Tim Bomford

All those going to MIRA tomorrow please call Don Palmer to see if it is on or not. I'm booked for the 09.00 session but have been told to call Don at 09.00 before leaving. It is -4 deg C there at present so there is a good chance it is going to be cancelled. His contact details can be found at

MartinM

If anyone who's going reads this in time - ITS OFF

..to be re-arranged, in 3 weeks or so

Don has asked me to send him the e-mails of all the attendess (which I have got). Anyone who doesn't want me to send him theirs, plse say so on this thread.

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

I'd just like to thank Don Palmer (and I am sure the others will agree) for making the most of an unfortunate start to the day. Thanks

The Story (my version)
As you can see from the above posts MIRA was closed on Saturday, the day we had booked for the Wetter the Better course. Don had been unable to contact either myself or Richard, so I had left Glasgow at 3:30am and driven down. I popped into Tyres Northampton where Mark sorted out my problem, having left there with a nice new tyre (thanks Mark & Co.) I headed back up to Mira. Stopped at a Little Chef so I could phone Tim to see how his course had gone, to be told it was off, and that he had spoken to Don, but to phone him as Richard was in the same boat, and who should knock on the car window but Don.
He sorted things out, as we were served the slowest meal known to man, and took myself and Richard down to Bruntingthorpe, where we were joined by Tim and Liam.
We then got shown how to destroy a perfectly good set of tyres in no time at all, during a couple of hours, which Don did out of the goodness of his heart, and for which I can't thank him enough. I then had the remaining 340 mile journey back up the road and was home at 9:15pm. 850 miles and a few tanks of petrol lighter, but it was good to meet some fellow Sccobyneters; and I enjoyed my day out.

Thanks

Robbie

[edited to say: Simon de Sideways, using the 'my car's not working' line to avoid meeting us lot, is just really not good enough I'm sure if you really tried you could have made it ]

[This message has been edited by Robertio (edited 21 January 2001).]

SDB

LOL

don't!!! I'm depressed enough as it is!

I would have loved to have come along, but I had no transport.

all the best

Simon

Tim Bomford

It was good to be able to do something on the day even though it was costly! It was amazing how abraisive the place was on the tyres, but good fun none the less. great to get the car onto the limiter in 5th gear (152 mph) but I wish I could have seen the flames! Richard you should have floored it harder for me

Tim

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Richard, I managed to not mention the slight directional problem , but at least it was only a few miles.

Abrasive surface:
I keep on wishing that I had spent more time going around, but in the back of my mind I know that I would only have regretted it afterwords, I know I am hard on tyres, but would like to see more than 7k in total from the first 2 sets

Tims Exhaust:
I'm only surprised the ground dosen't shake while he is driving along, it is defening, how anyone can drive along a motorway with that amount of noise is beyond me. (my std one is loud enough for me) I forgot to ask, what kind of stereo do you have Tim? It must be unbelieveably loud to hear over that

I have seen a few posts recently where people have said there is not a lot of difference in a straight line between a UK car and an Sti, I don't know about the Sti (as Tim was on a lap when the rest of us started to leave) but Liams Evo 6 just pulled away from my UK car without effort, most impressive.

Now I just have to wait for the rescheduled Wetter the Better day, then I can add another 800+ miles in one day (very slowly). And there was me thinking I could have insured my car on some sort of restricted milage basis

RichS

I'd also like to say a big THANKS to Don Palmer!

Having driven down from Edinburgh the night before, I was a bit disappointed to find the Wetter the Better course cancelled due to frost.

However, Don managed to sort out a last minute session at Bruntingthorpe for us and generously gave his time - thank you again.

It was great fun and I learned a lot about my car, though the rapid deterioration of my nearly new tyres worried me quite a bit (not to mention the accompanying smoke and smell! )

Anyway, it was great to meet Robbie (Robertio), Tim and Liam.

It was also quite something to be able to hear Tim's STi changing gear two miles away! (the runway at Bruntingthorpe is two miles long.) Sorry I didn't push your car hard enough for you Tim when you kindly let me try it out.

Robertio - next time we're navagating our way home, perhaps you should lead - we'll probably fair better!

Cheers for now,


Rich

Tim Bomford

Robbie, the STi is faster than Liam's EVO as me n' him have played a lot!

[This message has been edited by Tim Bomford (edited 22 January 2001).]

MartinM

Guys

So does Don still owe you all a real WTB, or was the day at Bruntingthorpe an 'instead of'??

Martin



[This message has been edited by MartinM (edited 22 January 2001).]

Tim Bomford

No Martin. He owes us still....big time! We had to pay for the use of Bruntingthorpe as well as.

Don Palmer

The situation as far as I am concerned is always a disaster if the course can’t run for whatever reason.

Frost is in the lap of the gods and is the only natural disaster that we can’t cater for.

There are never charges made when frost intervenes, I make no charge of anybody and make best endeavours to contact people before they arrive. (I also never pay MIRA in this instance so my loss on the day is restricted to my expenses incurred). We reschedule everybody for the nearest date they can manage.

It is indeed fortunate that Bruntingthorpe is near by and often available it is a bolt-hole that can provide superb driving as it did in the snow on Sunday. (When we lost the second wetter the better this century). That said we only lost two days to frost in the last century.

My whole philosophy in teaching the wetter the better course hinges around slow speeds and low grip surfaces. Time is extended on the low grip surfaces and teaching and learning can happen at a relatively slow speed and relaxed manner. The same learnings apply at high speeds and high levels of grip but it is much more strenuous on the car, the tyres and the trainer and it is much more difficult for the student to learn because the time at the limit is comparatively short.
As people noticed last weekend, it is perfectly possible to learn a great deal about handling on the limit given suitable coaching no matter what the environment.
The real benefits of the environment at MIRA are the ease of learning and the cost. The cost of the wetter the better is relatively low compared to the cost of tyres that get used at a place like Bruntingthorpe for relatively less learning and even perhaps less fun.
Having said all that the real benefit comes when one puts it all into practice on a track day when real road loads come into play and the performance of the driver is a function of local track knowledge combined with car control skills. In the past we have been asked a lot about what the next step should be after the Wetter the Better. Thus we have arranged a day called the Bigger the Better at Bedford Autodrome on the 24th March. Feel free to write for details. (I trust this not over the top from the marketing perspective) I am very happy to conduct coaching in limit handling in any reasonable environment and try to help everyone take their own decisions concerning tyre abuse.

I have always felt that tyre therapy is by far the biggest cost of motoring pleasure.

Best fishes
Don Palmer