I have now decided I don't like Santa Pod. Was a lovely sunny day but cold, so when did they open the track? ------12.30, I'm not happy, did 3 runs all day, spent the rest of time in the queue, sitting in the car for 8hrs. Motorcycles just came to the front of the queue when they liked and went straight up the strip, now I thought they had special days for bikes. I'm livid! I'll stick with the track days from now on, at least you can go on and off track as you please.

Edited 25 October, 201015 yr by Soot1e

This was you I take it.

This was you I take it.

Bleeping spies everywhere, did you take that photo? and where's me soot?

Ah! Here it is http://www.blackettphotography.com/image.asp?eventplace=RWYB%202010&eventdate=20101024&eventtime=1245-1300ℑ=MF4M0321.jpg Poxy 330bhp Anglia just beat me.

Yes I took the photo and there was plenty of soot as it left me and a few others coughing in the grandstand

I must admit the fact the strip was shut until lunchtime was rubbish but unfortunately you can't change that. :(

Excellent, I do have a reputation to uphold. As for the track drying, they could have started at 7am. They never started till about 10am.

Yes, i got bored of pod after my second visit.

Everytime i go I spend most of the day watching bikes or a tractor cleaning oil from some quasi drag machine thats dumped its gearbox using it as a test day.

Given the entry fee, and the length of time sat doing nothing its an incredibly tedious day. Once i got 3 runs in a whole day. 40ish seconds running in 8 hours

And yeh, its a rwyb and 95% of the cars that turn up can run on an imperfect strip, but no, it has to be utterly perfect for the bikes or testers. So even high humidity causes a 2 hour stoppage.

I hate the place and will never go again. Rather get a GPS or Gmeter to do my own qtrs at will.

J

I have never understood the self gratification of 1/4 mile runs. It tells you very little about your car or your driving skills??????

The fact qtrs are driven by the first 60ft does make them a bit pointless to be fair. And to get a good time you have to be very, very aggressive. I let a mate drive mine a few times (he was very good at it) and that also put me off ever going up the strip again. I could see the front panels moving as the low pressure sticky rubber bounced on the tarmac, the banging as he hit the limiter in first then the news after his final run that 'ill need my gearbox rebuilding' as he missed 3rd sort of told me it aint worth it!

Seeing the time he could extract was impressive, but I cant do it both skill or sympathy wise, and for the one and only time in my life I felt sorry for the abuse my car had got.

Getting the slip with your time/ET is a touch gratifying tho and it does beat using a stopwatch on the way out of Asdas car park lol!

J

Forgot to tell you - the Clio did 6.19 terminal speed 84mph and the VRS 6.51 terminal speed 94mph. Kinda worked out how I thought, the VRS better at higher speed and the Clio quicker off the line.

Can't wait for a proper trackday now , so lets have a look at Trackdaylist.co.uk. mmmm lots of bargains this time of year.

Edited 28 October, 201015 yr by Soot1e

What mods does your vRS have? Is it a 182 cup?

Long journey for some of you but the Pennine Raceway near York is far better for rwyb- as many runs as you want normally for £30. Disagree that drag raxcing road car lacks a point - have done many runs in my Caterham and there is a lot of technique involved. And watching the real thing- funnies and top fuellers etc is mind blowing.stuff.

Edited 1 November, 201015 yr by grayson

6.51 ? don't you mean 16.51 seconds? You wonna try Shakespeare county raceway near stratford on avon. Usually I can get 20 runs easy, my best is 16.19 in my old 1999 mk1 tdi Octavia and 14.46 in my 1.3 Favorit.

Sorry missed out the 1 Clio should be 16.19 & VRS 16.51. The Clio is a 172 and standard . The VRS has a hybrid turbo and about 192bhp. I only went to the Pod for something different to do, as I said I won't be going again and stick to the trackdays.

I do know what you mean about how long it takes to open Pod.

In defence of the Pod it is by far the BEST drag race surface in Europe. The draw back is that if you have the slightest amount of moisture or the surface is too cold then a standard Skoda Rapid will spin its tyres out of control let alone anything with proper power! They spend most of the time from 8:30 prepping the track. If there was a big event, warm and no rain then the prep only takes a short time. If it is cold and moisture is condensing on the track then they wont open until they are happy it offers good traction. They tend to be paranoid about safety as well. Partly as they dont require helmets until you have a terminal speed in excess of 110 mph. This is in the 12's! Other tracks let you run in the rain as their surface is pretty poor - Look at York raceway. The end of the 1/4 has really poor grip to slow down on and the return road is more like an offroad track than something you want to drive a race car down! Lets not get started on the toilets and the moonscape of a pits!

Interesting that at about 192 bhp you are running 16.5 as a 185 bhp Furby vRS runs 15.5 and a few of the guys have run 16.8 on the standard car. Cranking the same furby up to 250bhp gets you a 14.6. I run 17.2 in a very standard Octavia PD130 estate (not pushing hard as its my tow car) and my Rapid - That runs 14.41 but hopefully we will get it into the 13's next year as I am looking at bigger wheels to sort the gearing as it maxes out at 3/4 track.

I can see why people don't like drag racing as it is not everyone's cup of tea. And when you see the bikes for the first time it can seem like they go round and round but the bikes say the same about the cars! The staff try to make sure the cars have run through once then they let the bikes through. The bikes just have a much shorter queue than the cars.

Its a shame you waited till october as so far this year most of the events I have been to I have got in 20 - 30 runs (with tinkering time) as the queue has been at most 20 cars. We have had so many runs for £35 that I have ended up running low on fuel. My mate with a MGB v8 Runs out of fuel, nitrous, tyres and spares on these days, It has got so bad this year we even ran out of TEA on one event.

I've done other track days and enjoyed them but I find that at many of them there are too many idiots - like the db9 driver listed elsewhere. I was at mallory last year and some idiot in a Saab was racing everyone - he did get slapped by the marshalls but not before he had managed to give a few people heart attacks! And at Mallory a few years ago a Subaru ran a golf into the gravel.

The good thing about drag racing is that it is you against the clock - the car beside you is very unlikely to come at you. The skill is in the reaction to the lights, launch and precision gear shift at the optimum moment to get the best acceleration. It is driving skill, just not quite the same as a track day. And even better it is REAL racing, you get a timing slip to say exactly how you have done. Its like a straight Curborough!

On track days, no timing or racing is allowed. Also as any timing is un-official, times get lost or amended depending on who does the timing!

So I am very sorry to hear you didnt have a good day - I have had a few of those myself at Pod. BUT it may be worth trying it again in better weather.

York is back to basics - but it is perfectly ok for any road car.If John Sleath can run in the 8s with a 160 mph terminal speed in his scary Audi Coupe it is more than adequate. Yes theftoliets etc are fit for purpose but only just and the return track is bumpy as f**ck but my little Seven manges it just fine. And the people are just so friendly.

Steve, Being bit of a lump, my 1st. time there, not knowing the best time to change gear, bit slow on reactions, ****ed off queueing, dazzled by a really nice Anglia, wheelspinning changing up to 2nd. and 3rd.---these things all conspired against a good time for me.

They actually started prepping the track at 09:45. and loads off others were complaining in the office as well.

The bikes went up the strip about 7 times each during the day, one of the bikers was showing us his timings and had 7 bits of paper with him.

Edited 2 November, 201015 yr by Soot1e

D*mn - yep a REALLY bad day!

First time I have heard the car vs bike complaint with backup! I had a bad day there earlier in the year - got there to run and they closed the sign on with only 50 cars!

The first thing I did when I got home was complain. I did get a response and a call from the top man to see if it could be fixed. So far in my experience the Pod try to make sure everyone wants to come back. Some of their policies are bad but - everything is perfect ! :( They do seem to take constructive criticism and act on it. But like anywhere they still screw up!

Were you there on your own or did you go with some others?

As a first time - yep you can have a bad time not knowing how it goes! I didnt have a good day my first trip but I lucked out with some of the people there so got lots of help. We have seen all sorts of idiots from the Porsche who decided to drive back up the other side of the strip to the start (fortunately someone stopped him) to the Bimmer who decided to wait until he was on the start line to do his burn out!

I started with a 21.5 sec 1/4 and a 1.4 second reaction time - since then the times have been falling.

I had a bad trip to mallory on the PPC in the park event as there was a Saab driving like a tw*t and bike engined specials cutting you up - the marshals had words with lots of people! I would go back again but on a more regimented track day - keeping like speed cars together.

A couple of other Clio boys were there but never see them as they were at the other end of the queue, so never had time for sociallising, the only time I chatted to them was in the office, they and others were giving the Santa Pod staff a roasting.

There are some idiots on trackdays but usually the marshalls pick them up and give them their marching orders if they don't behave.

Like the idea of a tuned Rapid :yes: must get some smiles wherever you go.

some good points made on both sides here but i do agree with steve in the majority

i have been racin for over 3 years at the pod, so had my fair share of waiting etc but in the majority always managed to get some good runs in. the reason i go there instead of track time is simple. you get muppets at both, but as steve said you are more likely to be taken out on a track than a strip, and hwen im running my family car i dont think i wanna see it totalled by someone else, but still want my fix. Si these days i dont track my car and prefer to sprint, and track day in toher peoples cars the rest of the time.

If i get to the stage where i can have both i will track day a lot more, but sanat pod will do me for now, plus im now determined to get in the 14's so im committed

You're not the only one, I've been to santa pod a few times now and it really wasn't fun - cold, nothing to do, muddy, and just horrid.

Yeah my Rapid gets A LOT of smiles and has put a few on the trailer or they have driven off the strip and gone STRAIGHT home in shame!

I have found that the best days at pod are those when there isnt a major show - like the fast show, jap show - as the track is much clearer and the other drivers havnt been hooning round the camping field then dragging the muck onto the track! Also the best conditions are the week after a major event when the track is unbelievably grippy!

But horses for courses as always!

If you guys are interested I will keep my eyes open next season and see if we could get a good day to track there? That way we can set up in our usual pit and you guys could come and join us regular nutters?

After all - which ever track you go to its about having fun!