Donington Track Day. Sun 30th Oct

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: Diver944

I did two Trackzone days last winter and they were fine.

Thanks Paul, that's great to hear.
I missed last year with them after having a 'never again' the year before.
But you've convinced me to give them another go []
Best regards,
Peter.

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: Fen

I doubt they'd do a Turbo engine for the same price as a Lux one. Even if they do I take it that's exchange or rebuilding your existing engine? Gives a good starting point for pricing anyway.

That was for an S engine. The S2 engine is about the same. Not sure about the Turbo though. I was pleasantly surprised that it was so inexpensive though.

And yes, it's an exchange unit.

 

[Guest]

There were a few idiots there yeaterday, but I stayed out of their way and it was ok. They did use the black flag on at least one person who was "gooning" (that irritating thing that seems to have become fashionable of trying to drift round the corners instead of just driving properly). The driving standards were somewhat below what I would have liked though. I had to leave early (just as the track was drying out nicely), but my friends who stayed on said that the standards dropped still further when it dried out completely. I would probably have been a bit annoyed if I was there for some serious track time, rather than a shake down run of the car.

The weather was also horrible in the morning. It was like driving on ice, and until I'd got my tyre pressures sorted out after a couple of outings, the car was all over the place. Still, I was very pleased with how well it stood up to the day, and in the one session I did after lunch, when the track was beginning to dry, the car handled a lot better.

I have a surprisingly short list of things that I need to do to the car before the next track day:

Replace AFM to get my ponies back.
Replace the tyres (it's currently shod with 4 year old Pirelli P6000s, which lived up to their reputation for poor wet grip yesterday []).
Possibly get some 17" wheels, for the lower side walls (currently running on 16s).

Other than that, it was very good.

 

[Big Dave]

James..
Hows the demolition/re-building going on...At Donnington that is..???

 

[Guest]

They haven't really started yet. They have just put up fencing ready to start demolition. The only bit of actualt demolition that they've done is to knock down the little kiosk in front of the PitStop Diner []

James

 

[edh]

ORIGINAL: JamesH
They haven't really started yet.
James

Apart from all the pit garages?

Was very slippery (as usual at Donington in the wet - more so after the 944 turbo headgasket blew on the entrance to Goddards after 10mins )

I think I counted 3 x 944 turbos, a 924S, 911 and Jim's 944S - maybe next time I'll bring the 924S rather than my Fiesta

 

[Melv]

Just beware -can only but agree with Peter.

Spent an October Sunday there with my wife in her car. The cars were supposed to be grouped as Novice and non-Novice...they seemed completely mixed up!! Despite the heavy briefing and me flagging up an overtaking on the right incident and three cars going past my wife around Redgate, little seemed to be done. The driving standards were extremely poor and also unnecessarily aggressive.

A lot of bling on track -watched a Lancia Integrale go straight on at Old Hairpin as his suspension collapsed and a Scooby rolled bigtime at Redgate. Trakzone? More like 'Crashzone'.

I was trying to tutor my wife in her car and spent most of the time watching the mirror and indicating right as another loony tried to investigate the contents of her boot.(Mostly shoes, BTW...[])

Managed to turn the tables in the Cup Car though and had a delightful run-in with a Ferrari 360 Challenge Car on an empty track in the afternoon.

But whadya expect at £99 per car???

I was also told a lot of stuff goes missing at these days as the 'general public' are allowed in. One guy had the bolted on spare wheel nicked from his trailer in the past!!