Silverstone 21st August

[steve 944t]

Just wondering if anyone is going to Silverstone tomorrow evening? I shall be there for what seems likely to be my first wet trackday [:-]

 

[John Sims]

If it is too wet they won't let you out.

Wet is OK as you don't use up tyres, or petrol, and Silverstone is generally OK if you go off....... unless it is along the start finish straight ......which is entirely possible as it seems there is a river that runs across the track there. [8|]

I had thought I might do the 21st but previously noted ARB bush woes have put paid to any possibility. []

 

[Fen]

I hated wet Silverstone, but my car was fully set up for dry and it was the first time I'd driven it with a mapped engine.

 

[John Sims]

Hands up who thinks Fen sounds like a racing driver. []

Now that I think about it I don't believe I've ever seen Fen and Nigel Mansell in the same place at the same time. [8|]

 

[Fen]

Quick! The hamster has escaped from my top lip!

 

[rcsalmons]

Me and a mate are coming up just to take a look.

Rich

 

[steve 944t]

well let's hope the rain holds off then! Shouldnt take me long to switch to wet settings - switch on the wipers and place a brick under the accelerator!

 

[Peter Empson]

I was hoping to but sadly can't make it. I've never found Silverstone bad in the wet as long as you stay off the racing line. Try driving around the outside edge of some corners, experiment with Brooklands and Priory first as they're nice and easy with plenty of run off, you should notice almost twice as much grip IMO. Combine this technique with my old soft suspension and I used to have so much fun lapping all sorts of exotics []
Other than that definately follow John's advice about Woodcote corner, I short shift on a light throttle through there as you can often feel the steering going light.

Hope you have a great evening!

 

[steve 944t]

thanks Peter. Shame you cant make it.
I may soften the suspension a bit, but I think the sensible approach is just to take it easy. As for staying off the racing line - that shouldnt be too much of a problem []

 

[steve 944t]

well, the threatened rain pretty much held off - just a couple of short spells of drizzle. Very little traffic made for a superb evening with plenty of room to really push the car. I almost fell off the track at Copse early on, after leaving my braking too late. That woke me up a bit and gave a bit of a shock to the driver of an NSX who wasnt far behind me at the time! I felt I really got to grips with the car towards the end, in particular using trail-braking into the slower corners cured a lot of my previous problems with understeer, so thanks to the various people who gave me some advice after the last session.
Sadly this was possible my last trackday for the year. I was thinking of doing the next Silverstone evening on Bank Holiday Monday, but need new front tyres and brakes. Also, I was getting some pops and bangs from the exhaust when changing from third to fourth, presumably overfuelling, so better look into that before I blow a hole in my new backbox []