National Day 2002 – On Track!!!!!!
Richard Nathan
After my brother James had decided to go travelling the world, which he is currently still doing, it left his track pass up for grabs. Incidentally, when you next see my brother, ask him about shooting cows in a field in Thailand with a bazooka – it’s worth hearing! Anyway, I bought his track pass from him for cost price (good boy J), and proceeded to forget about the day entirely. As you’ll read in my cossie update, I had to get a few things ready for track at the last minute, so I’ll bring you straight forward to the Sunday morning of National Day….
Myself and the missus, and Mike and Jen had stayed the Saturday night up in Derby, so Sunday morning was an early start for me. I was up at 5 a.m., and we were on the road by 6.15 a.m. It didn’t take long to arrive at Donnington, and as soon as we got there, we were directed to the paddock. I parked up, and Sophie and I set about taping all the lights on the car up, and making sure everything was prepared for scrutineering. I then proceeded to scrutineering, where they checked the general form of the car to make sure nothing was too untoward, and made sure that the crash helmet and seatbelts were fit for use. I was quite surprised that the checks didn’t last longer than the two or three minutes it took, but the car was obviously in track worthy condition, and no problems could be found.
I then proceeded to sign on, where I just had to take my indemnity form, and collect my photo pass stickers, track number, and paddock passes. After these were put on the car, I had a little time to kill before the drivers’ briefing, so I had a quick wander round the paddock. There were some incredible cars in there, ranging from a full race spec RS500, to a 4x4 zetec turbo powered focus. The best cars in the paddock were without a doubt Paul Bailey’s Cossie powered Mk2 Escort, Bruce Read’s new 500, and Gareth Lloyd’s Escort Cossie. Camaraderie was high in the paddock too, with quite a few people who were attending their first track day, mixing with those who were seasoned veterans. I bumped into Scott with the Series 1 in the paddock, as well as a few other faces I recognised.
8.15 a.m. marked the drivers’ briefing, and it was there I met up with Big Nige, Jay B, Lee Manning, and Sean Bicknell. It really helped to have a few familiar faces around, especially since Jay and Sean have been doing track days for a while now, and both are well versed in the way to apply your skills to the track. We all sat through the briefing, which was the mandatory explanation of etiquette, behaviour, and safety procedure – an important briefing that you have to attend no matter how experienced you might be. After getting our wristbands, we proceeded to the paddock, where Nige and Jay had nabbed one of the empty garages, so I dived in there as well (cheers boys!), finding plenty of room to dump the boot full of stuff I had.
What with this being my first track day, I had taken the decision to put myself in the intermediate group, knowing that I had a modicum of awareness and procedure on a racetrack. Our first session came up at about 9.30, and since I had already checked the tyre pressures, oil, coolant, and brake fluid levels, I was ready to go. I warmed the car up, and proceeded out onto circuit. I had decided to go out on my own, just to familiarise myself with the circuit, because even though I had revised the corners thoroughly in the preceding days, there is no substitute for driving the course.
We were instructed to do 2 laps with no overtaking, and this gave me a chance to get some heat into the tyres and brakes. As we came around the pit straight for the last of these two laps, the pace of the convoy seemed to pick up as everybody anticipated the all clear, and before I knew it, we were off. Now they do stress that it’s not a race, but some were more eager than others… as such, a big fuck you to the twat in the black fiesta, who thought he’d undertake me into the first corner under very heavy braking. Still, as much as I love all RSs, it was nice to see you parked up with problems all day, whilst I enjoyed a full day racing! Because of the sensible rule employed at every race circuit open for track days, that you only overtake on the left, I kept to the right, and let a lot of people through, as I wasn’t ready to go blatting round like an idiot just yet. After about two or three laps at what can only be described as a gentle pace, I decided to put the hammer down, and explore the limits of the car on circuit. I’ve been racing karts since I was 10 years old, so track craft was no stranger to me, and I soon picked up the lines and braking points really quickly. The last few laps of the session were quite quick, and I was really exploring the handling characteristics of the car as I had never done before.
When I came into the pits, I was grinning like an absolute monkey, and was so excited by the prospect of a whole days use of the circuit. There I no description for how good those laps were. You can drive twice as quick as you ever could on the road, because there’s a relatively large safety margin, and there’s so much space involved. I couldn’t wait for the next session, and it came round very quickly. I had my first passenger of the day lined up in the form of Willie Rae, one of the Scottish lads, and when I got out on circuit, I really had the bit between my teeth. I was on a flyer, with the tyres really working well, providing me with more grip than I could ever have imagined was possible out of my saff. The session was over far too soon, but I realised I was sweating buckets, as I was in a crash helmet with 30 degree outside temps. I also realised how hard the car was working, since if you’re not braking, you’re always on boost, and my charge temps were through the roof! It was also pointed out to me that since I wasn’t running a turbo heat shield, I was likely to find my brake fluid boiling by the end of a session, so I went on the hunt for some heat tape, to coat the brake fluid reservoir with. Sean and Rich came to the rescue, and I covered the reservoir and clutch cable with loads of the tape, just to be on the safe side.
The next session I went out, I was determined to really push hard, and coming into Redgate, the first corner after the pit straight, on the second lap, I had a bit of an incident! I was braking nicely for the corner, got into third, and entered the corner on a trailing throttle. I clipped the apex, and fed the power in nice and early, provoking a beautiful power slide. The only problem was I gave it a little too much throttle, and the back end was really hanging, and I was running out of lock to keep it on the track. As the slide got more and more extreme, the back end touched the rumble strip on the exit, and the back end just broke away, sending me spiralling across the grass, and coming to a stop, right by a huge bank of spectators. I got my obligatory round of applause, and glad that I’d hit nothing, I carried back out onto the circuit, taking it easy for a few laps to get my confidence back up. After that, I was determined to have some safe fun, and was provoking the back end at all the spectator positions – well why not?!
The next session saw me take Neil Stockton out for a ride, and this is where it all came together. Where before I was braking too early for some corners, and turning in too early for others, in this session, I just nailed every lap as far as I was concerned, with just the right amount of showboating for good measure! Let me take you through a lap……
Across the start finish straight, you touch 5th gear towards the end, and then it’s hard on the brakes for Redgate. Into 3rd, Redgate is a long sweeping corner, angled about 120 degrees, with a double apex for good measure. You go wide on the first one, clipping the second, and accelerate out onto the rumble strip, grabbing 4th as you exit. Keep it in 4th as you hit Hollywood, which is a flowing right-hander, and then you’re into the craner curves. Still in fourth, you’re going downhill, up to the old hairpin, which is a 90 right. Brake hard for this, into 3rd, loads of power, and fling the car in for a great power slide exit. Into 4th, and up the hill under Starkey’s bridge, you get on the right of the circuit for the left-hander. Clipping the apex, you’re straight on the brakes, and into 3 rd as you hit the crest of the hill. The right-hander is gentler than it appears, and you can hold a beautiful power slide on the throttle all the way from the exit of McLeans, and into the massively sweeping Coppice. You grab 4th on the exit just before hitting the limiter, and you’re flying down the back straight. You get 5th, but not for long, as you’re massively hard on the brakes for the 2nd gear chicane of goddards. Hold second, turn in, clipping the first apex, then miss the second, giving full throttle for the big power slide, arse out moment in front of the grand stand, and exit grabbing third, and start all over again!
The session after saw me take Mr Steven RW out for a ride, and out of all the passengers, his was one of the opinions I was truly interested in, as he can drive a little bit
. He was more than complimentary, and was whooping like a baboon after the first lap, tapping the dash every time we nailed a corner, and laughing his arse off every time we held a power slide. For the last lap, I gave it something extra, and discovered exactly how to hold a proper, rear wheels spinning powered slide, controlling the angle purely with the throttle. Steven went apeshit, and even I was grinning, and to celebrate, I exited goddards with far too much right foot, and caught the most fantastic arse end out moment, right in front of the grandstand. Fortunately, RW will have a 2wd soon enough, so we shall see how he fairs on circuit next year!
The last session saw me take out Steven Lamb, or Chop as some of you may know him. This session was much the same as the previous, me really going something to try and push both myself and the car, but I soon discovered what it means when the tyres “go off”! We came barrelling up to McLeans, I braked, grabbed 3rd, and turned in, to find nothing but understeer. Then the car started moving around as though the tyres were greasy, which in fact they were. We did a couple more laps, and then I called it a day, since I was running low on petrol, and the tyres were beginning to blister.
Well what a day!!! Condolences to AndyRS who span his RS500 into the pit lane entrance, and banged the wall. Speaking to him yesterday, he will be back – bigger and better. Cheers to Mike for helping me get the car ready on time and for the loan of the harnesses, cheers to Steve Scott for prepping the car, and thanks to Sean Bicknell, Rich, Monte, Jay B etc etc for advice and help on the day. Cheers to my girlfriend Sophie for telling me I looked REALLY good on circuit, but refusing to come in the car with me – she was, though, so supportive all day.
If you’ve never done a track day, don’t do one. You’ll end up hooked like I now am, and I cannot wait till I’m back on circuit again soon. Hmmmm… Trax is only a couple of weeks away!