Heyford last Saturday (31-08) Driver Training Day
Discussion
Even though I wasn't the competition winner for this day out Ted I thought I'd post some of my recollections (surely it was a condition of the prize that at least a 'thread' would have to be produced 
).
The day at Upper Heyford airfield was billed as a 'Driver Academy Day’ run by Motorsports-events; Ed Moore and his team, John Riley and Christian (Bailey?) plus half a dozen unnamed souls arranging and supervising the day
.
The day started off well with less than 20 cars present, ranging from Clio 172’s to Ferrari 355, Caterfields to Porkers and TVR’s
.
After the introductions and briefing we were split into three groups, shall we just say that from my perspective I lost track of the ‘other’ two groups from this point on, albeit to say the hooligans were placed in one group…… what do you call a collection of inexperienced (well I am at least) TVR drivers
.
The TVR’s included myself in a V8S, a Chim500 driven by Alan_D whom I drove up with from the south coast, also present were (this is where names always escape me apologise if it was you), a Chim 450, a crazy RR Tuscan and a road going Racing AJP Tuscan 
.
The idea of the day was to learn your limits and the car’s in the safety of an airfield. I believe it to be even safer than an airfield track day as only one car at a time attempted each ‘obstacle’ within the confines of distinct areas.
With stances such as emergency braking whilst negotiating a chicane (bloody difficult with no ABS) my one and only cone ‘hit’ of the day 
.
Lift off oversteer, my all time favourite of the day, I could not believe how quickly these cars swap ends At one point I managed a complete spin (360 deg) and the car started to go round again, noooooooo….. time to dip the clutch and apply the brakes on that run, how I laughed . I did manage to get it right after half a dozen goes, what a feeling of satisfaction, hats off to you guys that can recover from something like that when it happens (hopefully once in a blue moon).
Then onto the slalom course, a chance to try the power oversteer this time much more controllable, I even managed to fishtail between cones on one run and still get through the gate without hitting one .
There was even time for a couple of blats down the length of the 1.5 runway, well they said it 1.5 miles long but the ‘advised braking marker’ (scoobydoo) must have been half way down, as I rolled to a halt on my second run without using the brakes managed 135+ out of the old girl with the RR Tuscan reporting 165mph
They even threw in a written exam :eek; my that was a nice surprise but straight forward enough.
Towards the end of the day they set out a mini track around the runway to test out your newly found skills as if it was a track day proper, most enjoyable having been prepared by the days training for it combined with the fact that your only let on in your groups again and released at time intervals.
All in all a very fine day that was most certainly geared at my level, i.e. experienced road driver (20 years) with bugger all track experience or cars and their drivers at the edge of their performance envelope.
I didn’t take any digital stills myself but here’s a link to Mark Collins site, the Ferrari 355 drivers who we entertained, so he took lots of pictures of the Tivs performing, special mention to the RR Tuscan who I think managed more spins than me www.collinsclan.co.uk/heyford/index.html.
Harry
PS quote of the day must be on the one given to me on my assessment form “Usual TVR over exuberance, too much power, too little grip” I'm still laughing and smiling.
). The day at Upper Heyford airfield was billed as a 'Driver Academy Day’ run by Motorsports-events; Ed Moore and his team, John Riley and Christian (Bailey?) plus half a dozen unnamed souls arranging and supervising the day
. The day started off well with less than 20 cars present, ranging from Clio 172’s to Ferrari 355, Caterfields to Porkers and TVR’s
. After the introductions and briefing we were split into three groups, shall we just say that from my perspective I lost track of the ‘other’ two groups from this point on, albeit to say the hooligans were placed in one group…… what do you call a collection of inexperienced (well I am at least) TVR drivers
. The TVR’s included myself in a V8S, a Chim500 driven by Alan_D whom I drove up with from the south coast, also present were (this is where names always escape me apologise if it was you
), a Chim 450, a crazy RR Tuscan and a road going Racing AJP Tuscan . The idea of the day was to learn your limits and the car’s in the safety of an airfield. I believe it to be even safer than an airfield track day as only one car at a time attempted each ‘obstacle’ within the confines of distinct areas.
With stances such as emergency braking whilst negotiating a chicane (bloody difficult with no ABS
) my one and only cone ‘hit’ of the day . Lift off oversteer, my all time favourite of the day
, I could not believe how quickly these cars swap ends At one point I managed a complete spin (360 deg) and the car started to go round again, noooooooo….. time to dip the clutch and apply the brakes on that run, how I laughed . I did manage to get it right after half a dozen goes, what a feeling of satisfaction, hats off to you guys that can recover from something like that when it happens (hopefully once in a blue moon). Then onto the slalom course, a chance to try the power oversteer
this time much more controllable, I even managed to fishtail between cones on one run and still get through the gate without hitting one . There was even time for a couple of blats down the length of the 1.5 runway, well they said it 1.5 miles long but the ‘advised braking marker’ (scoobydoo) must have been half way down, as I rolled to a halt on my second run without using the brakes
managed 135+ out of the old girl with the RR Tuscan reporting 165mph They even threw in a written exam :eek; my that was a nice surprise but straight forward enough
. Towards the end of the day they set out a mini track around the runway to test out your newly found skills
as if it was a track day proper, most enjoyable having been prepared by the days training for it combined with the fact that your only let on in your groups again and released at time intervals. All in all a very fine day that was most certainly geared at my level, i.e. experienced road driver (20 years) with bugger all track experience or cars and their drivers at the edge of their performance envelope
. I didn’t take any digital stills myself but here’s a link to Mark Collins site, the Ferrari 355 drivers who we entertained, so he took lots of pictures of the Tivs performing, special mention to the RR Tuscan who I think managed more spins than me
www.collinsclan.co.uk/heyford/index.html. Harry
PS quote of the day must be on the one given to me on my assessment form “Usual TVR over exuberance, too much power, too little grip” I'm still laughing and smiling.
Having just read my post again I can see why there's been no post's . What seems a good day out to some may not to others.
However, before you dismiss it again, I do commend to you most strongly the link at the bottom (remember to remove the . at the end of the link to get it to work first time).
The last 4 frames (DSC96-99) caught me at the end of a overster moment at 5 fps they show how quick it swapped ends i.e. 0.8 sec to go through 160 degrees
H
PS that should get it back into todays 'last 24hrs' clickers screen at least
>> Edited by HarryW on Tuesday 3rd September 23:11
. What seems a good day out to some may not to others. However, before you dismiss it again, I do commend to you most strongly the link at the bottom (remember to remove the . at the end of the link to get it to work first time).
The last 4 frames (DSC96-99) caught me at the end of a overster moment
at 5 fps they show how quick it swapped ends i.e. 0.8 sec to go through 160 degrees H
PS that should get it back into todays 'last 24hrs' clickers screen at least
>> Edited by HarryW on Tuesday 3rd September 23:11
Harry - I thoroughly enjoyed myself too. I've had my car 4 months, but had never really pushed it to the limit until Heyford. I couldn't believe how fast you can rush up to things and stop in time, or how hard you can corner before it starts trying to swap ends. The track session was just like go-karting . I left at the end of the day feeling a lot more confident in my and the car's abilities and I don't think it did the car any harm at all. You've really got to try these things to fully appreciate a TVR. I'm now toying with the idea of doing the Motorsports Events Goodwood track day next month including an optional 30 mins 1:1 instruction. BTW the next car I drove after that day was a new Rover 45 hire car (love the plastic walnut)
- and now I know what understeer means too !!
. I left at the end of the day feeling a lot more confident in my and the car's abilities and I don't think it did the car any harm at all. You've really got to try these things to fully appreciate a TVR. I'm now toying with the idea of doing the Motorsports Events Goodwood track day next month including an optional 30 mins 1:1 instruction. BTW the next car I drove after that day was a new Rover 45 hire car (love the plastic walnut)- and now I know what understeer means too !!Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff