Great I’m sure it will be a full house and a smashing well not smashing but but great day
Original post updated.
Slots are running out fast.
Can’t wait - my first track day ever - just hope it doesn’t become an addiction!
It will
Well what a great day at Oulton Park, the weather could have been much worse, starting the day with a wet track, meant a lot of low speed fun, though the track dried nicely for the afternoon.
Thanks to Peter for the pit lane refreshments and negotiating a discount with Mazda on track, though can I propose the club funds a tea trolley and apron, so Peter can wander up and down the pit lane serving drinks, saves us wasting precious track time going to him
oh by the way I was the one wallowing around in a very high red Mk1.
What a brilliant day at Oulton, my first open pit lane event and first track day in the MX-5.
For anyone who is also a novice and tempted to take their car on track I would say just do it as the combination of wonderful circuit, proper briefing, sighting laps, slick organisation and effective course control and marshalling made for a highly enjoyable experience.
I did over thirty laps in both wet and dry conditions through the day, a pretty brisk ninety miles or so on one of the best circuits in the country, being able to exploit the great fun that these cars are, and never having a slide or scare, just major fun and smiles.
Many thanks to Peter McNicol for the friendly welcome and support, and for the coffee and biscuits which were doubly welcome in the cold and wind whistling through the pit lane garages!
It was a real bonus to meet Brian Chandler, highlight of the day being some rapid passenger laps with the new BRSCC Mk1 Champion, very grateful for that, and also his time to give me a few laps of tuition.
A memorable day out. Many thanks to Peter, Nick at MOT Motorsport, and Brian.
Is it a good idea to increase the pressures on a standard road tyre for track use? If so, by how much?
In my case Michelin PS3 on 195/50/R15 usually @ 26 PSI.
It very dependent on many things.
You can to some extent alter the handling of your car with tyre pressures.
On a nice dry day you would expect far more heat in the rubber than road driving and as a result the pressure gain within the tyre will be greater and so, if you are generating this heat, you would potentially reduce pressure. In the wet in most instances the opposite is true and you certainly don’t make as much heat in the tyre and so pressures can be increased over dry settings. It is understanding what these settings would be that determines what pressure you would set.
All that said and done, you are not chasing lap times and it is far more important that the car handles the way you want it to. As a general rule of thumb look at the tyre. If you are getting roll onto the sidewall and it shows signs of running on it, so road marks, you need to increase pressure. If at the other end of the scale the car is feeling bouncy and skittish then reduce pressures.
I too went to the oulton park track day with my son and had a fab time so thanks to the man in charge and the marshalls ,i was in the silver svt and was astounded by my driving skills
the car proved to be fun on foo yong chinese tyres in the wet , my son had an “off” exiting lodge corner, spun and gently bumped backwards into the barrier and will now give me a lifetime of being able to Lord it over him!
Though im now looking for someone capable of respraying the rear bumper sunlight silver around the Chorley/Preston area? anyone know a decent painter?
Im new to the car but since getting it ,its turned into a hobby /pleasure as im sure you all know -i did a run to Skye with the roof down from Loch Lomond in scorching sunshine . I did kelmarsh and have been to Croft and many more cant help but look for excuses to get off and away .
Thanks once again to all involved, I’ll certainly be looking to book more
What’s the time for the briefing tomorrow at Brands?
Briefing is at 0830hrs as per the brief that would have been sent out by MOT.
Signing on starts at 0730, track time starts at 0900
Pete
OK, I have found it.
It says bring both parts of driving license.
There is no paper part now (I never had one on mine) - do we need to bring a printout?
You will be ok with just your plastic card.
Pete
Does anyone know if there are pictures of the oulton park track day 13 Nov?
Thanks
Just wanted to say thanks to Nick and all his MOT crew as well as Peter McNichol for a great day at Brands yesterday. It was well organised and friendly and considering how slippy the track was at times it ran with very few delays.
Novices were treated with respect and of the guys I spoke to who hadn’t done much time on track before all said they would be back for more so a job well done there as well.
I don’t know how Peter manages to find days like this and Blyton with such perfect weather, maybe the Race of Rememberance needs a bit of his magic for next year.
Xtreme Sports Photography will be present throughout the day. Please contact Nick on 0778 8825 952 for any specific requirements and to order CD’s/prints.
It was a good day, however it would be nice to have a pure MX5 track day to avoid constant giving way to RX8s or other higher-performance cars.
Maybe higher performance cars could be encouraged (but not forced) to go out during the first half of each hour and lower performance cars during the second half?
Track prepared cars are really not ideal when mixed with standard road cars, I am sure both sides find it frustrating.
If we could guarantee to fill an event then it could be possible to do, however these venues are not cheap to hire and to take a gamble that 60 MX5’s book to take part could cost the Owners club or the company organising a lot of money, MOT were very good in offering the club a discount on the booking, and the club also subsidised the fee a small amount. The Club was allocated 20 slots to try and fill and allocated 18 discount codes to members, out of those 18, four did not bother to book, If you can wait to next year the owners club will be holding at least three events that will be MX5 only, however you will never getaway from the fast cars, there are Turbo Mk1’s with 230bhp out there that are doing track days.
In June next year the Club will be holding its annual pilgrimage to Blyton in Lincolnshire, this event gives the opportunity for total novices to go on track with people of the same standard, it also offers the opportunity to learn how to drive and look after your car on circuit and helps to progress to a higher standard. It can be very daunting with faster cars when it is your first time on circuit, especially at a venue like Brands Hatch where the circuit is not that long. But as I learnt the experience gained on track to keep up with the quicker drivers does not happen overnight.
I hope this helps a little, please be patient, the club will have more events next year which I feel will be more beneficial to the less experienced track driver.
Regards
Peter
Sure, but as I suggested, with an open pit lane, each track hour could be divided into high and low performance halves (without it being mandatory).