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