RMA at Donington 18th November

RMA at Donington 18th November

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legaleagleboy

Original Poster:

605 posts

258 months

Thursday 20th November 2003
quotequote all
Anyone out there who went on the day?

I went with my Porsche 968 (standard Coupe) plus a mate in his silver Carerra 4. Thought it was great because it was my first time there on the circuit, the track was 100% wet to start with so it was challenging (those Craner curves caught a few out!! almost got me but held it!), dried out after lunch and speeds went up accordingly. NB I now know why it is a very good idea to warm up tyres and brakes for at least 1 lap -- does stop embarrassment.

Great fun, did almost 250 miles with no probs apart from some fuel surge when the gauge was showing about one quarter full. So brimmed it at the circuit petrol station (97p for s/unleaded !!) -- ran faultlessly afterwards.

Tyre wear seemed very low despite me pushing as hard as possible -- the cold damp weather probably kept temps down, so that is a real benefit about a winter event. Think my Bridegstone SO2's are excellent, but plan to try some TOYO's next time as I am a fan of them -- anyone got any feedback on this change?

Lots of interesting machinery about 40 cars in total, 2 single seaters, some Exiges, a std Lupo!, a std Focus TDCI!, a Capri, an M3 racecar, lots of Porsches on a driving experience day, plus a Porsche GT2R (R stands for rocket ship - it was awesome and had 2 rear flamethrowers on the overrun). Most impressive for me was the Caterham R400 (if I remember right) with a big rear wing and 245bhp from its tweaked 1.8 K series !! amazing -- seemed to lap me about once every 5 circuits. (the owner was towing it with his Cayenne Turbo and soon to get delivery of his Palmer Jag JP1 !! prod me as i am now dreaming!)

Had to keep a close eye on the rear view mirror as probably 30 of the cars there were faster than me, courtesy was very good all day -- only dodgy guy was the man on his first outing in his Nissan 200SX -- nice exhaust but no speed so probably got a bit overawed by it all.

Saw 2 spinners, one white single seater just in front of me - he was stationary and broadside across the track -- looked mighty relieved when I took avoiding action to pass him. The M3 did a fabulous spin on the Craner curves -- cold tyres I am sure -- saw it all in slow motion in the rear view mirror. Any more incidents?

So what I lacked in speed I made up for in mileage -- did anyone else top the 250m mark?

PR photography did the business and I got a really good sealed A4 print done there on the spot for £15 -- great service.

The paddock cafe was excellent -- real food in good surroundings, I recommend the Lasagne.

ps never got to talk to the guy in the red Porsche 944 Turbo -- would like to have swapped notes with him -- maybe another time in another place.

Almost forgot -- thanks to RMA for organising it.

Paul from Kettering

>>> Edited by legaleagleboy on Thursday 20th November 11:56

>>> Edited by legaleagleboy on Thursday 20th November 11:57