A friend and I are looking to do one of Club MSV Novice only trackday (Brands Hatch - 3rd Feb)

Looking to get peoples experiences on the company and if people have ever done one of their Novice only trackdays before?

Being my first trackday, what should I expect? How should I prepare my car? Slightly worried about my car as its my daily driver (don't plan on driving like a tit but still worried about damaging my car!)

Thoughts, advice and experiences would be great!

I did a Novice MSV day at Brands and I have to say it was very good.

But make sure you book at least one (preferably two) instructor sesions.

It was a sessioned day, so you had 20 minutes on and then an hour off, four groups, four runs during the day.

The benefit of this was it will be kinder to a car, gives you chance to think what you are doing and watch others and also you get a little familiar with the other drivers on the day as you are mostly out with the same 15-20 people each time.

All you need is a roadworthy car that's been checked over (tyres, oil ,water etc...) a crash helmet (you can rent from Brands) and a front towing hook screwed in if you don't a fixed one on the car.

This is a list of what you need on their site too.

You'll have a briefing at the start to tell you about the flags, what happens during the day and the chance to ask any questions.

I hope you enjoy it, I really did.

Thanks for the reply BossFox! Good to hear such positive feedback. I have a lid so no need to hire one :yes:

As you said, this day is sessioned, much kinder for the intercooler (standard setup)and brakes (standards setup) no doubt.

Generally speaking, what sort of cars can I expect to turn up? My cars standard bar a remap.

That's the only thing I forgot to mention and which did surprise me a bit.

On the day there were bikes and cars, two groups of each. So about 30-40 cars.

The cars included (those I remember) an M3, M5, Mazda RX ****el engined thing, a few older Porshes, EVO, Nobel, Jaguar XKR, track day thing (may have been a radical, so road legal) and some Caterhams. Oh, and a Ford Fiesta.

Needless to say, most of them were pretty quick. Except for the Fiesta which spent most of the day getting overtaken on every straight.

It may be a novice day, but it won't be a group of cars all going round slowly.

A lot of people buy a fast car and then take it along to see what it can do.

And under the MSV rules you can do a novice day three times before you are not classified as a novice.

It's not a big problem, just have fun and make space for faster cars when they want to go past.

The instructor will push you if you want to go faster, in five minutes of starting I had the M5.

edit: it seems the swear filter doesn't like the name of the rotary engine Mazda fit. :wonder: