Good luck. You'll love it.

This was great fun.

Didn't have to queue for the track once as there were only about 22 cars with a 15 car limit. I think I got about 2 and a half hours on track - and that was me limiting myself because I didn't want to risk destroying the car too much. I think I had 4 to 5 half hour sessions.

First session was slow - really slow - never driven the fabia around a track properly.

We came in and my mate Craig (passenger) told me where my lines were 'wrong'.. so I worked on these and started taking the 'correct' line... and then gradually increased my speed and made my braking points slightly later on each lap.

By mid afternoon, I can honestly say that me and craig in the fabia were keeping up with lotus elises. All with just a 312mm brake upgrade and jabbasport rear anti roll bar. Tom (Tom_vRS) mentioned that similar results were found at handling days with Briskoda a year or two ago . Very rewarding to catch and overtake dedicated track weapons, even if the drivers weren't driving the cars to their full potential.

Will have a video up tomorrow.

By the way - jabbasport rear anti roll bar is AMAZING on track... driving the car on the limit and feeling the back end coming round a little bit, but having it so easily controllable is such a rewarding driving experience.

I bought Tom's BMW off him for track days but am seriously tempted to continue taking the fabia around - it was fantastic fun.

Might even go to the same track event next month!

Glad to hear it was a success Ed!

I got critiqued for my lines during the taster session at Combe, it would seem all observers are experts. But that session was so quick i didn't have time to adjust anything especially when my brakes were toast and the car thought it was running out of fuel!

The Fabia must have performed well for it to be considered over the Beemer as the "track tool" - guessing it was probably the least "sporting" car there though?!

Pending the purchase of my new wheels and rubber - if there is enough cash left - i'll join you in July!

So had an enjoyable day, thats good. Who needs a BMW when you have a sorted Fabia. Did you overheat your brakes?

Can agree with the 312's and RARB. Thats what I had when I went their. Favourite corner was the last right hander just before the slow section by the pits.

Fancy Aglesey in Oct/nov?

Can agree with the 312's and RARB. Thats what I had when I went their. Favourite corner was the last right hander just before the slow section by the pits.

Fancy Aglesey in Oct/nov?

My favourite corners were the really fast sweeping one at the end of the second "return" straight (limit of grip on that one every time - very fun indeed!), and the one you describe before the slow around the pits. Also loved the one at the end of the long straight once I'd sussed it - needed a gear between 2nd and 3rd though really :(.

So had an enjoyable day, thats good. Who needs a BMW when you have a sorted Fabia. Did you overheat your brakes?

I got them VERY hot indeed - so hot that touching the alloy wheels burnt the skin on my hand. They were very spongy when I left the venue (think I might have boiled the brand new brake fluid from the night before ) - but they were faultless on track, even after I'd done 20 consecutive laps. Didn't fade or concern me once!

The Fabia must have performed well for it to be considered over the Beemer as the "track tool" - guessing it was probably the least "sporting" car there though?!

Pending the purchase of my new wheels and rubber - if there is enough cash left - i'll join you in July!

It did perform very well indeed. It didn't handle terribly, I had NO understeer at any points (even though "traction control" was off and I was taking the **** with the accelerator - might be because I had very grippy and very warm eagle F1s on the front that didn't skip a beat throughout the whole day.

My only complaint was that I really needed a gear between 2nd and 3rd. 2nd was too slow and 3rd was too fast for some of the corners, I was having to shift midway through the exit of the corner which was somewhat tricky.

Also considering the diesel engine spent most of it's time above 3000rpm it didn't skip a beat - and for the first time ever my engine bay was VERY hot when I opened the bonnet!.

I averaged 18.7mpg on the whole track day which wasn't too shabby. Did burn through 3/4 of a tank of diesel though (added some Millers for the three tankfulls beforehand so I guess that might have made a slight difference)

Drive home:

No knocks, no new rattles, engine was faultless and got 56mpg. Only concern was brake pedal travel had increased a bit and the feel of the brakes was a bit weird. That seems to have improved a little now the glazing of the brakes has reduced a bit but I might still re-change the fluid anyway...

Yes the brakes. After the day I went to put my tyres pressures back to normal. Then realise the valve cap had belted. lol

Good to know. The mongrel coped with half hour / 25 minute sessions around Llandow today without putting a foot wrong. Oil got a little warm in the sump @ 105 degC, but that's within limits so kept it at max WOT where I could.

Anglesey in Oct/Nov sounds well cool! Hope it's as dry as it was last time I was there.

I'm tempted to turn up at Hullavington again next month - there's another day on Friday, 31 July that is £109 again

Anglesey is a bit far away for me really but I guess my arm could be twisted if a few Skodas were going!

Yegold, Did just having cones to mark out he cct. give you more confidence knowing you wern't going to damage the car and did you go off the track at all?

I chose an airfield day over a circuit day for precisely that reason. Having cones made me more confident but I was also very determined NOT to be the person that knocked all of the cones over (which would have resulted in a temporary 'end of track time' red flag). I guess I pushed the car harder than I would have done on a circuit purely for that reason - the worst that could have happened realistically was that I'd have ended up on the grass or gone through some small cones.

I came very close to clipping the edge of the tarmac (the edge of the track) on the one sweeping left hander at the end of the return straight (if you know the track or have seen maps of it) but didn't once feel like I was out of control. As it happens I stayed on the track the whole time.

I followed their advice and started off slowly and increased my speed steadily as I went along until I felt like I was driving as fast as I could - and then just worked on making the transitions between braking, steering and acceleration smoother and smoother. By mid afternoon I felt like I didn't "look" like a novice anymore and really began to enjoy myself. I went from having to indicate to let people pass every few minutes to not having to let anyone pass except the caterhams which were simply unchallengable through the corners.

I loved the fact that it was such a friendly atmosphere - everyone said thank you when you let them past, and not one person was ever hesitant to let the oil burning Skoda past despite the fact that they were probably very irritated that I was going quicker than them. I would wholeheartedly recommend motorsport-events.com's organisers for any track day and thought that Hullavington was a top quality venue with a very decent mix of high speed straights and challenging corners.

The most difficult bit to improve on and do well was the slow section by the pits - only by the very end of the day had I started driving apex to apex in that section.

I'm glad you got the most out of your day, no stopping you now is there?

I also want to try Hullavington cct. soon, 31st. July I see in your other thread, will let you know soon if I'm free. Or rather l know i'll be free, it's everyone else in the family who makes demands of me. Fingers X'sd.

I really enjoyed Hullavington and Motorsport events when I went. Keep looking out for their acadamy days and I'm on their mailing list.

Yeah the pit section I didn't like. :(

So whats wrong with the pit section then?

It's just difficult - very tight and relatively slow