayed cars!!

That is unlucky, but good that the damage wasn't more extensive, and the fix is straightforward.

Weird that you'd have 4 shorter bolts - presume these are getting replaced with "full length" ones too!

Giggady....:D

Very weierd ... they actually look cut down!
Full set of bolts ordered

Unlucky there mate, but at least nothing major happened in any way. Little cosmetic damage soon to be fixed and some new bolts and your on you way!