Blimey, looks like you've all had a cracking day out!

Something about the thought of taking my own car round a track makes me feel deeply uneasy, guess I'm just too scared of ****ing up

Will keep my eye out for another one of these being organised though

I enjoyed today a lot and despite my misgivings, the mongrel performed well and was chuffed to be so close to the TT-RS that was in our session. I definitely made the right tyre choice and was glad it stayed dry. Kuhmo V700 tyres rule in the dry!

: : Thanks for posting the rear facing footage Richard, it shows how hard I was trying to keep up with you in the Yeti! I certainly learned a little for new lines at Bedford and I will be back to have another go.

As fo body roll, I almost lifted a wheel in those tight corners.

Your hot laps also show that we were all really on it BUT, I wonder if we were to try harder for the ultimate line with less aggression would we be quicker? Maybe something to try at the next one

Your hot laps also show that we were all really on it BUT, I wonder if we were to try harder for the ultimate line with less aggression would we be quicker? Maybe something to try at the next one

That's what I found in practice.

In a few places being too aggressive with the Yeti resulted in it trying to save itself, which actually delayed me being able to put the power down and so made me slower.

You had to be smooth to get it round the corner balanced enough so it'd let you power out. Particularly the long left handed corner down the bottom.

That is what I spent a lot of the time managing, stablity and roll.

Which is why I never had any brake fade, smoke or over heating.

I couldn't physically get it round quick enough to get the brakes really hot!

I think we could probably all benefit with some advice on lines from the Pros there.

Yep, looks like ARBs are needed. Id have loved to see what mine looked like from the outside in a video. The photos showed masses of roll and it certainly felt it. Theres alot of left/right/left direction changes at Bedford and thats where ARBs make the biggest improvement, and now you have a time you can see the actual improvements when you go there next time as well.

Wish i took mine to Bedford. I would not have been happy unless i was in the 1:28-1:29 region though lol

Nice to see the vid of you crossing the line backwards Richard, wish I had been filming, looked interesting from the outside! Lol

I guess this is the cheque book has to come out, what is the average £'s per tenths of seconds ratio ? :think:

As we said at lunch Sy, it is addictive, chasing seconds and trying to go faster and faster and always upgrading the next weak link, could cost thousands of pounds for a bit of fun.

I woud have been happy to come last today, it was a great day out, my son was riding shot gun (or slowing me down as ballast/weight penalty) we had tyre squeal, we saw an Octavia blast flames from the exhaust and tried without success to catch a Yeti. I am still grinning now :rofl: :rofl: :rock:

Its the most ridiculous, addictive and expensive hobby you can have. You can see why I upgrade things on the car to make it better as well. I dread to think how much its cost me over the last 10 years!!

We did try an October one last year only had 3 attendees (and I wasn't one of them) but if we can get the turn out we can do another later in the year.

How about the end of September if it would fit?

Definitely will be up for this by then, looks like you all had a lot of fun and a lot more controlled than the mayhem of Castle Coombe

Wish I had come, feeling quite miserable now :(

I could be up for end of September too, can I fetch the Golf next time? I can put a Skoda white worm badge on it too

Great day. I was surprised how quickly the hour practice went by. Admittedly, I spent 20 minutes waiting to refill my cooling fluid - I will get that sorted for next time, but even so, providing you don't overdo it in a single session, go out for up to half a dozen laps, come back in for 15 minute to cool down (person as much as car!), and go out for another blat. All of that surrounded by harmless grass fields and a great bunch of lads, what's not to like

I'd even contemplate an open pit lane full day there, but it would have to be with guys I knew / cars of similar speed.

Never again like Castle Combe! edit: For those who didn't read up Combe but knew Jason organised it, it's 0% his fault, and 50/50 shared responsibility between the organisers and impatient people like myself who just want to get random cars on track, regardless of which session they're booked on!

Also I find it fascinating to see how others take different lines. I'm too much of a pussy / think my car is imbalanced turning on hard braking, but Richard doesn't even slow down for the first kink in the first chicane! I'll have to try that next time once my balls have grown a bit more LOL.

I can see how the tuition helps seeing where you can push and how you can take a different line / different speed. Like they say on top gear, sometimes what looks slow is fast :p

My shameful effort:

Edited 1 June, 201313 yr by Xavier

Looked like everyone had fun and looks a more interesting track compared to Combe.

Fantastic day today, and so glad I could make it

Will post up some (quite a lot of) pictures in a separate thread shortly

I like coombe, but this has the advantages of being flat, smooth and space to make mistakes.

It is.

Fairly straight forward to learn the basic lines / bends, difficult to master and get every one spot on. And you feel far more relaxed as well, no armco just on the outside of Quarry to worry about!

I was surprised how conservatively safe they were in the briefings too. Saying "be really careful at the end of the pit straight, there's an armco shortly after the hairpin bend". Well, I reckon that's still further away than the furthest armco at Coombe and at Coombe, they didn't emphasise the risks at all. I suppose they're most used to it, and having a major crash each track day is quite a regular occurence.

Also, maybe I'm a track day snob, but I thought the facilities at Bedford were great. Toilets were clean, staff were friendly, super proper pit lane garage available under cover. They're clearly geared up for it and I reckon it makes Coombe look rather run down in comparison. Although to be fair, I've not been to any other "real circuits" track days apart from Anglesey before they re-did it.

And for those hesitant about going on track for the first time, Bedford is absolutely fantastic. A great venue to lose your trackday virginity.

Definitely plenty of run off, as you see when I was trying to reel in the Yeti, straight across the chicane! I also went very deep into the first hair pin at the bottom of the start finish straight, over exuberant I would say but with confidence that the car will still be Fabia shaped when I was to drive it home

The facilities are similar at all the other MSV circuits, only they usually have somewhere serving food too as they host all day events.

They have invested a lot of money in the circuits and facilities.

Silverstone is also very good, but it's got too expensive.

But you tend to get top end cars there and they are probably happy the Saxo crowd have been priced out.

As I said, I like Coombe, but it's more (probably too) relaxed and they are catering for a different part of the market.

A big thank you to Mr Pasty for arranging today, which was plenty of fun, with good folks. Let us all know how you get on with the car repairs which I know put a bit of a dampener on your day.

To any non attenders today, you definitely missed out on a friendly, and highly competitive day!

Silverstone is also very good, but it's got too expensive.

But you tend to get top end cars there and they are probably happy the Saxo crowd have been priced out.

This is why i used to only do Circuit Day Events because the usual special needs attendees at the cheaper events couldnt afford them, however the problem at these is that Race teams book the events for that very reason, so you have to watch your mirrors for 400-600hp race cars flying past you, and in hindsight i think the other organizers like Javelin actually run a friendlier less arrogant atmosphere

I'd say that comparing the How Fast event and the 15 minutes at a Combe Action Day is like comparing chalk and...um... a ferret.

Combe make shed loads from action days but to do so they have to be incredibly lapse and allow chumps on track and let the chavs invade twice a year.

I'm sure that a true Combe track day will be much better than the action days, and I guess the members attending on Monday will mind out.

As Richard says though MSV have a pretty limitless amount of cash (as you would have owning Bedford, snetterton, Oulton park, and brands hatch) behind them to make sure that their facilities and events are the best they possibly can be.

For people interested in doing more trackdays, I highly recommend the Snetterton 300 circuit. The new infield part has made a HUGE improvement. Id actually rate it as better than Brands now tbh

So,

Fabia II vRS drivers. Lets talk brakes.....Whos looking at uprating them lol

I was quite happy with standard discs and callipers, I did however have Yellow Stuff pads in after the issues I had at Castle Coombe! Seems they did the job today for me.

I see your thread as a bait? What have you got for sale Sy?

haha was i that obvious. Its all going except the downpipe.

I think we could probably all benefit with some advice on lines from the Pros there.

I can honestly say it was £25 well spent. though he did push me and the car, and even after he had finished he was still pushing me when i kept popping in to check lap times.

However I did do a 270 degree spin at pretty much same place as craig did in front of me, just about 50 ft further along. with the instructor in the car at the time.