Brands Hatch Track Day

Inspire the rest of us! A place to pop a note / blog of your travels, a short desciption with a photo would be perfect.

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Phil N
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Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Phil N » Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:11 pm

Took the elise on the track for the first time yesterday at Brands (also first time there). A great turn out for SKCC as team Snodhurst were there along with a few who turned up for a cuppa and natter- good to see you all.

The track started off mildly moist to say the least and plenty of people coming off resulting in lots of red flags, later on a dry line appeared so managed to push a but harder... bit disappointed that the track day 'rules' were ignored by many including those who set them but all of our cars got home safely.

I managed one photo at the end of the day to remind me it did happen...
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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Kegco » Sun Nov 25, 2018 5:27 pm

Popped by with Matt in the kits in the afternoon.
Great catch up, lots of Banta, a few stories to tell :lol:
Didn’t think to take any photos until we was going, but good afternoon with SKCC and Snodhurst team testing
Matt and I even got our own garage
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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Dick » Sun Nov 25, 2018 8:34 pm

Was good to see a few skcc drivers had taken a chance on the weather and gave it a go . We had turned up with the 2 civics and a few others from the barc race series. The day was all about giving those that wanted to the opportunity to drive the cars and if not drive then passenger tours around the track. The only thing we changed on the cars for this day was to add an extra seat with harness . I also turned the engines power and revs down to save them. The cars never stopped going round all day and had lots of interest from others. Plenty of food and drink was laid on, it was our way of saying a big thank you to people that had shown support and help over the last 12 months. I would like to apologize to every one for one of my own going in the gravel at paddock in the yellow civic causing a red flag , but was surprised by how few we had when you think how tricky the track was at times i think 4 in all is not bad. Oh and yes we did make him feel bad about the off roading. Good to see you and have a chat.

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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Nash » Sun Nov 25, 2018 8:48 pm

It was great to see the chaps yesterday. It was also nice to be at Brands without my camera so both officially a day off and “it didn’t happen”!

Phil was right about the driving standards of some and added to being a busy TD meant you had to keep your wits about you while on track.

That said it was a great day and good to see everyone.
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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby SteveRST » Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:11 pm

Who'd have thought we'd get rain at Brands at the end of November?! Well, not me... otherwise I'd have brought a waterproof jacket. - Well, that's what I was thinking as I was waiting in the queue for the noise test - in the pouring rain. :lol: Shoot the weather forecasters, they got it wrong too.
But perversely I was actually quite pleased because I prefer driving in the wet on track. :P
Anyway, static noise test passed at 94dB @ 5200 rpm - the trusty old zetec turbo really is pretty quiet. Static limit was 105dB static, so it's bloody miles inside the safe zone.

How slippery was the track then? Well, the guy in a silver elise in front of me managed to put it in the kitty litter at Paddock Hill Bend on the slighting lap. A sign of things to come :lol: There were quite a few red flags in the morning.
I personally found I was getting loads of understeer (yes, really!), especially at the entrance to Graham Hill Bend (then plenty of oversteer on the exit, then unable to put any power down) and loads of understeer around the middle section of Clarke Curve. But that is the beauty of a wet track day, you're going so much slower so have plenty of time to try different approaches to the same problem - and then lot's of time to recover/save it if things appear to be going a bit wrong. I must have tried a good half a dozen different ways to tackle Clarke Curve. Lots of steering with the throttle too :lol: Great fun!

It doesn't help that my car is turbo'd with the turbo wastegate controlled by an electronic boost controller which allows the turbo to spool up much quicker than it otherwise would with a standard spring controlled actuator, and therefore makes the power delivery even less 'progressive'. Lots of wheelspin and snap oversteer but it keeps me on my toes!

A dry line did start to appear later on but even then it was still very slippery. The last 45 mins of the day the track was getting much faster and I had a good play with a tuned 'Seven Valley Motorsport' R35 Skyline.

What a fun day! No dramas and no mechanical issues at all.
Great to do a track day with some mates - Mark and Phil and also Chris who I met for the first time (thanks for sharing the garage Chris! :) ). Jay and Dick and the Snodhurst crew too of course. Really great to see a load of the SKCC members popping down for the day as well. We definitely need an official SKCC track day next year.

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There are a load of official pics (with overbearing watermarks sadly) online at https://www.msvtphotography.com/v/photos/89772wtm/x181124-brands-hatch-24th-november


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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby greenwoo » Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:10 pm

Was a fun day, and good to see a few others from the Club....top Marks to Dick, Jay and the crew of Kam's car for making the rides available.
Have to agree that there was some poor track etiquette out there, so much for the words in the briefing about ' we'll be watching' ( maybe they were watching the rugby ), given it was slippery thought that it may have occurred to a few that the car infront of them or the one infront of that might have an issue that they'd need to take avoiding action for....watched a tintop spin at the bottom of paddock as i came round the bend and realised that the 2 behind me were showing no signs of having noticed/easing off.

Like you Steve, sat in the pissing rain to get the noise test done - oh wait, i had waterproofs on :lol:

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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Weathers » Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:39 pm

Glad you all had a good day out and that you all and your cars came back in one piece!

I agree on 2 things, firstly although we have a club run to North Wield on the Car Limits Day, it would be good to have an SKCC track day next year.

The other point is the standard of driving or otherwise on track days. I do find it to be a particular problem at Brands and I don't know why. I've driven 8 track days this year and Brands has been the worse this year. It's one of my favourite circuits and it's local. It's a shame because it just takes the edge off my day. Still cracking fun though. :D

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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Phil N » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:36 pm

I think as Mark said during the day is that Brands is so short and they seem to allow the same amount of cars on as they do on the bigger tracks, I've done a couple at Donnington and although there was 30 odd cars it was rare to be in any sort of group. Also the last one I did was with Javelin who I'm sure wouldn't have put up with the behaviour of some at MSV's on Saturday.
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Phil N
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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Phil N » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:42 pm

Oh and glad I wasn't driving the Elise that stuffed it into the gravel on the sighting lap :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Brands Hatch Track Day

Postby Phil N » Mon Nov 26, 2018 10:08 pm

Some pics...
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