Pretty true this is. Well worth a read.

[Jetpilot]

I suppose its a more level playing field with regards to machinery but most of the bike days I did had beginner, intermediate and advanced groups and the organisers would monitor and move people around to suit but most track days I do now in a car are open or semi open pit so you could be out with a sub 1k car up to whatever.

 

We are all told not 5 mins before we go out on track how to behave/drive, we all know the rules and its up to the organisers to enforce that whilst we are out on track imho, some do, some sort of do, some dont.

 

The day Keyser mentioned was just silly, i ended up in a queue all because one guy at the head of that queue wasnt doing as he was told (indicating and moving over for faster cars) and the rest of that queue were doing as they were told by not overtaking unless given the signal, no real point the guy in front of me moving out of my way as he was stuck too, it was no different to the guy who sits in the fast lane of the motorway who just wont budge.

 

I had it at Goodwood last year, i came up behind this guy in a 330 or similar within half a lap, it was obvious i was much quicker but he just would not indicate and move, followed him for 2 laps, in the end i just overtook on the straight.

 

My personal opinion is its up the organisers to be more active, wave blue flags etc etc and if offenders repeat, chuck them off, car or ability is immaterial.

[JeZed]

This might be relevant to the post I've just put on the tyres forum ref my Bridgestone RE050's lack of wet grip.

 

Last weekend I was out on a very wet day. I was going round a large roundabout and pushing just a little bit trying to feel the front and how far I could push before a lot of understeer. As I started to (gently) back off the rear end came round a good bit and I nearly sh** my pants . My instinct to apply opposite lock (and Traction control ?) probably saved me from doing at least a 180 in amongst the Saturday shopping traffic. Not really funny at all !

 

I feel I need somewhere with a bit of space to have a practice and replicate the situation so I can understand what happened. May have been lift off oversteer ? might be crap tyres or a combination of the two or does the 350 have a tendency to do this. I'm quite capable of controlling a slide but I need my confidence in this car restoring.

 

Any advice please. My suspicions are towards the tyres ?

[Ekona]

I still suspect the geo, sounds like it's far too aggressive in terms of camber on the rear possibly.

[JeZed]

I still suspect the geo, sounds like it's far too aggressive in terms of camber on the rear possibly.

 

Oh - wasn't expecting that. Bog standard car - could it need setting up ? Didn't know it was adjustable.

 

Still - happy that I'm not faced with a torrent of "driver error" quotes

[Ekona]

Oh there's plenty of adjustment in the standard suspension setup to take the car from understeering dullard to snap oversteer hero

 

Alignments should be carried out every 12mths minimum, and personally I always get one done as a priority when buying a new car just so I know everything under there is fine.

[JeZed]

I had an offer of a free alignment check at Click on Tyres - competitive prices and local to me when I swap the fronts.

 

I bought a Civic for my son last year with a massive toe in (DIY track rod end job !) and had 4 wheel alignment check at Kwik Fit. I presume the check will be similar. From what I remember it gave all the measurements, toe, camber, castor etc.

 

Or do I need to go to a specialist ?

 

Many Thanks for your advice - much appreciated.

[Ekona]

Free check is always good, just keep an eye on the costs if they offer to make changes for you.

 

A specialist will be able to change the settings to make the car handle how *you* want, more generic places will simply put it back to the default understeer Nissan settings. Not a bad thing if it was miles out, but you can do better.

[JeZed]

OK Thanks - I'll go with the free check and see where we are at the moment and make a decision then on what to do next.

[Linus27]

The thing to remember on track days is if a car is behind you and wasn't there a few corners ago, he's clearly faster than you so you might as well let them go, regardless if you are quicker in the corners.

 

What I like about about a slower car is its easier and quicker to reach the limit than in a stupid quick car. I can for example, get to drive my Elise and DC5 at 80% far quicker than say if I had a 911 GT3. It would take many years, many miles on track and tuition to even get to 80% of what the car is capable of. To be honest, unless I am a driving god (unlikley), I don't think I would ever get to the stage where I could drive a 911 GT3 at 80% of its limit. An example is when I took my wife's 1.6 Mk1 MX5 on track at Brands. It was pathetically slow with everything passing me at first. After some tuition and shown how to exploit the power and handling, I was now being held up by Renaultsport Clio's, Porsche's and a 350z. Still being killed on the straights but drifting through Paddock Hill was such a great feeling. The point is, I was able to reach a higher lever much quicker due to the slower nature of the car and easier learning curve. Add to this the benifit of tuition and my own personal experience, within an hour I was having a hoot and lapping as quickly as I had previously in faster cars.

 

The other thing worth rememebering is some people want to go fast on track and some people want to be a quick driver. Both are two very different things. Some people are more than happy to turn up in a crazy quick M3 and bomb down the straights and have no interest in maximising corner speed, balance, braking etc. as they are just happy overtaking cars on the straights. Other's turn up in little Renaultsport Clio's and want to learn how to drive fast on track and the only way you can do this is getting mileage and tuition under your belt.

 

As has been mentioned already, the more you do something the better you get and this is equally valid on track driving. This is why getting up to speed in a slower car is quicker, easier and has long term benifits when starting out rather than a crazy quick car. For the last two years I have been heavily tracking my DC5, roughly doing a track day a month including Spa. My focus was to learn how to drive the car quickly. I've been with the same Lotus and Honda group throughout so I've had a good gauge to measure my progress. When I started yes, I was slow and struggled to keep up but now with lots of track miles under my belt and tuition, I'm either keeping up or passing them and certainly in the wet (my favourite time on track) I'm one of the quickest. Two years on, I'm now being invited to track days with the VTEC Challenge race drivers. Why I asked, I was told I'm one of the quick guys now and at Combe last week at their official test day, in the dry I wasn't being lapped and in the wet I was pretty much keeping up. So practise does make perfect but more importantly I honestly believe that if I started out in a really quick car, I would still be coming to terms with it now, certainly not exploiting as much from it or near its maximum as I am the DC5 and certainly not having as much fun and enjoyment. It's also worth mentioning that not only is it important to learn the driving characteristics of a car, its important to understand the car itself, learn what works on it, what doesn't, what to change and tweak and what to leave well alone. Understanding the car, its characteristics and how to drive it are all part of the big picture.

 

As for a Caterham, I've only driven a 1.6 in anger around Silverstone and Brands with one of the Lotus instuructors next to me and its probably the most fun car I have ever driven. So much feedback and so rewarding. Truely amazing cars so totally agree with the comments everyone has made.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Linus27