Right. Just got back from another trackday event where you have a go in this, that and the other piece of exotic machinery.

All very well, but again feel i'm only just beginning to benefit when it's time to come off.

What i would ideally like is a no-frills, non-exotica, straightforward course to show me how to drive a car like an Impreza really fast round a circuit. An all-day affair if necessary, focusing on all aspects of car control and so on.

Can somebody point me in the right direction please, preferably in the South of the country?

Cheers.

What about starting with one of the 1st Lotus days at North Weald airfield?

I agree wih Ian :D but may also try a Jonathan(I think)Palmer day :cool:

peeps on here have given vey good reports of both :D

Tony

Tony, thats only any good if your scoob can get past his STUPID noise regs.... :(

Dan

Thruxton do a PI session which is a full hour with an instructor
on track cost is £120, worth doing and it quite a good track to drive around. The contact is Ian Taylor racing. Certainly good as an introduction to car. An hour non stop is enough I went through a full set of pads, great fun.

Don Palmer's National Performance Academy. Whole day at Bruntingthorpe (Leics) as described over the last pizza. Worth the drive.

IIRC, U-Drive at Castle Coombe have an Impreza and an Evo for track tuition

Tel,

The 1st Lotus @ North Weald is a very well spent £130ish and you will learn a lot from that (probably ;)). After that, Don Palmer as Fatty said....:):D

So what did you think of the JP day then?

Matt :)

Danny,
I meant Don Palmer as fatboy said :D I think the JP exhaust affair has been done to death (so let's not go there). IMHO AFAIR IIRC etc :rolleyes:

Tutition can realy help you understanding car control, and will take you a step up in car handling :D

Tony

Matt

from memory it was more like £90

But regardless it was a hell of a day

Even if Matt didn't stop fiddling with his Dawe's ;)

Matt, it was good, don't get me wrong.

But i spent a lot of time getting used to stuff i'll never need in everyday driving, like sequential gearboxes, left hand drive, dog-leg gearboxes and so on. The Evo 6s were as close to what i'm used to that they had, but that was just over the wet circuit with the water and bump.

The best thing was, i got back in my car afterwards, and *still* thought it was quick, which i wasn't expecting to! :D

I need to get on one of these single make days, i've decided, to learn proper technique. So that days like the JP thingy aren't only spent getting corners right etc, but getting the best out of the particular car i'm in. That's my plan, anyway!

[Edited by TelBoy - 9/9/2003 4:37:15 PM]

Don Palmer uses your own car so you get to understand the limits of that car rather than some caterfield/ lotus/ V220 hairdresser's job, plus at your size you'll fit your own car better. If you're bothered about rooting your tyres I can lend you one of my sets of track wheels with nicely bald P zeros on that would do perfectly (unless of course you want to try out some slicks ......).

Hey, Teenage Mutant Ninja Matt - it's Mr Fatty to you :p

Phil (Tel),

1st Lotus was £90 but now it's (IIRC), £130 each, if you get 4 people together (not difficult). You will learn about steering technique, braking technique (including heal & toe), cornering technique (pratice 80mph 45 degree sideways action (:D)), more and, anything else you ask Andrew to teach you :D (all in your own car)

Like I said before, I'd recommend this as a starter (as it's fantastic VFM) and then progress onto Don afterwards.

Mr Fatty Chap, :p ;) :D

Matt :)

P.S. Tel, I have a set of 17" wheels with half word Toyo T1S' you can borrow if you don't want slick P-Zeros or slick, slicks...;):)

Half worn, of course, being worse on track than 1 mil :p:D

Nah - these Toyos have just enough tread on them for a dry or wet track day....:D;):p:D

Matt :)

Just right for the track? Ahhh, so they're a lot more than "half worn" then? :p

If it's dry use some "track tyres" with as little tread as possible. If it's wet, leave your road tyres on as you won't do any appreciable damage anyway and you won't get wet swapping tyres over in the middle of an airfield.

Next....

[Edited by Fat Boy - 9/15/2003 6:57:37 PM]

link to 1st lotus airfield prices (http://www.1stlotus.co.uk/airfield.htm) i presume we're talkin bout airfield un here....?
Any ideas how much Don charges for the wetter the better stylee courses as no mention of £ on his site????
Cheers
Si (hoping to learn stuff soon;))