Novice Tracker

[wendyg]

I've been invited to take the Elise on a Trackday, but I'm pretty nervous. They've done all the reassuring bits, and we've chatted about insurance, but I still worry. While I love my car, and I'm keen to have fun.....

[tvrbob]

Where?

If it's Croft then it's easy. Just play it easy where the chicanes are made from tyres. Corners with grass either side are the place to play. Nobody is allowed to race or overtake aggressively. It really is nicer than the public roads in that respect. At Croft you can ask for one of their instructors to go around with you for a few laps. It's all in the price and might give you that extra bit of confidence you are looking for. Just remember you're there to enjoy your car not to be uncomfortable in it. Cars will overtake you but it doesn’t matter. You'll gain in confidence and after ten or twenty laps you should have got the feel of the track. If I were you I'd find another Elise and follow it round a corner. See what speed it takes into the corner and see if you can match it.

One word of warning. The most important knowledge you can take with you is to brake in a straight line, never steer when braking, get you foot off the brake as you start to turn. Get that right and you're there. After that it's all down to how much fun you want to have.

You bought the car for this so now go do it and you'll wonder why it took you so long. You'll get home and be checking the web site for the next trackday. It truly is the most exhilarating thing a petrolhead can do.

[MickC]

I did my first ever trackday at the end of March - dealer organised one at Croft.

I'm guessing I had the same sort of worries as you - insurance, being a slow novice, will it wreck my tyres/brakes etc etc. I actually gave it a miss in my first year of ownership because I had not got track day cover included in my insurance - this year went with sunninghill and it's included.

I had a great day. Grabbed an instructor for the first time out, me driving the first few laps then him driving a couple so I could see how it's done. The scariest part of the day was actually being in the passenger seat with him driving showing me what the car can actually do - this guy was an ex tuscan challenge driver!

I was indeed a slow novice, but that was no problem just let people go past on the straights. Get a couple of passenger rides with more experienced drivers too - good way to see how others drive plus see how fast their cars are - a tuscan S just blew my Chimearas performance and handling out of the water but now I want one I did eventually get invited to go past a couple of slower cars later in the day, so I must have improved a bit.

Despite one spin off (overcooked it going into the S's, the grass stopped me surprisingly quickly and fortunatly facing the right way), my tryes seem fine. I've been told that's a good thing about croft and other real circuits - they are not as hard on the tyres as the airfield based tracks, plus if it's your first time and you are taking it (relativly) easy that helps too.

I went on the dealers TVR only day first, so at least there are no nutters with a 100 quid Nova SRi with nothing to loose allowed, everyone was driving 20K+ sportscars which I assume they don't want to ding. Assume the lotus people have the same sort of thing?

Anyway, I'll be back for more (next one is June), so my advice is go for it!