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First track day (PCGB @ Donington Park) completed!

Motorhead

Motorhead

PCGB Member
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Well done Dave! Glad you enjoyed the day and got plenty from it … a good learning experience. [;)]

It sounds as though it was very busy, certainly more so than any PCGB track day I’ve been on, but I suppose Donny is always going to be very popular. A great track, but quite short and narrow and a bit intimidating for a novice with a lot of faster cars on circuit. [:(]

Jeff

 
It was certainly very busy, Jeff. 90 cars was a lot and Silverstone two weeks ago had 110-ish from memory, which while a lot too it's a much longer circuit so the cars can spread out. At Donington they started with around 40 cars on track at a time but reduced this to 30 after lunch. I believe these numbers are higher than those in previous years, I guess due to demand. What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts - quantity over quality it seems.

However it was still a superb day and we're both really looking forward to the next one...

 
Thanks for the feedback Dave ...

Can certainly relate to the congestion - vigilance aspect, from my one and only Porsche trackday so far ... it really did put me off. As you say, it`s time to be a bit more selfish in accommodating the quicker cars

" removing the tyre valve dust caps " ... why do this ?

 
AndrewCS said:
Thanks for the feedback Dave ...

Can certainly relate to the congestion - vigilance aspect, from my one and only Porsche trackday so far ... it really did put me off. As you say, it`s time to be a bit more selfish in accommodating the quicker cars

" removing the tyre valve dust caps " ... why do this ?
Click to expand...

No problem Andrew, glad to see I'm not alone. Maybe I/we should send some feedback to Mandy and Chris?

As for the valve dust caps, this was just for ease of bleeding the tyres. Removing and replacing the caps several times would have been a faff so I decided to leave them off for the day, only replacing them before heading home after adding air back into the tyres for the road.

It was a convenience thing!

 
First of all a massive shout out to Chris and Mandy from the Motorsport section of the club who put on a great day. Along with the Club's race series' they must work their socks off, so hats off to them [:D] Also a big thanks to John and Ralph for the Track Day Basics Zoom call we had a few months back. There were some really useful tips shared which helped me a lot, so cheers!

On to the day...

Myself and Mrs Twinfan stayed over the night before in a local hotel, which was great being only 5 minutes from the circuit but the 6am wake-up fire alarm wasn't the best :rolleyes: It did, however, mean we were up nice and early to grab a garage! Once parked up I got the car sorted by unloading the car, removing the tyre valve dust caps, fitting tow loops and getting the harnesses ready. Then it was time to head down to the registration area and grab our wristbands. Dead easy.

After a quick briefing (we'd all done the online MSV briefing the day before) it was time for sighting laps in one of three groups. We let the mad rush die down and opted to take the final group, then went for a coffee while the early birds hooned around on their first laps. Thanks for the tip, Ralph!

Time to venture out on track...

First time out on the open track was quite an eye opener. There were 90 cars booked on to the day, which is quite a lot for a small-ish circuit, and so traffic was everywhere - both in front and behind. Cars on out/cooling down laps plus experienced guys on proper quick laps mean that you really have to have your wits about you and be hyper vigilant at all times. This aspect of the day was probably the biggest hurdle for a complete novice like me. Seeing a well driven GT2RS appear from nowhere and trying to concentrate on your own lap while getting out of the way ASAP was an interesting experience! So much so, I completely fluffed the next corner and ruined my rhythm. Maybe I should have done my own thing a bit more and made them wait for one of the two straights? Lesson learnt I think.

Instruction...

I pre-paid for an instructor session and took it up mid-afternoon once I'd got more used to the circuit and my car. This worked out really well for me as I could use the instructor for some of the finer details e.g. tidying up my lines, braking technique, gear choice etc. I think I was one of the last to be instructed so I got a good 25-30 minutes which was invaluable. Totally worth the extra £40 on top of the cost of the day.

The car...

I can totally see why the GT4 is a very popular track day choice. Mine was faultless all day, and it went out for quite a few sessions with either my wife or one of our two friends who came along for the day as passengers. Auto-blip is a great way to take some pressure off gear changes in a manual car, and the chassis tweaks I've had done really meant the car cornered exceptionally with stunning feel. I could really carry some speed and when it started to loose grip it did so very progressively. More tuition required to get the best out of it for sure! It's way better than I am.

Once I'd bled down my hot tyre pressures to those I see on the road when the car is warmed up it performed faultlessly. I had to take quite a bit out as you might expect - tyres don't half get warm when you lean on them a bit!

Conclusions...
  • Track days are a hugely enjoyable way to really get a feel for what your car can do.
  • There are a broad mix of cars knocking about to have a nosy at, but I would say that they're mostly towards the GT/race car end of the spectrum and driven quickly. It makes things a little challenging for novices.
  • Traffic awareness is a skill all of its own and will take a bit of time to learn.
  • Tuition is hugely beneficial, especially if you're thinking of tracking regularly.
Overall Porsche GT cars can do exactly what they are designed to do - drive to the track, get well used all day, then drive home again - with the minimal amount of fuss. They're an incredible piece of engineering!

7BB28AF7FE544A5DACB8BD48FFD57894.jpg

 
Congestion / speed differential - back in the day it used to be accommodated by sorting into three competence groups, with twenty minutes per group. Not sure if that would work now given the increased numbers and focus on an open pit lane format ?

I`ll be at next month`s R3 / Javelin day at Croft as a foot back into the fray :p

Valve caps - thank you

 
I had a friend there with me who does a lot of bike track days where they run groups. He says the problem there is that everyone with a fast car goes in the fastest group so it ends up being massive. Probably better for novices but not the majority of attendees.

I'll drop the Club an email with some feedback and see what they say....

 
Glad you enjoyed your day, Dave. Increased numbers would be a good reason to have “competence groups“ I would have thought, Andrew.

Keeping an eye on faster cars is always a challenge, however at least at track days there is only overtaking on the straights.

As the slower car you are in charge; while you are obliged to pull well over and indicate to let people past (and be prepared to lift off, if necessary, to let someone complete the manoeuvre safely - it’s not a race) it’s basically your decision if you think you are too close to a corner for someone to overtake and then the corner is yours and you are quite entitled to concentrate on your lines.

Enjoy the next one! See you at Croft, Andrew.

 
”….fast car goes in the fastest group so it ends up being massive”

They could still have A & B groups, if numbers merited it.

 
From my own experience the only Club track day which specifically has catered for novices is Blyton, where there were three separate groups in the morning sessions: novices, those with some experience and finally, those with a lot of experience. The afternoon sessions were open pit lane. It’s a short, technical circuit and the system worked well, and it was well attended.

During the briefing sessions it’s emphasised that overtaking should only take place on the straights, but unfortunately in the heat of the moment a lot of participants seem to forget. On the other hand, on a few occasions I’ve been obstructed by participants who won’t back-off to let you past when you come up behind them, something else which is emphasised during the briefings. Unlike you Dave, do these people actually look in their mirrors?

Jeff

 
GordonT said:
Keeping an eye on faster cars is always a challenge, however at least at track days there is only overtaking on the straights.
Click to expand...

True, however I found there was a fair amount of aggressive driving or intimidation - cars right behind you, almost in your blindspot, as if they were in a race and looking for a gap to dive into.

As for overtaking on the straights, when the on-site briefing talked about overtaking through the Craner Curves it was clear that the two straights were clearly not the only places people could expect to pass on.

 
”As for overtaking on the straights, when the on-site briefing talked about overtaking through the Craner Curves it was clear that the two straights were clearly not the only places people could expect to pass on.”

Wow! And how did that work out, Dave? I can’t remember the track to think how reasonable that would have been. If that was problematic, then a good point for feedback.

 
We were told to only overtake on the Craner Curves if the car in front indicated to allow you to do so. As this directly contradicted the "only on the straights" rule I found this very confusing and it put pressure on me to move over in an area I was uncomfortable with. It would have been much better to reinforance the "straights only" rule in my opinion, as it opened the door to expect people to move over everywhere.

I'm more than happy to move over for faster participants, but when you see that 2 or 3 911 GT cars have caught up with you just as you get to Craner Curves I felt I was expected to move over there and then rather than keep them behind me for for half the circuit until Starkey's Straight.

 
Mmm, I don’t remember it well enough. Is that still going downhill? A friend of mine barrel-rolled his Mini going down there.

 
Yep, it's on the way down to the old hairpin - a place where you want to get your line, gearing and car weight distribution correct.

 
!



AndrewCS said:
Thanks for the feedback Dave ...

Can certainly relate to the congestion - vigilance aspect, from my one and only Porsche trackday so far ... it really did put me off. As you say, it`s time to be a bit more selfish in accommodating the quicker cars

" removing the tyre valve dust caps " ... why do this ?
Click to expand...

[/quote] Removing the dust caps also improves the ratio of sprung to unsprung weight for perfectionists! You're welcome. [;)]

 
PaulJ said:
You forgot to mention that removing the dust caps also improves the ratio of sprung to unsprung weight for perfectionists! You're welcome. [;)]
Click to expand...

:ROFLMAO:

They don't quite offset the passenger I always had alongside me, but hey, it all counts right?

 
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