Post by dit on Oct 12, 2011 23:41:59 GMT
I'm sure I'm not the only JMB member who's done a track day, so I thought I'd open up a thread by telling you about mine which was yesterday. It came under the heading of 'my (forthcoming) birthday present to me' and '100 things to do before I die'!
It didn't get off to a good start, in all honesty. Due to several cock-ups by the firm - though to be fair they couldn't have been more apologetic, and I got more laps because of it - I had to change all my arrangements at the last minute, which meant that Jacqui, who was due to come with me, wasn't able to. Thankfully I managed to get a man-friend to come along. I knew that, amongst other things, he drives for a living but he turned out to be knowledgeable about supercars, plus he watched each lap I did, gave me a critique and advice and was overall useful.
The journey was dreadful; three and a half hours of torrential rain, accident holdups etc, and the rain on the track when I got there meant that it wasn't possible to really let rip with speeds - I think my highest was around 82 - but it wasn't raining when I drove my laps so that was a relief.
The day was held at an old airfield and there was a choice of cars from 2 x TVRs, 2 x Porsches (GT2, GT3), a BMW M3, Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale and a gunmetal silver Ferrari DB9 (be still, my beating heart!). There was also an Ariel Atom, though you could only be a passenger. Sadly the Ferrari broke down around lunchtime, which lead to a lot of people getting cross, which was pointless. The engine still sounded amazing though, even when it was poorly. I just switched to the TVR 350.
We all stood around in a hangar (a bit like a TG recording, really)
and the cars swooped in and out all day, we had our names called and in we got. I started with 2 laps in the TVR, then 2 in the Porsche GT2 (which I didn't much like, though I'd expected to). I then got 5 laps in the DB9!!!!!
followed by 3 in the M3, which I liked but it was so powerful I couldn't really let go in it. While we were going round in that I had to slow down to let the Atom pass and yes, it did go past in a blur, just like in this photo.
They have cameras in the cars, and give you a memory stick with the recordings of all your laps. I capped this shot to show me enjoying myself cornering in the Aston Martin - they're not flattering, these in-car pics, but you can tell I'm having a good time!
In fact, I enjoyed it so much I've signed up to do another one next summer, when I hope the weather might actually be better!
I hope I've kept your interest, and that others who've done or are going to do similar things will also post them on here.
It didn't get off to a good start, in all honesty. Due to several cock-ups by the firm - though to be fair they couldn't have been more apologetic, and I got more laps because of it - I had to change all my arrangements at the last minute, which meant that Jacqui, who was due to come with me, wasn't able to. Thankfully I managed to get a man-friend to come along. I knew that, amongst other things, he drives for a living but he turned out to be knowledgeable about supercars, plus he watched each lap I did, gave me a critique and advice and was overall useful.
The journey was dreadful; three and a half hours of torrential rain, accident holdups etc, and the rain on the track when I got there meant that it wasn't possible to really let rip with speeds - I think my highest was around 82 - but it wasn't raining when I drove my laps so that was a relief.
The day was held at an old airfield and there was a choice of cars from 2 x TVRs, 2 x Porsches (GT2, GT3), a BMW M3, Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale and a gunmetal silver Ferrari DB9 (be still, my beating heart!). There was also an Ariel Atom, though you could only be a passenger. Sadly the Ferrari broke down around lunchtime, which lead to a lot of people getting cross, which was pointless. The engine still sounded amazing though, even when it was poorly. I just switched to the TVR 350.
We all stood around in a hangar (a bit like a TG recording, really)
and the cars swooped in and out all day, we had our names called and in we got. I started with 2 laps in the TVR, then 2 in the Porsche GT2 (which I didn't much like, though I'd expected to). I then got 5 laps in the DB9!!!!!
followed by 3 in the M3, which I liked but it was so powerful I couldn't really let go in it. While we were going round in that I had to slow down to let the Atom pass and yes, it did go past in a blur, just like in this photo.
They have cameras in the cars, and give you a memory stick with the recordings of all your laps. I capped this shot to show me enjoying myself cornering in the Aston Martin - they're not flattering, these in-car pics, but you can tell I'm having a good time!
In fact, I enjoyed it so much I've signed up to do another one next summer, when I hope the weather might actually be better!
I hope I've kept your interest, and that others who've done or are going to do similar things will also post them on here.
' siad the boy!
