First Track day for 2015

[Moleman]

I will be doing my first track day of this year at Castle combe on Friday 20th March so if anyone would like to come along to see what track days are all about then feel free to come along. Perhaps it may inspire you to take part it some of the ones I'm hoping to do for our club. I will even give you a ride around it you like?

The only bummer I have is my radiator has gone to have a new inner core fitted due to crap build quality from Westfield & I'm told it will be ready on the 17th so fingers crossed it will be ready in time. 

[Lucky Ed]

Who's running the day Colin - ie are there any spaces?

[Moleman]

Sorry mate fully booked. I got the last space.

[Moleman]

Well radiator came back today so car is now running good again. Time to test out the winter jobs & see if it's all good. 

If anyone has Friday off come & say hello if you not up to much. 

[Lucky Ed]

Good news on the rad. Hope this weather holds out for you.

I think most of the ploughing has been done this spring, so there's no need to help out this time

[Iancider]

I'm hoping to be there if I can make the arrangement.

No Westie though that in pieces at the moment for its refurb and upgrades.

Ian

[Lucky Ed]

What's the upgrades then Ian - supercharger, turbo..............?

[Moleman]

Good news on the rad. Hope this weather holds out for you.

I think most of the ploughing has been done this spring, so there's no need to help out this time

I will keep that in mind Ed. 

[Iancider]

What's the upgrades then Ian - supercharger, turbo..............?

Not that glamorous - oil catcher, suspension assisters at the rear, demisting the instruments, attending to some rust cos some people go out in the winter, annual service etc.

The oil catcher is for Colin really - when he chases me round the track he tends to skid off

[Lucky Ed]

Good news on the rad. Hope this weather holds out for you.

I think most of the ploughing has been done this spring, so there's no need to help out this time

I will keep that in mind Ed. 

If you feel the urge to get off the black stuff, I've got a nice 4 furrow reverseable if you want to borrow it

[Lucky Ed]

Not that glamorous - oil catcher, suspension assisters at the rear, demisting the instruments, attending to some rust cos some people go out in the winter, annual service etc.

Nice one Ian. It'll be good to see you out on those 888's again soon

[Moleman]

I don't know, you go ploughing once or twice & everyone keeps telling you about it. You do over 600 miles a year on track without any problem's & that ain't mentioned. 

[Lucky Ed]

I would have thought you would have done more (trouble free ) miles than that Colin. On big days out with Dave Doom, we used to reckon on 180-200 miles a day.

[Moleman]

Me too but we haven't mentioned the traffic cones yet. 

[Lucky Ed]

Oooooh cones - don't get me started...........

[Iancider]

Well another great day on the track with Colin and good to meet several other supporters.

Quote of the day from Colin "I seem to be losing it on the corners Ian  - I think I need to get out of my head and just go faster"

And he did and he was right!

It is a new surface at Combe and the Dip in Avon Rise is gone.  You know the one that said slow down before the negative camber of Quarry.   Well now people don't and make good use of the rumble strip - the one that is all newly painted and they said don't even think about putting any rubber on that - oops.

And that set the tone for the day.  Every session resulted in a Red flag as somebody left the track at high speed.  It seems the track needs a bit of running in - too much bitumen and not enough bare stone.  But when it all warms up in the sun its a different story - SLICKS ON and charge along.

I'll let Colin tell you some more later  - video to follow soon

Thanks all for a great day out.

[Iancider]

For those of you that missed the Eclipse - here is what it looked like at Castle Combe.

Shot with a long lens through my welding mask and then colour corrected.

[Moleman]

It was a good day. The track is very slippery. Everyone was having problems & I have never seen so many red flags, made worse by the fact they don't want you to drive over their freshly painted red & white strips to which was very hard not to do as the fresh stuff really does need some scrubbing in. To add to it they put heavy duty traffic cones in & lots & lots of sand around the edges. 
I avoided the cones until right the end of the day when someone put a sandy beach on the track which put me sideways avoiding it giving Ian a chance to get acquainted to some of the big cones.  I did however did a little damage to the rear arch.  I small job for dynamic mouldings me thinks.  At times it did seem like a dust storm with all the sand around the edges but hopefully it won't be for long.

When the sun came up it made the track better & as Ian has already said I decided to just stop tip toeing around & just go for it. I did say that to him by the way & I was right. 
Once the track is bedded in I think the changes will be great as long as they chill out about their new paint job.  hopefully this weekends events will help you next week Ed. 
It was a good day with really good weather & a great bunch of people. I still thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn't done one & I can't wait for my next one.

Ed be warned the garage around the corner doesn't sell petrol anymore.

Video to follow thanks to Ian. 






Ps forgot to add as soon as I got home unloaded the van, parked the car & trailer in the garage drove round the front to park the van in the drive only to lose all power steering which made parking it on the drive really hard. I just thank my lucky stars it went then & not on the motorway on the way home. 

[Lucky Ed]

Pleased you guys had a good day. Thanks for the heads up on the fuel and the track conditions. Unfortunately it looks showery on Tuesday, so it might be entertaining on my crap T1R's

['The Gaffer']

Nice write up guys. Interesting that they have taken the dip on Avon Rise away, we might see a few less accidents there as a result.

[SPAXIMUS]

I was up there on Saturday to watch the sprinting up there. Speaking with a few people I know one of whom is Steve of SBD who was running a Dallara. He told me that the guys who are filling the infield with solar panels had dropped oil on the new surface and were dragging crap all over the place. It was very unpredictable and will need a lot of use to get the grip up when they have finished their works.

The surface also makes a humming noise when you are stood next to it when cars go by, quite strange really.

[robp]

I think it is good that they have finally re-surfaced Combe.  It was well overdue.  The place was so bumpy the Isle of Man TT riders used it to set up their bikes!

t was very unpredictable and will need a lot of use to get the grip up.

Yes, hopefully the grip will improve with use.

[robp]

.... filling the infield with solar panels ....

I hope there is plenty of armco around them.  I've spun off miles into the infield in the past!! 

[Lucky Ed]

How many points do I get for each panel I take out?

[Moleman]

.... filling the infield with solar panels ....

I hope there is plenty of armco around them.  I've spun off miles into the infield in the past!! 

They do have metal barriers around them. I remember looking at them while going round the circuit thinking that is exactly where I have ended up a few times

[Iancider]

I agree with the pint about it making a strange noise.  When we first went out I thought a tyre was rubbing on wing.  The tyres don't squeal - they groan.  You will see the shine in when the videos arrive very soon.

Ian

[Daley Down Under]

Resurfacing has been needed at Combe for too long.  Let's hope it wears in really well.  Fingers crossed there'll be a track day there when I'm back in June/July so I can try it out

Cheers Adrian

[Iancider]

Fingers crossed there'll be a track day there when I'm back in June/July so I can try it out

There will be Adrian - we'll look forward to that!

Here's the first video for a preview - the next one will be later today.

Ian

[Daley Down Under]

Nice work Ian - I like the look of the new curbs.  Cant miss them now.  Did they resurface the whole track or is there still some old tarmac left around the back of the circuit (just before Bobbies to pit entrance).  If so, that means the bump between Tower and Bobbies on the left of the track is still there.  Shame for all the Radical-esque cars.

Cheers Adrian

[Iancider]

Adrian Yep,

They did about 7/8 of the track and left a couple of speed bumps to make it interesting!

Ian

[Iancider]

And here is video 2 - the passenger rides - and some cone killing

[Lucky Ed]

Good work Ian

[sanzomat]

Nicely edited vid. Nice bit of driving too!

[Moleman]

Nice video editing mate. It doesn't show how slippery it was before the sun came out as I'm sure I was side ways a lot more at the start. 

[Iancider]

Interestingly there were no significantly visible slides in the morning footage but you can see quite a bit of steering into a twitch.  I was also impressed that with the high camera position you could see just how polished it was in the afternoon sun.

The final ride I had with you was pretty darned fast and there was plenty of grip on the old surface.  Because the dip is gone on Avon Rise there is no cue to brake any more and it is dead easy to miss your braking point now.  When I watched from the side at Quarry just about everybody was struggling with it and with the new tarmac you can see the adverse camber.

Despite all of the adversity I reckon you did you fastest lap ever on the penultimate lap.  Your strategy on Tower worked really well and my aching flank muscles prove just how fast that was!

Ian

[Iancider]

p.s.

One bit of the editing I enjoyed was in video2 getting the passenger to switch with each gear change on Quarry