Donnington park TD - A little courtesy?
Discussion
So, had a great time today at a track day at donnington park, great track and a well organised day. But, it was very heavy with race cars with full support, infact there was maybe only 10 road cars present. So there were cars from Caterham, ginetta, radical race series etc. I was in a Renaultsport Megane 275 cup. I made a point today of scanning my mirrors and stayed well right to let sometimes 4 or 5 cars through at once as soon as they caught me (always messing up the subsequent corner for me) plenty of occasions I did a courtesy lift on the straights to let any low powered race cars through, so not to hold them up in the corners. I would estimate I was passed a 100 times today, maybe more? but not a single flicker of recognition by any of them,not a wave, a nod nothing...why did I bother?
Had exactly the same back in februaty on a wet saturday......absolute a
holes. I am a seasoned track dayer, drive there, drive home type so not impressed when you set uo for a corner to find your mirros full of Ginettas and RenSport cup racers coming thru.
At one point i pulled into the pits to voice my concerns to the marshalls. Asking if it was ok for me to stick a number on my car so i can break all the rules set out in the briefing. When i asked if they were on a "test day" they enventually confessed that the day was undersold so had invited the teams to test. These cocks were probably responsible for 80% of the numerous red flags that day....
Leave trackdays to trackdayers, if your teams can afford the artic race trucks, mechanics and enough tyres for your local Kwik fit then you can afford to rent the track exclusively.....
There you go
holes. I am a seasoned track dayer, drive there, drive home type so not impressed when you set uo for a corner to find your mirros full of Ginettas and RenSport cup racers coming thru. At one point i pulled into the pits to voice my concerns to the marshalls. Asking if it was ok for me to stick a number on my car so i can break all the rules set out in the briefing. When i asked if they were on a "test day" they enventually confessed that the day was undersold so had invited the teams to test. These cocks were probably responsible for 80% of the numerous red flags that day....
Leave trackdays to trackdayers, if your teams can afford the artic race trucks, mechanics and enough tyres for your local Kwik fit then you can afford to rent the track exclusively.....
There you go
Yeah, red flags were a real issue, I think there must have been 6 or 7 in the morning, the racers were pushing too hard and ended up in the gravel, especially at the old harpin...
Some pretty aggressive overtakes were going on as well, there was some sort of Ferrari 458 race car jobby, carbon everywhere, air jacks etc, he overtook me on the inside of the craner curves, I was just about to turn in and backed out at the very last minute, the car was loaded to make the turn so it wasn’t easy to bail out, could have easily turned in on him...
I’ve got mixed feelings about it all to be honest, part of me enjoys being on track with some pretty exotic stuff but the other part of me doesn’t like being bullied on a trackday, as I would not do that to anybody else.
Some pretty aggressive overtakes were going on as well, there was some sort of Ferrari 458 race car jobby, carbon everywhere, air jacks etc, he overtook me on the inside of the craner curves, I was just about to turn in and backed out at the very last minute, the car was loaded to make the turn so it wasn’t easy to bail out, could have easily turned in on him...
I’ve got mixed feelings about it all to be honest, part of me enjoys being on track with some pretty exotic stuff but the other part of me doesn’t like being bullied on a trackday, as I would not do that to anybody else.
Edited by Itsallicanafford on Sunday 22 April 12:44
(also posted on the TD Facebook Group)
Lets start with cost - its NOT about cost, when you factor in team costs + running of a race car using a trackday is very much last option because its not cost effective due to limited run-time (too many cars) and you get a clear lap to set times (which your not meant to....)
So why do we do it? because test days are in limited supply especially 1-2 weeks ahead of an event, so if your unlucky to not get onto an officialy test day a trackday is last resort.
That said - I always put up my hand to acknowledge someone giving me space, it's a privilege to be allowed onto these days (in my view) - I 100% respect that it must be scary st to have a race car barrel up behind you, it's our job to make a clean pass and meet the rules, we (in theory) are the race drivers so its our responsibility to get it right, and thank others to accommodate us.
That said you also get complete dicks (road car drivers) with powerful cars but no cornering ability - who even if you are stuck behind for 3-4 corners still won't let you past. But I also recognise there are dick race car drivers who arrogantly believe they own the place by having a race license.
Lets start with cost - its NOT about cost, when you factor in team costs + running of a race car using a trackday is very much last option because its not cost effective due to limited run-time (too many cars) and you get a clear lap to set times (which your not meant to....)
So why do we do it? because test days are in limited supply especially 1-2 weeks ahead of an event, so if your unlucky to not get onto an officialy test day a trackday is last resort.
That said - I always put up my hand to acknowledge someone giving me space, it's a privilege to be allowed onto these days (in my view) - I 100% respect that it must be scary s
t to have a race car barrel up behind you, it's our job to make a clean pass and meet the rules, we (in theory) are the race drivers so its our responsibility to get it right, and thank others to accommodate us. That said you also get complete dicks (road car drivers) with powerful cars but no cornering ability - who even if you are stuck behind for 3-4 corners still won't let you past. But I also recognise there are dick race car drivers who arrogantly believe they own the place by having a race license.
Nickorangecars, thanks for posting, much appreciated and an interesting read. I think the reason I posted originally was that my experience of racers has generally been a positive one in the past so donnington was a surprise. Personally, I learnt years ago about letting these guys through, especially the courtesy lift. I remember being on track with some racers in BMW E30’s at snet. down the straights they were almost exactly the same speed as my then MX-5, but it was like they turned square at the corners, they were hugely faster. Indicate, pull to the right, come off the gas, everybody is happy (and I get abit of free instruction on the right racing line).
At donnington it was just a strange experience as you usually get the occasional wave of thanks. I say occasional as I’m aware that at sometimes the guy doing the overtaking would be managing other things as well, like being overtaken himself.
The other point i think just boils down to racers doing something unexpected. I genuinely didn’t expect the Ferrari would overtake me on the apex of the craner curve. I saw him really early in my mirrors, infact I made a point of watching out for him and a red radical at all times as they were both, shall we say, committed drivers. In my mind i was not going to overcommit to the old hairpin so I could clear out right as soon as I was through. And then boom, he’s barging his way through. Could have ended both our days there and then and for the trackday driver being the one to have avoided that happening rather than the racer seems the wrong way round to me.
At donnington it was just a strange experience as you usually get the occasional wave of thanks. I say occasional as I’m aware that at sometimes the guy doing the overtaking would be managing other things as well, like being overtaken himself.
The other point i think just boils down to racers doing something unexpected. I genuinely didn’t expect the Ferrari would overtake me on the apex of the craner curve. I saw him really early in my mirrors, infact I made a point of watching out for him and a red radical at all times as they were both, shall we say, committed drivers. In my mind i was not going to overcommit to the old hairpin so I could clear out right as soon as I was through. And then boom, he’s barging his way through. Could have ended both our days there and then and for the trackday driver being the one to have avoided that happening rather than the racer seems the wrong way round to me.
The worst on brands days were the juniors and their so called instructors so many red flags caused by them some TDOs banned them MSVT should have done the same , track limits were a joke for them too. Instructors were so rude and clearly this was passed on to their proteges/cash cows the attitude of some of the drivers was a direct result of mirrored behaviour from the instructors , it was a joke
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