Haynes Test Track
Discussion
Tis quite small.Might want to look here ..............
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... Motor Museum Sunday Meet
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... Motor Museum Sunday Meet
as mentioned previously, its cheap because its tight and the banks are very close but if you are on your own thats not such a bad thing. i cant remember if you pay for one car and you get exclusive use but i think thats the way it works. its very uesful for a test/shake down session.
the longest "lap" that you could configure is about 50 seconds in a regular road going saloon.
the longest "lap" that you could configure is about 50 seconds in a regular road going saloon.
It's fast enough for a LOT of fun if your brave & the alternative route options are great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bGf4kSWAXU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bGf4kSWAXU
It used to be VERY cheap a few years back, and on a couple of occasions me and a handful of friends hired it for the day - I can't remember the exact price, but I'm sure it worked out to something like £25 a head for the day. We stopped going when they increased the price significantly and dropped the number of people that were allowed to share the venue, which suddenly made places like Llandow far more attractive 
It's certainly short and simple, but it was great fun and suited the 205's and 106's that most of us were driving well. For the most part you're not going quick enough to crash and cause any serious damage unless you get it very wrong, and in the dry atleast, there is sufficient grip to scrub off speed without too much issue.
It's certainly short and simple, but it was great fun and suited the 205's and 106's that most of us were driving well. For the most part you're not going quick enough to crash and cause any serious damage unless you get it very wrong, and in the dry atleast, there is sufficient grip to scrub off speed without too much issue.
Just as an update to this thread I have used this facility in recent years for really two reasons 1) Its really close to where I live being only about 30 min drive & 2) I believe I booked an afternoon on either a Saturday or Sunday after checking out the weather forecast mid week. Getting time off work to go and shakedown a car is a problem for many of us making this option attractive, and being able to wing it and book late also helps avoid bad weather.
I was also quite open about the fact I was going to data log everything and was testing in part to establish various performance metrics such as maximum g on the brakes, mag g round the top corner which is useful as its a medium speed 180 deg bend + to do some longer runs to see how the car holds up hot. We talked it all through and the conditions there etc. with all sides happy before and after, in the end I did have to clean a tiny little bit of the track as my car lost a little oil whilst parked hot on the start apron bit. Unlike on a track day they appreciate it if you walk the whole track before and after your session to make sure its all good. This in itself was useful as it didn't seem to loose or burn anything whilst running or when run up from cold.
There are two perhaps three downsides to the track. The first is pretty obvious, its very tight and similar length to an outdoors kart track thus any chassis setup doesn't translate 100% to bigger tracks. In my case the cars handling was perfect for Haynes but suffered corner exit understeer in several places when taken later to Castle Combe. The second downside is the surface which is very abrasive like highway asphalt rather than the fine stuff on many race tracks, tyre wear can be pretty crazy I took half the tread depth out of a set of DZ03g on my car in that one afternoon. The data logger tells me I did about 50 mins total track time which for me was the 3rd downside, being such a short track if your car is physical to drive doing successive quick laps becomes physically taxing very quickly. I ended up breathing heavily on one long run and had to stop as I was starting to hit the 'wall' physically. First and only time I have got out of breath driving my race car. For some though this could be a real benefit of this track because the tight corners, abrasive surface and 30 second lap times will give you one hell of a work out.
On the data front it helped me massively.
1) I proved that on an old ABS car like my Porsche 944 S2 race car you get the highest g and thus shortest braking by mashing down the pedal as hard as you can rather than thresholding it near where you can hear the ABS working. The difference is 1.1g vs 0.9g and reminded me why it was that I braked much later when I started racing than later on after being programmed listening to lots of bad advice.
2) Got the highest g I have ever recorded in that car, 1.63g but at the crazy low speed of 25mph down in that oval bit near the fence.
3) Practiced and learned how to trail brake then transition into the throttle on that 180 degree bend at the top of the track, the so called diamond line as the yanks call it. That got me 1.5g at 55 mph but more importantly sustained really high g all the way into through and out again (combing the forward and lateral traces), and most importantly I know what it feels like so should be able to replicate. When you get it right the car feels like its on rails. It also proved to me one other thing which makes effective trail braking really difficult. Its absolutely nothing to do with timing and everything to do with very precise application of peddle pressure and relieving it in proportion to where you can feel the forces on the car as it rotates. It is really really hard to get right frankly. Only downside to practising this at Haynes though is get it badly wrong and your in the grass bank.
If I had known what I know now I wouldn't have wasted several years and a lot of money running around the back or midfield in my occasional forays into club motorsport, instead I would have used a facility like Haynes in concert with some visits to race tracks to hone the car and myself before going anywhere near a race entry.
I was also quite open about the fact I was going to data log everything and was testing in part to establish various performance metrics such as maximum g on the brakes, mag g round the top corner which is useful as its a medium speed 180 deg bend + to do some longer runs to see how the car holds up hot. We talked it all through and the conditions there etc. with all sides happy before and after, in the end I did have to clean a tiny little bit of the track as my car lost a little oil whilst parked hot on the start apron bit. Unlike on a track day they appreciate it if you walk the whole track before and after your session to make sure its all good. This in itself was useful as it didn't seem to loose or burn anything whilst running or when run up from cold.
There are two perhaps three downsides to the track. The first is pretty obvious, its very tight and similar length to an outdoors kart track thus any chassis setup doesn't translate 100% to bigger tracks. In my case the cars handling was perfect for Haynes but suffered corner exit understeer in several places when taken later to Castle Combe. The second downside is the surface which is very abrasive like highway asphalt rather than the fine stuff on many race tracks, tyre wear can be pretty crazy I took half the tread depth out of a set of DZ03g on my car in that one afternoon. The data logger tells me I did about 50 mins total track time which for me was the 3rd downside, being such a short track if your car is physical to drive doing successive quick laps becomes physically taxing very quickly. I ended up breathing heavily on one long run and had to stop as I was starting to hit the 'wall' physically. First and only time I have got out of breath driving my race car. For some though this could be a real benefit of this track because the tight corners, abrasive surface and 30 second lap times will give you one hell of a work out.
On the data front it helped me massively.
1) I proved that on an old ABS car like my Porsche 944 S2 race car you get the highest g and thus shortest braking by mashing down the pedal as hard as you can rather than thresholding it near where you can hear the ABS working. The difference is 1.1g vs 0.9g and reminded me why it was that I braked much later when I started racing than later on after being programmed listening to lots of bad advice.
2) Got the highest g I have ever recorded in that car, 1.63g but at the crazy low speed of 25mph down in that oval bit near the fence.
3) Practiced and learned how to trail brake then transition into the throttle on that 180 degree bend at the top of the track, the so called diamond line as the yanks call it. That got me 1.5g at 55 mph but more importantly sustained really high g all the way into through and out again (combing the forward and lateral traces), and most importantly I know what it feels like so should be able to replicate. When you get it right the car feels like its on rails. It also proved to me one other thing which makes effective trail braking really difficult. Its absolutely nothing to do with timing and everything to do with very precise application of peddle pressure and relieving it in proportion to where you can feel the forces on the car as it rotates. It is really really hard to get right frankly. Only downside to practising this at Haynes though is get it badly wrong and your in the grass bank.
If I had known what I know now I wouldn't have wasted several years and a lot of money running around the back or midfield in my occasional forays into club motorsport, instead I would have used a facility like Haynes in concert with some visits to race tracks to hone the car and myself before going anywhere near a race entry.
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