Castle Combe Trackday Mon 16th June

[Lucky Ed]

A few of us on here are thinking of going to Combe on 16th June. The event is being run by BHP Trackdays who have a limited number of spaces so it keeps queuing to a minimum. They're a friendly bunch and have some good instructors that aren't expensive if any body wants to give it a go. Everybody welcome if you want to sign up, come for a ride or just watch me break something

Booked so far;

1, Lucky Ed
2, Dave Bence

[Moleman]

I have done track days with them before & they are a good bunch.  I'm very interested so I will let you know. 

[Moleman]

Looks like I will be booking this I just have one problem. The picture on my driving licence is about to expire. For some reason they still want you to send both paper & plastic licence to renew it. So I will have to see what I can do as I'm sure BHP will want to see it & I won't get it back in time. 

[Lucky Ed]

BHP didn't ask for my license the two times I've been to Combe with them this year.

I'd give them a ring, I'm sure they wont turn away your custom.

[chris61]

I've just renewed mine, went in to post office, £24 later and was back within 10days.
Anyone have a link?

[Moleman]

Thanks guys. I will ring him tomorrow check to see if they need to see it & if not I will book it. 

[Moleman]

I'm booked in as well. They won't need to see my license. 

Booked so far;

                  1, Lucky Ed
                  2, Dave Bence
                  3, Moleman

             Anyone else up for this then?

If anyone has the day off & feels like coming down to have a look then it is free to come & watch.
If you are are really good then I know all 3 of us would be happy to give you a passenger ride. It is £5 for a passenger but it lasts all day. 

[Iancider]

I will be pleased to come along an support but my budget has run-out for trackdays currently.  It is not just the cost the cost of the trackdays themselves alone but I need to spend a lot to gain wheels/slicks and a bit of re-inforcement and perhaps an oil cooler before the next one and the old pocket money is a little light for that at the moment.

Happy to support the cause though

[Lucky Ed]

Great news Colin, the more the merrier

Ian - It'll be good to have your company again, you'll get plenty of rides for your fiver

[paul]

I've been a bit slow on the uptake so I'm on the reserve list...you never know!

Regards,
Paul

[Moleman]

That's a shame mate.    Fingers crossed for you.
It would have been good to have you there. I need your expert videoing skills to count how many cones I can take out. 

[Krazyken]

Booked so far;

                  1, Lucky Ed
                  2, Dave Bence
                  3, Moleman

Is this the BKCC Holy Trinity??

[Moleman]

It looks that way Ken. 
Hopefully there will be room for Paul too.    I know Ian & crash test dummy want to do more as well. 

[Bulldog Bri]

Booked so far;

                  1, Lucky Ed
                  2, Dave Bence
                  3, Moleman

Is this the BKCC Holy Trinity??

Who's the 'Holly Spirit' then?

[smudge]

Hi all, I looked at this one but couldn't do the morning session, by the time I'd looked the afternoon was full.

If I get the chance with work etc I'm gonna try and come down in the afternoon to take a look at you all having fun, it looks like the weather will be good for you!!  Will be good to meet you all.

Cheers, Smudge

[Moleman]

You will be most welcome mate. I have a spare Helmet if you have time & fancy a passenger ride.  Just look out for the yellow van with a hornet on it. 

I'm thinking that I may just put the slicks on straight away as the weather is looking good. Saves doing when I get there. What do you think Dave,Ed? Or I'm I tempting fate for the wet stuff?

[Lucky Ed]

I've just put my slicks on and loaded up ready to go. I've had to get sorted tonight as I've got a mega days work tomorrow. Remember you're going with 'Lucky' Ed so the weather will be great and there won't be any breakdowns or mishaps

Smudge - you are more than welcome to come along if you can make it, along with anybody else if they fancy it, the weather's looking great

[dave_bence]

As I'm AKA "Dave Doom", I've left the treaded tyres on my car

[Moleman]

Really,Really good day today. Everyone was flying with no problems what so ever.  Some video's to follow.
Ian & a friend came all day for some fun filled passenger rides as well as A new member Smudge. (Really nice car mate) who also had a few rides. 

The only near miss I had was following Dave up Quarry on our last run of the day & I was so busy watching him so we don't bang into each other I completely missed my breaking point.    Took & very strange line  but we came out of it ok though. 

[smudge]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to say a big thank you for your hospitality this afternoon, what a fantastic day!!

It was a good run out for me, great to meet you all and a privilege to have a few laps as well.  If you ever need any ballast in future I am more than happy to oblige 

Can't wait to see the video footage and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Damian (aka Smudge)

[Iancider]

And thanks from me and my friend Ian - we had a great day.  Hoping to post some vids soon.

Ian

[Lucky Ed]

What a perfect day! Great weather and company and all the cars ran without any problems

It was good fun to have a steady flow of people for passenger rides, it's more interesting than pounding around on your own, and nice to see the newbies go away buzzing from the experience. Great to meet you Smudge, that's some car you've got there and hope you manage to get it on track soon.

Will try and post some vids soon, once my son shows me how to do it

[Iancider]

Here is the first of the action - Ed gives Kate the thrill of her life!

[Lucky Ed]

Nice work Ian, some angles and editing. I need to get going on sorting out the footage I've got, but I'm a newbie to this - what editing software do you use?. Also your vid shows good it is to move the camera about, where did you get your big roll bar clamp from, I can't seem to find one?

Can't wait to see some more, it certainly shows what a great day out we all had

[Iancider]

Hi Ed,
The video software is Corel VideoStudioPro X7.  I have just changed from X6 - 7 is better and more instinctive.  It is also possible to make Quick vids where everything is peformatted from a template but you will still be editing at a rate of about 30 mins per minute of running time. You Tube uploading is about one hour per minute in Hi-rest 1080x1920.  Always save your videos as MP4's ready for youtube or they will take twice as long to upload!

Roll bar clamps are readily available from many sources including e-bay and amazon. 

This is probably not an original but it is cheap: http://www.amazon.co.uk/XINTE-Camera-3-5cm-6-35cm-Motorcycle-Bracket/dp/B00J56HNCS/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1403115227&sr=8-18&keywords=gopro+roll+bar+mount

It seems to be if they are advertised for a car rollbar they are up £81 - yes that is right! and the average seems to be circa £26.   Call it a motorcycle mount at the same dimensions and you will get change out of a tenner. 

If you fancy making your own...... but you have already done that!

[paul]

Gutted I missed out on this and had to spend the day at work instead 

No altercations with cones this time I hope Colin ?

Regards,
Paul

[Moleman]

Nice Video Ian. Been away for a few days so I will try to sort a video soon. 

No altercations with cones this time I hope Colin ?
Regards,
Paul

Not this time mate.  The westy was flying without any probs all day. All I needed for that day was my tyre pressure gauge & my extra fuel. 

[Iancider]

And here it is - Dave "Doom" Bence rides out in his zippy machine.  My friend Ian riding shotgun.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=8GW5Q9HeuBk

[dave_bence]

And here it is - Dave "Doom" Bence rides out in his zippy machine.  My friend Ian riding shotgun.

Thanks Ian

That's the first time I've seen video footage taken from my car. It's interesting how much the front suspension moves - Castle Combe is rather bumpy!

Mind you, my first session on track was awful. I had the dampers set too firm and the car nearly bounced off the track. I came back in, adjusted the dampers and went out again. This time the car stayed on the track, but it still felt very nervous and just didn't want to turn in. Back in the pits again, I borrowed Colin's tyre pressure gauge (I'd left mine at home ) and checked the pressures. Instead of the usual 22psi hot, the fronts were at 34psi

With the car finally handling properly, my confidence grew and I steadily got faster. As others have said, the day was a total success, with no mishaps or mechanical woes, perfect weather and it was good to see some new faces and cars.

I enjoyed it so much, I'm tempted to do it all again with BHP on Monday 14th of July. Anyone else interested?

[surfingnick]

Hi,

I'm keen for this in July. May see some of you there

Nick

[Moleman]

I would love to Dave but it's the Snowdon trip that weeked & I don't want to risk breaking anything that close to it. 

Here is my second attempt to put a video of one of my seasons out on track. I've shortened it as a bit so it's not too boring as there was not crashes this time & all 3 of us are on here as well.

[Bulldog Bri]

Good vid mate, but just too quite for me. You need a mic nearer the music maker ;-)

[Iancider]

Enjoyed it,

And my friend Ian will appreciate that too as he featured in two vids.  It didn't look like anybody passed you but you passed everybody else.

[Moleman]

The westy was faultless that day mate & to be fair Dave & Ed were flying too I just had a few more horses to play with. 
Also if Jeffw or the Asbo's were there then it would be them overtaking everything. 
It was good fun chasing down that M3 though. 

[robp]

I would love to Dave but it's the Snowdon trip that weeked & I don't want to risk breaking anything that close to it. 

Here is my second attempt to put a video of one of my seasons out on track. I've shortened it as a bit so it's not too boring as there was not crashes this time & all 3 of us are on here as well.

Nice video, Col. 

It's a while since I've been around Combe.  It looks like the exits from both chicanes have been opened out.  It looks like it's possible to carry a lot more speed through The Esses.  Also, Bobbies.  I really hate Bobbies.  What a horrible chicane.  Looks like the exit is more open and they have sorted out that rumble strip on the exit to the right.  I went wide there once and the noise when my chassis loop hit the concrete. 

I can seen your grip on the wheel increases each time you came through Westway!     

Great to hear everyone had a good time.

[Iancider]

Hi Rob,

I was only a passenger for the day but I am clear that the surface is much better and some of the nasties have been evened out.  The dip just before Quarry is as fierce as ever and I heard metal hit the surface a couple of times.  Perhaps we should have skid-bases like F1 cars!  I am thinking that would be a good idea to have some sacrificial plastic underneath even for road driving.  People following have seen the sparks from me on undulating roads and I am very aware it is my seat fixings that are hitting the tarmac

Ian

[Moleman]

Rob I was experimenting with both chicanes all day mate. You can't go too far over on the concrete as you bottom out on in with our cars. I think the saloon cars will be fine, but you can straight line it a bit better. I too have done the same going over the rumble strip & now they have put concrete on the other side off it there isn't such a drop but I didn't risk it as the rumble strip is still there.

Westway was fine this time mate.