Hi all, I would love to put my mk1 onto a track but I don’t want to thrash it or race anybody! Do the club have any plans to just do a circuit meet where you can drive the cars around without actually racing. My mk1 is an old girl now and I don’t want to break it but would just like the experience of going on a track. Do other people feel like this?
That shouldn’t be a problem. There are always cars and drivers of a wide range of speed and experience.
The regime I have experienced is that you only overtake between corners and by ‘invitation’. All will be made very clear in the drivers’ briefing.
See link:
I did Bruntingthorpe this year, and its exactly what you describe, I’ll be doing Rockingham next year.
You can just do the morning novice sessions if you wish.
Great fun, just keep an eye on your rear view mirror and let faster cars past as its not a race.
Track days are not races. The whole ethos and concept is that they are non competitive events. Much like anything however you will find people at different levels of experience and determination and equally there are some providers that attract a different type of clientele to others.
You should not be afraid to go on most UK track days and you should be happy to drive at the speed you feel comfortable with but equally, much like a motorway, you need to be able to maintain a reasonable pace and to a great extent, predictability, for your own and others safety. There will always be people faster than you, even Lewis Hamilton has this issue. Equally there will always be people who think they are a fast driver because they have a fast car.
You should understand however circuit hire is not a cheap thing and even the most basic will cost thousands of pounds per day and depending on the time of year and the circuit, can be many tens of thousands, and so the idea just having a drive out has to be understood in the context of cost.
In the past there have been a number of parade lap opportunities with the race series, but this again takes commitment from someone to set up and generally and understandably the people or the clubs organising this would hope to get some spectator or even general “fandom” from it, which rarely if ever happens.
All that said, you would find your car far more robust than you think. In general the mechanical parts are extremely reliable and long lasting. The engine does not mind being red lined, in fact it enjoys it. A race car will spend 95% on the time it is on track above 5,000 rpm and while of course engines do wear out, they will do this for a long time before they do. There are many race engines out there that don’t even become race engines until well past 100,000 miles.
If you check the link below, this engine is still running fine
Thanks for all the encouraging comments especially thanks to mike. You have all convinced me, well 99%, that I should give it a go, I know I’ll regret it if I don’t do it. Well I better get out there and get the old girl ready for action!
There is another option - driving on a sprint track. This is an event where one car only is allowed on track at a time, and while timed, that’s done so you can check your own improvement, and is not intended for the fastest time wins - there are no winners when our Club does this.
This annual event is held at Curborough Sprint track, and while not as long as a normal race track, requires a certain amount of skill to negotiate safely. Usually in April, but if booked later, then it would be in May. You can drive at your own speed, but an average of 25 mph would get you frowned at, there are others waiting for a go!
Curborough is just off the A50 between Burton on Trent and Lichfield, though it’s closer to Lichfield than Burton. The event is advertised both in STHT and on here - keep an eye out after Christmas if you are interested. And the cost is a lot less than track driving, usually around £30 for an all day event. For this, you should get at least six runs, probably more.
I wanted to do the same thing so have booked to do Rockingham next May. It’s mostly so I can see what the car can do on a track although I don’t intend to thrash the wotsits off it. I’ve done single seater stuff in the past and always thoroughly enjoyed it even if I’m not the fastest on track.
We did the Curborough sprint last May. It was good fun, but something to bear in mind with this type of event is that you can wait in line for ages to get a 75 second run. You’re hardly on the track before you have done, then you go back in and wait again.
*In my case, what might have been quite a fast lap turned out to be one of the slowest of the day (about 92 seconds, IIRC). This was due to me getting caught out by a turbo’d NB with 256 bhp and cold semi-slick tyres and doing an exciting “360” after the final corner… much to the delight of my son, who’s car it was. But at least, I kept it on the tarmac, which is more than “certain others” have done before and since!
Agree with NickD, enjoyed a fantastic trackday at Oulton Park with MOT earlier this year and really enjoyed it.
Overtaking strictly by agreement ONLY, so no problems there. Yes, there are always fast cars being driven slowly and “slow” cars being driven extremely quickly, but everyone stuck to the rules and as a newbie to trackdays this was really appreciated - just keep an eye on the rear view mirror and don’t become the rolling roadblock, but you’ve also paid the same money to be out on the track so go out and enjoy it !!!
I would thoroughly recommend MOT as there was never a huge queue to get out on track, or too many cars on the circuit at once - so plenty of time to enjoy driving my 5 quickly in a safe environment.
Give it a go, you won’t regret it