Questions from first trackday
Discussion
Hi all,
Just completed my first trackday (well actually half a day really). It was the EvoActive one at Snetterton in conjunction with OnTrack. Impressed with the overall organisation and standards, but have a couple of questions for a full / proper trackday:
1) Does every stick to the rules?
2) What happens when someone breaks the rules?
3) Do the groups of abilities work? Are the fair?
Overall I really enjoyed the day and I feel that I got something out of it. However, it was spoiled a little by a couple of people who just took it to be an excuse to drive like loonies.... Ok, so the whole trackday thing is a little "tapped" but they consistently broke the rules, which everyone else tried so hard to stick to....
Daft things like a cone was knocked over on a corner and lying in the middle of the track (on the racing line in fact). Marshall is waving a yellow flag and everyone cautiously goes round the cone. Except some PRATT who decides that he wants to overtake ON the corner, under a yellow flag and without allowing the car in front to indicate!!! Pretty spectacularily daft really... just before he had been litterly inches behind me trying to overtake through the bombhole and corrom (if you know Snetterton, those are the corners for experienced people only!).... Hence the questions really.
Dont want to race, and certainly dont want to get kicked off the day. So should I just chill and let the pratts crash themselves, or should I just write it off as a freak incident and consign it to memory only.... Does this happen frequently? Am I being a little too stressed about this?
I am still trying to learn my car (RWD from 14 years of FWD takes some learning) and dont want to be stupid. So I admit that I might not be the fastest on the circuit. But I am no slouch and do try to keep up with other drivers...
Cheers and feedback welcome....
Paul
Just completed my first trackday (well actually half a day really). It was the EvoActive one at Snetterton in conjunction with OnTrack. Impressed with the overall organisation and standards, but have a couple of questions for a full / proper trackday:
1) Does every stick to the rules?
2) What happens when someone breaks the rules?
3) Do the groups of abilities work? Are the fair?
Overall I really enjoyed the day and I feel that I got something out of it. However, it was spoiled a little by a couple of people who just took it to be an excuse to drive like loonies.... Ok, so the whole trackday thing is a little "tapped" but they consistently broke the rules, which everyone else tried so hard to stick to....
Daft things like a cone was knocked over on a corner and lying in the middle of the track (on the racing line in fact). Marshall is waving a yellow flag and everyone cautiously goes round the cone. Except some PRATT who decides that he wants to overtake ON the corner, under a yellow flag and without allowing the car in front to indicate!!! Pretty spectacularily daft really... just before he had been litterly inches behind me trying to overtake through the bombhole and corrom (if you know Snetterton, those are the corners for experienced people only!).... Hence the questions really.
Dont want to race, and certainly dont want to get kicked off the day. So should I just chill and let the pratts crash themselves, or should I just write it off as a freak incident and consign it to memory only.... Does this happen frequently? Am I being a little too stressed about this?
I am still trying to learn my car (RWD from 14 years of FWD takes some learning) and dont want to be stupid. So I admit that I might not be the fastest on the circuit. But I am no slouch and do try to keep up with other drivers...
Cheers and feedback welcome....
Paul
Paul
I've done many trackdays and pride myself on always following the rules and being a courteous driver whether overtaking or being overtaken. It is fortunately quite rare to see problems but if I witnessed driving as you described I would have pointed it out to the organisers at the time so they could have a word and keep an eye on them for the rest of the day, most organisers I know would throw them off once warned if they continued to misbehave, leaving it until they crash won't do anybody any favours if when they do they hit somebody else...it might be you!
Don't let it put you off, generally most trackdays I've been to are very easy going affairs and are very enjoyable
I've done many trackdays and pride myself on always following the rules and being a courteous driver whether overtaking or being overtaken. It is fortunately quite rare to see problems but if I witnessed driving as you described I would have pointed it out to the organisers at the time so they could have a word and keep an eye on them for the rest of the day, most organisers I know would throw them off once warned if they continued to misbehave, leaving it until they crash won't do anybody any favours if when they do they hit somebody else...it might be you!
Don't let it put you off, generally most trackdays I've been to are very easy going affairs and are very enjoyable
I agree. Generally most people on trackdays play by the rules - it's in their interest after all. They don't want their lovely 355 to get T-boned by a 15 year old Pug 205 GTi.
However, you always get pratts and they are usually the racing drivers. I was wobbling around in my Integrale (crap tyres, no boost) and a race kitted Rover 200 took me on the inside going into McLeans (Donington). I was just about to turn in (it's one of those where you can square it off or cut it) and I just happend to take a look - there was the pratt in the Rover. If I hadn't have looked it was a definate smashed Integrale for me through sheer stupidity. I was furious - I was prepared to move over on the next little straight but this pratt wanted to prove something.
I mentioned it to the marshalls as he was clearly on a mission and could quite easily have took a rookie out. I did tell them it wasn't worth throwing him out for - just a word would suffice.
As they usually say at the briefings, it's about having fun. It's ok for the racers cos smashing panels is part of the job but for us that are paying out of our own pockets it's not quite the same.
Dan
>> Edited by danhf on Sunday 26th January 10:51
However, you always get pratts and they are usually the racing drivers. I was wobbling around in my Integrale (crap tyres, no boost) and a race kitted Rover 200 took me on the inside going into McLeans (Donington). I was just about to turn in (it's one of those where you can square it off or cut it) and I just happend to take a look - there was the pratt in the Rover. If I hadn't have looked it was a definate smashed Integrale for me through sheer stupidity. I was furious - I was prepared to move over on the next little straight but this pratt wanted to prove something.
I mentioned it to the marshalls as he was clearly on a mission and could quite easily have took a rookie out. I did tell them it wasn't worth throwing him out for - just a word would suffice.
As they usually say at the briefings, it's about having fun. It's ok for the racers cos smashing panels is part of the job but for us that are paying out of our own pockets it's not quite the same.
Dan
>> Edited by danhf on Sunday 26th January 10:51
Interested to read the posts as I am going on my first trackday Feb 14 (EvoActive too, at Brands). I'm not a pussyfoot driver, quite the contrary, but other drivers worry me on the road and I don't want to feel like that on the track.
I do feel slightly more relaxed now though as I've just changed my insurance to Sunninghills and now have unlimited trackday cover (albeit £1000 excess).
I do feel slightly more relaxed now though as I've just changed my insurance to Sunninghills and now have unlimited trackday cover (albeit £1000 excess).
There's normally a couple of 'over-excitable' people on track days, but normally they keep to trips into the kitty litter (such as a certain 5-times Le Mans winner I know!). What this guy did was totally out of order.
On-track etiquette is key to track days, whether overtaking or holding people up. I always badger into people that:
- If you think you held someone up, go and apologise
- If someone acts like a prat, you have to complain. If you don't want to approach the person directly, go to the organisers. And feel free to advise them whether it's a "calm down a bit/keep an eye on your mirrors" or "pack your bags" issue. As they can only see the pit straight, so they need your help.
Done well, you will have a great time, even with a wide disparity in speed. Having been on track with Richard Ince's Radical (lapping me twice every twenty minutes) it was perfectly safe - I apologised for holding him up once (he hadn't even noticed); he knew I made clear signals that I was ready for him, and could be decisive when he scorched past (even in some rather tight spots - he knew I was letting him through), and knew when to hold off for another 50 yards.
On-track etiquette is key to track days, whether overtaking or holding people up. I always badger into people that:
- If you think you held someone up, go and apologise
- If someone acts like a prat, you have to complain. If you don't want to approach the person directly, go to the organisers. And feel free to advise them whether it's a "calm down a bit/keep an eye on your mirrors" or "pack your bags" issue. As they can only see the pit straight, so they need your help.
Done well, you will have a great time, even with a wide disparity in speed. Having been on track with Richard Ince's Radical (lapping me twice every twenty minutes) it was perfectly safe - I apologised for holding him up once (he hadn't even noticed); he knew I made clear signals that I was ready for him, and could be decisive when he scorched past (even in some rather tight spots - he knew I was letting him through), and knew when to hold off for another 50 yards.
I think the best thing is to not get too intimidated cos if you spend too much time looking in your mirrors you could end up in the kitty litter. If I come up to a slower car I don't worry about trying to stuff him/her as quick as possible, I just wait until they know I'm there and it's safe to pass. It ain't that difficult - you usually get more than enough track time anyway so if a few laps get messed up cos of traffic then so be it.
Dan
Dan
Was this the morning session?? I was there in the afternoon and the organisation was excellent - didn't see any yellow / red / black flags for anyone, and nobody left the circuit (apart from the Alfa V6 in front of me on the first lap :-)
Overall, it was a fantastic day and after a particularly exciting dice with a BMW M3 on the last session, I am well and truly addicted...
Overall, it was a fantastic day and after a particularly exciting dice with a BMW M3 on the last session, I am well and truly addicted...
Hey lx993, guess yours was that rather tasty sounding 993 then? If so, you will be pleased to know that everyone comments on the pretty obvious sports exhausts on the beastie... I too was in the afternoon session in the group C lot. When there with two friends - the Audi boys - and enjoyed the lot.
There were two incidents that I heard of. In the last session someone knocked over the cone on the corner just before the main straight (hence my comments above) and the chap in the yellow Cooper S managed to punt the Mk1 MR2 up the jacksie in the carpark!!! Went to start it while standing up and had left it in gear - went straight into the MR2 with a little bit of damage... not much though.
Whats that about the Alfa? Didnt know about that one?
Cheers,
Paul
There were two incidents that I heard of. In the last session someone knocked over the cone on the corner just before the main straight (hence my comments above) and the chap in the yellow Cooper S managed to punt the Mk1 MR2 up the jacksie in the carpark!!! Went to start it while standing up and had left it in gear - went straight into the MR2 with a little bit of damage... not much though.
Whats that about the Alfa? Didnt know about that one?
Cheers,
Paul
Thanks for the comments guys. I thought that I was probably being a little oversensitive. As a first timer I was worried about prangs and idiotic drivers, which turned out to not be as bad as I expected... just got a little pissed about the chap I mentioned above - guess that for the next one I should get some professional advice and training. I know that I am not really pushing the car to the maximum yet...
Hasnt really put me off, but I guess the old adage of being prepared for the worst fits here.
Cheers,
Paul
Hasnt really put me off, but I guess the old adage of being prepared for the worst fits here.
Cheers,
Paul
Paul
Mine doesn't have a sports exhaust!! It's done 75k miles though so the OEM silencers may be a bit knackered though
(and there was me, thinking I needed some more noise....)
I was in group B and it was very well behaved. I'm not surprised about the starting-in-gear prang, I was half expecting something like that to happen - especially given how close everyone was parking up behind the pit garages...
Funniest thing on the day had to be that guy with the Corvette (TE51CLE plate and a set of blue plastic danglers hanging at the back of the car....
)
Edited to add: the Alfa was the first free lap after the pace car had pulled in, on the corner before the Bomb Hole, nothing serious, just ran wide onto the grass.
>> Edited by lx993 on Monday 27th January 14:10
Mine doesn't have a sports exhaust!! It's done 75k miles though so the OEM silencers may be a bit knackered though
(and there was me, thinking I needed some more noise....) I was in group B and it was very well behaved. I'm not surprised about the starting-in-gear prang, I was half expecting something like that to happen - especially given how close everyone was parking up behind the pit garages...
Funniest thing on the day had to be that guy with the Corvette (TE51CLE plate and a set of blue plastic danglers hanging at the back of the car....
) Edited to add: the Alfa was the first free lap after the pace car had pulled in, on the corner before the Bomb Hole, nothing serious, just ran wide onto the grass.
>> Edited by lx993 on Monday 27th January 14:10
I've only done one track day, a TVR organised one at Bedford. Only once was I frightened, when a guy in a Tuscan pissed me off big-time by trying to undertake me whilst going into the apex of a fast corner. I was pretty well committed and if I hadn't used the apex I doubt I would have got through to the other side without spinning. I made a mental note and told him I was not at all impressed when I saw him in the pit lane later. He tried to defend his actions but actually I think he was just embaressed because his girlfriend was with him both in the car and when I explained my feelings to him. Pratt! Rich...
usually if you go to really cheap trackdays, then you will get the idiot drivers, but on the other hand the expensive ones (ie RMA) you will be on track with some serious racing hardware..so you can't win
Also if you stick with reputable trackday organisers who have a reputation of being hard on idiot drivers, that will give you a better experience (also if you are a novice, do sessioned trackdays where they send novices out together to learn the ropes.)
By trying different organisers you will see what kind of folk are there.
Also the cheaper the day is usually the more cars are on track (to compensate for costs..) so it might be worth it to pay 50 quid more for a smaller, more exclusive trackday.
And yes, I have gotten a "Legend in his own mind"-type porsche cup GT3 racer thrown out from a track day even though he had all the bits (pit crew/lorry etc..). But he pissed me off no end by continuosly doing stupid crap on the track (not intimidating, but annoying as we AIN'T racing FFS!!)
Also if you stick with reputable trackday organisers who have a reputation of being hard on idiot drivers, that will give you a better experience (also if you are a novice, do sessioned trackdays where they send novices out together to learn the ropes.)
By trying different organisers you will see what kind of folk are there.
Also the cheaper the day is usually the more cars are on track (to compensate for costs..) so it might be worth it to pay 50 quid more for a smaller, more exclusive trackday.
And yes, I have gotten a "Legend in his own mind"-type porsche cup GT3 racer thrown out from a track day even though he had all the bits (pit crew/lorry etc..). But he pissed me off no end by continuosly doing stupid crap on the track (not intimidating, but annoying as we AIN'T racing FFS!!)
I've done a couple of the evoAvtive days including one at Snetterton last Oct and found them to be pretty well run things. It would be interesting to know what car was intimidating you because the only ones that I have found to be quick and sometimes close to the rear of other cars are the EVO ones! This is not to say that they were driving badly (anything but) but they do usually have their skates on and may just be waiting for an opportunity to get by without losing any momentum themselves. Not sure your descrption sounds like that though!
As someone else said, most people are very well behaved at trackdays but there is always an exception....Don't let it put you off though. Having done 25+ of them there is only one day that put me off doing another day with the same organisers (sorry if you are reading this Andy).
As someone else said, most people are very well behaved at trackdays but there is always an exception....Don't let it put you off though. Having done 25+ of them there is only one day that put me off doing another day with the same organisers (sorry if you are reading this Andy).
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