Sideways Challenge
Discussion
Just wanted to say a huge thanks to any PH'ers who came along to Silverstone yesterday to watch or participate in our sideways challenge. We enjoyed it, we're fairly sure that you did and we raised a ton of money for charity in the process.
Seeing Markko Martin tear a wheel off his car ON THE WAY to the start finish line was something I'll never forget, as was seeing Pente get a Mondeo 1.8 LX more sideways than any M3 I've ever seen...
Seeing Markko Martin tear a wheel off his car ON THE WAY to the start finish line was something I'll never forget, as was seeing Pente get a Mondeo 1.8 LX more sideways than any M3 I've ever seen...
Yes, excellent day had out. Top marks to those involved in organising it.
I managed to video the whole thing apart from Marko managing to crash the 1.3 pram which I am gutted about. Anyone else got that top video?
I'll MPEG the footage up and probably post it somewhere on the web as one big montage file. I wish I had taken a tripod now as was using GF's camcorder and nice as it is it doens't have anti-shake on it so some of the footage is a little shakey
Ben
I managed to video the whole thing apart from Marko managing to crash the 1.3 pram which I am gutted about. Anyone else got that top video?
I'll MPEG the footage up and probably post it somewhere on the web as one big montage file. I wish I had taken a tripod now as was using GF's camcorder and nice as it is it doens't have anti-shake on it so some of the footage is a little shakey
Ben
Cracking event - ridiculously good value at a tenner for a days entry. Good company as well - my work colleague I brought along thoroughly enjoyed it as well, so thanks to all. Great pub lunch with Daz, Ted and Dr Alex as well. We all had a good laugh.
Top parts of the day? Well, obviously seeing Marko binning the rally car, and the T350C hitting the gravel trap (what was that guy thinking of??), and watching the poor guy trying to powerslide the Arnage - respect due!
Cheers,
Greg
Top parts of the day? Well, obviously seeing Marko binning the rally car, and the T350C hitting the gravel trap (what was that guy thinking of??), and watching the poor guy trying to powerslide the Arnage - respect due!
Cheers,
Greg
Turboslippers - any chance I could get a tape from you of the stuff that you got from the day? We have a horrible feeling that our DV camera has eaten our footage.
Was talking to one of our guys who sat with Pente when he took the Mondeo out. Apparently he pumped the rears up, pulled the handbrake up as far as it would go and went for it. Rears were locked the whole way through...
Trackdemon - reckon you would've had what it takes in your NSX?
Was talking to one of our guys who sat with Pente when he took the Mondeo out. Apparently he pumped the rears up, pulled the handbrake up as far as it would go and went for it. Rears were locked the whole way through...
Trackdemon - reckon you would've had what it takes in your NSX?
Er, no 
Believe me if I still had the Chimaera, I would have entered, no question - really good sideways car (as you've witnessed first hand I guess ). NSX? Well I've had it on track once and it just won't stay sideways, slip angles too low, polar moment of inertia too high, etc etc... (ie, excuses) Maybe next time - I'm seriously contemplating buying one of those rear drive early Corolla GT coupes as it looks like immense fun on a budget....
Believe me if I still had the Chimaera, I would have entered, no question - really good sideways car (as you've witnessed first hand I guess ). NSX? Well I've had it on track once and it just won't stay sideways, slip angles too low, polar moment of inertia too high, etc etc... (ie, excuses) Maybe next time - I'm seriously contemplating buying one of those rear drive early Corolla GT coupes as it looks like immense fun on a budget.... trooper1212 said:
..... a fair few sideways moments in the NSX, so it is possible 
.... oh dear, "red rag" and "bull" come to mind...
Steve, three good reasons to get the NSX to Bruntingthorpe....
- Vmax,
- four-a-breast standing starts,
- and I'm sure you can find an empty piece of tarmac to practice getting the back end out
trooper1212 said:
Yeah, go on steve!
I want to know how sideways an NSX goes and i'm certainly not going to do it in mine
Well I've had mine very sideways a couple of times at lowish speeds, powering out of 2nd gear tight corners. Having tried it on track, its just not possible, there's a very defined slip angle after which grip drops away rapidly and the inertia of having an engine behind you swells quickly so you just play right on that limit which is hugely satisfying on its own. I'm sure it could be done by Mr Senna if he were still with us; alas I'm not quite that gifted....
Although I still maintain that if you can get a TVR as sideways as you have on our track days there's got to be big some big talent in there somewhere.
The bloke who singularly failed to get his T350c sideways last Friday will testify to this I'm sure. Once he's finished plucking bits of gravel out of his calipers anyway.
The bloke who singularly failed to get his T350c sideways last Friday will testify to this I'm sure. Once he's finished plucking bits of gravel out of his calipers anyway.
Given that Autocar have recently named the MX5 as the best handling car of 2003, with its ease of drifting qualitys particuly highly praised, 'twas supprising not to see a single one.
I was more than a bit supprised to see the all the autocar lot, plus the vast majority of the prodrivers driving M3's and even more supprised that the M3's which are not know as being the best car for soaking up track abuse seemed to get through the day without mechanical failures.
Gavin Kershaw has undoubted huge talent, but for me the heros were the chap in the Corsa, the mad fella from belfast in his M5, the drift club chap in I think a 200sx who changed 3 gears while in mid drift on the 2nd bend, also Richard Meaden from EVO in the GT3 which is not the easyest car to hold in nice controlled drifts & hardly the best choice for the job yet he did a sterling job of it.
I was more than a bit supprised to see the all the autocar lot, plus the vast majority of the prodrivers driving M3's and even more supprised that the M3's which are not know as being the best car for soaking up track abuse seemed to get through the day without mechanical failures.
Gavin Kershaw has undoubted huge talent, but for me the heros were the chap in the Corsa, the mad fella from belfast in his M5, the drift club chap in I think a 200sx who changed 3 gears while in mid drift on the 2nd bend, also Richard Meaden from EVO in the GT3 which is not the easyest car to hold in nice controlled drifts & hardly the best choice for the job yet he did a sterling job of it.
yeah, the M3's got through it unscathed. I'd even gone to the trouble of asking the nice people at Michelin to bring a tyre lorry at the end of the day and they weren't needed - almost no tyre wear. That's even more amazing considering that the silver car was the only one that the pros would use after a while. The red one had the SMG box and was MUCH harder to get sideways.
M3 has always been the weapon of choice for Sideways challenge. Don't think that anything else touches it to be honest.
We were full of admiration for Richard as well. Good shout for turning up to a rival magazines party, and even better for letting us use his car for our tracking shot!
M3 has always been the weapon of choice for Sideways challenge. Don't think that anything else touches it to be honest.
We were full of admiration for Richard as well. Good shout for turning up to a rival magazines party, and even better for letting us use his car for our tracking shot!
Just to let you know we'll be putting a report on the Sideways Challenge event in next week's issue (7th October edition). Look out for it next Tuesday - full report and photos, plus the top 40 scores. We've spared the blushes of those lower than the top 40....
Visit our new website www.autocarmagazine.co.uk
Visit our new website www.autocarmagazine.co.uk
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