Mission motorsport skids at thruxton (on the skidpan)

[944Turbo]

Decided I would have a go at some skids as always wanted a play on skidpan, hopefully in the cab not the amarok (but not had it out for a while so will have to check it over first!)
https://www.ticketwaiver.com/events/mission_motorsport/58

booked myself in for 13.30

Anyone else fancy it?
Tony

 

[Peter Empson]

Can't make it but looks great fun - will be very interested to hear how you get on

 

[944Turbo]

Was an awesome afternoon, this was the first time I had the cab out this year (for various reasons - though it had been run and moved) and I still wasn't quite prepared, so it had a fluid and pressures checks - the DME relay taken out while I spun up the oil pressure - then fingers crossed and it started -- exploratory local drive and all seemed good so off we went to Thruxton - Mission motorsport guys were brilliant (and included Neil Macmillan who those of you from the titanic days with a very long memory might remember) who was exercising his Toyota Deliboy van and can be found on twitter @skidsoslow

The Thruxton Skidpan is on a slope and it is surprising how such a small amount of slope can affect your perfect drift and let you run out of lock - It certainly adds to the challenge! We were run in groups of about 7 and took it in turns while the others queued, I never got out of 1st gear (they recommended 2nd but 1st is pretty long in a 944 and after recovering from a spin managed to do an almost stationary 270 on full opposite lock with my foot off the accelerator! By the end of my first session I could manage a sideways transitioning slalom through the cones then a couple of sideways laps of the 'roundabout' sometimes without spinning out! It is very challenging to be consistent.

After my session I had a couple of work calls to make, but then I asked if there were any spaces left as after wanting to play on a skid pan since I started driving It seemed having another go was sensible while I had the opportunity!

After some more practice at getting it right and lots more getting it wrong I could go both ways around the roundabout, also had some fun spinning the wheel into the skid to make a full 360 when all was otherwise lost - almost looked controlled and like I meant it, Brilliant fun and highly recommended!

Tony

 

[Peter Empson]

Does sound like a lot of fun. I guess tyre wear isn't an issue?

 

[944Turbo]

Yes, very little wear at all on anything, if you really attack the edge you could exit onto the tarmac surround but thats all - a few people bounced off the rev-limiter but that was just deliberate. found the dodge ram on twitter

https://twitter.com/i/status/1295749510178713600

there was a wide range of vehicles (fwd / rwd / 4wd) from a Citroen C5 to a Bentley continental with about 600BHP more than he needed few GT3s, BMs, mercs a TVR Mondeo ST220 etc.

Tony

 

[Peter Empson]

Thanks Tony. That looks like so much fun. I will have to give it a go in the BMW at some point, would be ideal for it []

 

[944Turbo]

Put a short video together,
https://youtu.be/zRwSVxUnRqo
Camera battery went flat before i got the hang of turning into the spin and keeping it going.
Strange thing was when i spun and rolled backwards the abs was doing something, even though I wasn't braking. Early ASR?
Tony

 

[944Turbo]

I think the Mission motorsport days start again in March, though Thruxton do their own days too,
Tony

 

[PhilKent]

Great vid Tony. I've got a voucher for the Thruxton skid pan for Xmas so looking to book that at some point (my car has no driver aids at all and I'd love to know how to handle it better). Let me know if you want to double up. (As far as I'm aware from what they described it's only two cars on the pan per session with radio advice from the instructor as they're not able to be in the car with you... I guess that's not like the mission motorsport sessions then?)

 

[Diver944]

Looked like fun [], good to hear that Neil is still knocking about, did he take the 'Deli van' on the skid pan.

Also spotted you'd finally got the Castle Combe vid from PCGB 2003 up on Youtube. I remember the huge plume of steam when Andy S head gasket went. You also captured me taking my mum round very s.l.o.w.l.y in LiL (thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it [] ). You got some faster laps later on - phew.

 

[944Turbo]

Great vid Tony. I've got a voucher for the Thruxton skid pan for Xmas so looking to book that at some point (my car has no driver aids at all and I'd love to know how to handle it better). Let me know if you want to double up. (As far as I'm aware from what they described it's only two cars on the pan per session with radio advice from the instructor as they're not able to be in the car with you... I guess that's not like the mission motorsport sessions then?)

I think the thruxton run days are different with 2 cars to a session and instruction, the mission motorsport sessions are 6 cars - "there is a skid pan go and play" (in turn, only one car on the pan at a time) minimal instruction.

The skid pan is interesting as it has slight gradient changes, which require adjustment to maintain a drift, it is also easy to become confident in one direction on the circle (clockwise in my case), but I found it challenging to master both directions without a spin. Even more so swapping between the two.
It would be good to be your opposite number on a session however my schedule at the moment is likely to prevent it, we are stupidly busy and no sign of it easing for many months. Sure you will enjoy though, you can slide at a walking pace so it is a perfect environment for getting used to the car moving around and how to provoke it / catch it.
Tony

 

[944Turbo]

[/quote]

Looked like fun [], good to hear that Neil is still knocking about, did he take the 'Deli van' on the skid pan.

Also spotted you'd finally got the Castle Combe vid from PCGB 2003 up on Youtube. I remember the huge plume of steam when Andy S head gasket went.

Neil was volunteering for mission motorsport but he did get out in the toyota deliboy with its awesome Japanese liquor store paintjob. It was a little tricky in that, despite it being rwd it preferred to understeer!

Was that coombe day your first one in LIL? You were lapping pretty quickly towards the end of the day!
Tony