Donnington National Circuit Trackday Sunday 26th October

[SteveRST]

It'd be good to have u there. Javelin have a link on top right to request being added to the reserve list. Worth a shot?

http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/trackday/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=859itemid&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

[Crunchie Gears]

Thanks Steve.

Email sent

[Nash]

do it, do it....

Was planning for the car to be in bits at that point!

That's a fine way to treat the car that took you to the arctic

Thats why its going to be in bits Duncan. I'm giving it some TLC for looking after me so well all year

[Phil N]

Great Day!

A friend James (Clio Sport) and I went up on the sat PM and stayed overnight to avoid the early start so we met Steve at the track around 8 in the morning, briefing and then sighting laps then the fun began. Huge variety of cars there from Old fords to modern Jap stuff and everything in between.

Loved Donnington, the Craner curves were just like riding a roller coaster with the change in gradient and the g forces... could not get enough of them! Last week I invested a set of R1R's to replace the T1R's, What an amazing difference, I had sooooo much trust in them and they just gripped beyond belief, wish I found this out before they stopped making them or before Paul bought them all

Had a passenger ride in Steve's westie, f'ing hell that thing is quick, no word of a lie it felt like it was going to pull my bash hat off (notice the choice of words there)

No major incidents, just a few blown engines and the odd spin (every corner) from an MX-5 driver, best moment was overtaking a TVR chimera (i think) whilst he was showing his Mrs how fast it was.

Only complaints are that as everything to do with motorsport is bloody expensive the fuel was £1.60 per litre and the curry and chips at lunch was a tenner.

[Crunchie Gears]

Great pics No Zebras in sight

Wish I could have joined you but no places so I went to Castle Combe for a charity day. Not the same rise and fall or the blind apex bend onto the main straight

[jeffw]

Combe has its own challenges...

[SteveRST]

Yes, as Phil said it was a great day out on track on Sunday. Neither of us had done Donington before, but I'll certainly be back!

At the start of the day I was taking it quite tentatively... I was on a set of new Yoko A539s that had just been fitted the day before, so they were still a bit slippery. I was also worried that I'd be too noisy so was taking it easy down the pit straight. Glad to report that I was giving it full beans later on though, and no issues with noise (it was a 98dB drive-by day).

Car performed faultlessly all day and and I must have done a lot of miles as I filled the tank 3 times. Only niggles were that it kept overboosting a bit and hitting the boost limiter at 13.5 psi rather than holding 11 psi but I can look at that. Other thing was that I noticed the brakes were feeling really 'spongy' / lots of pedal travel until I got some heat in to them after a few laps. Not sure if the pads were glazing over between sessions? Or calipers/brake fluid boiling during the breaks, and then actually cooling when on track? Yes handbrake was left off.

I had only one small 'incident'. I overtook someone quite far down the main back straight, and was carrying too much speed in to the chicane at 'Roberts' - couldn't make the corner and had to go over the far kerb and kit the sump on the bottom of the kerb quite hard but luckily no damage and no spins/offs.

Lots of red flags on the day. Breakdowns and offs. One particular MX5 must have casued at least 3 reds by going off in the gravel, but driving was pretty courteous generallyI thought.

Favourite corner was Coppice where I totally loved the blind turn-in when you can't even see the corner - but very satisfying to get it right and position two wheels across the kerb/apex. Exit from Copice was perfect for finding a balancing between a smooth line or some controlable 4th gear oversteer if desired.

I didn't take any pics but myself and Phil both got quite a bit of video, so hopefully we'll each get something up in the next week or so.