SKCC Car Limits Activity Day Fri 29th Sept

[ChrisL]

Ouch, but at least no real damage done and at least it wasn't on tour!

[Nash]

Sorry for being late to the party on posting up on this.

A bit like Paul it was with some hesitancy that I dragged my butt out of bed and headed out. Stayed dry on the run up to breakfast and then made the schoolboy error of NOT putting my rainsuit on when we went back to the cars after driver briefing! Talk about four seasons in one day! If you exclude spring and summer!!

That said it was a hoot in the main with ever improving run times I was enjoying the friendly competition and banter that goes with it. The last runs of the day on the full circuit started just as the rain started in the afternoon and I pushed to hard to get a quick lap in before the circuit was soaked again and had a proper spin coming out of the high speed left. I held it as long as I could before I simply ran out of ability! I stopped spinning just before Halloween! I tried one more run but it was raining so hard I literally lost the track three or four times and decided enough was enough.

It was great to see Jay successfully shaking down the Civic. It went and sounded great so good job fella. Also a good job by Paul on taming the thick end of 800 horses on that tight and unforgiving swimming pool, awesome drive Sir and a special mention to Wilf as it was a pleasure to watch you and your Scooby properly on it Sir.

Finally to say I was properly shivering by the time I got home last night and woke up with a sore throat this morning.

Worth it!

[Dick]

From a spectators point. Well what a day that was to say it was challenging for the drivers is an understatement , but a few drops of rain was not going to ruin the day . Every one gave over 100% all the time and the challenge's had a new twist to them now it was no longer how fast can he go round the 90 left but how far could he spin and with what style points. The timing was a bit of an added bonus to the runs as so many different types of car took part it was more about competing than where you finished. The banter and the pi$$ taking was at an all time high and in true skcc fashion every one joined in. The friend of wilf's in the red Subaru said he felt so welcome and cant remember have so much fun legally.
At the end of the day we went to see the time sheets and had a chat with the people from car limits and how nice that was. They said they thought that with the weather the day would be a damp squid . But to the contrary they said it was fantastic to see a group of people give it all and not let the weather deter from the fun of the day. The £1 in the pot per spin for the charity could have not worked better and the buy a cake bit as they raised a more than forecasted. It was said by them that you drove your cars in a way that many would not have attempted in the dry and was good to watch you push them to and beyond the limits of sensible.
Will they welcome you back ? without a second thought would say. Well done to you all

[greenwoo]

Apologies for the late posting...and for cutting out rapidly, i had an 'appointment' with an former boss for a night catching up after not seeing each other for about 17 years!

Rob stayed chez moi the night before and we had a good old natter until suddenly i realised that possibly as it had just turned midnight we ought to get some shut eye. The Gods of sleep were against me, with a frigging rat/mouse/elephant in the loft making sure that my shut eye was disturbed. I can only hope that its been busy eating the industrial strength bait and crawls off somewhere ( neighbours?) to breath its last.

Anyhooow. Rob assured me that there was a smidge of rain due around 8 and then again at lunchtime. I've since suggested that he gets a new weather app....by luck i had a waterproof set of trousers in the car from a prior run and had fitted the shower hood the day before to show it off. Bloody glad that i had both those items.

We set off down the lane to meet my old pal Chris The Car....only to find that a farner had been up all night ( and was still up with more lights on his tractor than a runway at Heathrow )....AND that he'd kindly been in and out of about 3 fields depositing a ton ( well maybe half a ton ) of mud on the road. To say we we covered is a slight understatement. We met Chris fuming as he'd polished his Elise the night before .....somewhere under the slurry there was a hint of metallic blue.,...

We met Neil and Sparky J at Tesco for a cheeky full english and popped into the garage to jet wash the cars....only to find the only water they had was 80seconds worth of screen fill. We worked like a team of Polish polishers on speed, trying to get as much shite off the cars with the 240 seconds of water that we had....encouraged all the while b the helpful suggestions from Jay & Neil ( barstewards).

It was good to see that the dampness hadn't affected the spirt and the banter started from the off, helped by a couple of numpties going the wrong way around one of the laid out courses. ( not not me).
The high speed bend is a fav of mine and i could happily do ( err attempt ) that for a while longer.It didnt help ( yep excuses already ) that i'd fitted a new set of boots and the fronts were 'shiny shiny', it was a fine line between getting it turned ( when it didnt want to) and then spinning out. Mark the instructor kindly suggested that i hold the wheel with 2 fingers, i was tempted to reply with 2 fingers - as the steering on the R6 wih its tiny wheel is flipping heavy. But i took the point - 'less force'.

After we split into 2 groups the competitive edge really started, and we cracked on, mindful of the warning about a few very slippery sections.We knew it was slippery as Sparky semmingly managed to spin up in about every gear, whilst us mere mortals only got wheelspin up to 3rd! I'd like to say that i found a work around by changing from 2nd to 5th.....but that just happened accidently on the heat of the moment; 3 bloody times. Luckily the engine has a solid amount of torque and one of my fastest runs was done like that - bizarre!

After a swap around of circuits we decided to try to blitz Wilf's leading time from his group....no doubt it was a drying track that helped ( so he says ), but hey surely that 4 wheels drive malarky is supposed to be a leveller?

Lunch.....more banter and the 10 drops of rain that Rob had promised.....perfect. Not so perfect was the torrential downpour that started about 15 minutes after we resumed the action. I think my lap time went up about 5 seconds in the time it took to go from damp to mildly moist, and another 4-5 after the real rain hit.

Throughout it all there was the usual good natured ribbing that makes up the basis for so many SKCC days.
We opened up the day to 2 friends of club members as we hadnt filled it up - which to me is a mystery. The opportunity to try out the cars in a safe place, to learn more abut the handling characteristics and 'crack on' with likeminded club fellows should surely be a 'no brainer'. Oh and if you're on the sidelines reading this...take no notice of 'timings' etc, that's there as a bonus for those that want to compare themselves or their cars to a few pals, many (rightly so) take little or no notice - enjoying the day for what it is - a laugh.

I am waiting next years date, i've asked for the last Friday in Sept again and hopefully we'll get that. As soon as its announced the list will go up.

[andyf]

May give it a go next year, but I'm afraid I'd be too competitive very my cars good

[scotty]

Gutted i missed it this year.even in the rain it would be fun but mid engine swap so i would be even slower than normal lol.

[chris85]

well what can i honestly say about the day. the weather could not have been any better to make for a interesting day. yes the dry is prefered but in the wet it made it real learning curve. with alot more interesting action as just about everyone managed some fantastic spins. even the frint wheel drive honda managed to get a couple in. the banter was brilliant along with the company. ive got to say it was proberly the most than could have been had. not sure if i i would have prefered it to be dry.
cant thank mark enough for firstly organisung this event and secondly allowing a couple hoodlems in subarus join in. karl has asked me to say thank you to aswell on his behalf. he felt so privilaged and welcomed by all.
I cant wait until next years one.

[Nash]

Says the man with a roof and heater!

[locost220]

On another note (you will see what I did there) those that were there know how the db noise rating was done, how did the loud ones amongst us fair. Mine was 84 db at 4000 rpm.

[Rob E]

On another note (you will see what I did there) those that were there know how the db noise rating was done, how did the loud ones amongst us fair. Mine was 84 db at 4000 rpm.

I had 94 I think but they weren't that heavy on it, I'm sure at brands they had it on a little tripod ??