swtmerce

As the title really. I booked through Easytrack for a trackday this Saturday. I called them about spectators and they said no problem. However I received my confirmation email today and it says it's a non-spectator venue and that only paying drivers and passengers are allowed in the pit lane. Does anyone have experience of Bedford and confirm what is right? Thanks.

Phil

Bedford usally restrict the number of spectators allowed in the pitlane as its not really setup for them

Its a test circuit

SPEN555

Tell the spectators to be quiet though as they may get banned for being too noisy

fwdnutz

hi m8 was you there on sat as i was with me buddys one in silver evo and other in black alfa 147 was an excellent wkd, weather was cool and track was hot, shredded me tyres well and truly but all good fun was some nice motors there aerial atom, porsches,aston martins,lotus elise,westfields,caterhams clio cups, allsorts top day had by all i believe no big mishaps and all left in one piece well most anyways

swtmerce

hi fwdnutz I was there in the silver 98 STi with my mate in the Cobra. I think we were parked up next to each other at one point.

Yeah, what an amazing day! Really pushed my car hard and my tyres are well shredded too! Overshot some of those hairpins a few times lol.

Most fun I had was around 4.00pm when my mate took me out in the Cobra for the last blast of the day. We ended up drifting the car and finally spinning it lolol. Got two black flags for that.

(BTW I am not condoning getting black flags. The track was clear and fun was to be had )

Here's some pics

fwdnutz

hi m8 yes i rember your car now and the cobra only sorry we did`nt get to chat but then trackdays are meant to be used and not sat chatting in corner wasting expensive tracktime was really impressed with the bedford circuit first time i have been and it was better than i thought, it is a long circuit though is`nt it? 4.something miles and that extra chicane section made the tyres and brackes work really hard black flags wat black flags i did`nt see any still top day all in all!

swtmerce

Yeah tell me about it. I had brand new pads and discs for the event. Thank god the discs didn't warp, but my pads wore down to about half way and my pedal travel was comical at the end of the day!!

fwdnutz

fwdnutz

swtmerce

Oh yes, I remember your car. Can't wait to start upgrading my suspension and get on the track again. I can see the HUGE difference in roll between our cars

fwdnutz

yes i know what you mean Thanks for the info if my pics have worked as you can see the body roll difference between mine and your car due to me fitting coilovers recently they are rock hard and was down at powerstation on fri 13th to have a full geometry set up and i would defo recommend these guys to anyone (uber blokes ) really now their stuff well they did win timeattack last year their race car is super trick! next track day i think will be oulton park and possibly anglesea later this year if my budget allows but will have to wait and see

fwdnutz

what you may find a help is get some goodridge braided hose kit and put some ate super blue brake fluid in it will assist in brake fluid boiling over!,
i got mine from K300 Performance parts, suspension, brakes, seats, bushes. top bloke stu and vicky run their business from home(internet),
so can be flexible with prices just mention me to them and mention the cool red 968 he has he may do you a good deal also get yourselfs one of the brake master cylinder stoppers you see them on ebay for about 30 quid stops bulkhead flex under extreme braking!
eBay.co.uk: SUBARU IMPREZA WRX 93-05 BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER STOPPER (item 220100750243 end time 15-Apr-07 22:49:33 BST)

swtmerce

Cheers for the tips Will get the fluid and stopper asap, then it will be front and rear ARBs (I already have an anti lift kit). Tyres will need replacing very soon so I might go for Toyo R888's (but that depends on their wear rate. I don't want to have to shell out for one set of tyres per trackday. My P Zeros really took a hammering but I reckon they could do three trackdays in total). Next year will probably see AST suspension.

fwdnutz

good on you defo recomend antiroll bar and drop links as well, when i asked curtis at powerstation he said any of the whiteline stuff is a vast improvement over std set up and if you are goin for ast suspension call www.powerstation.co.uk and speak to rich/dirk as i seem to remember their bein a group buy for AST on scoobynet recently not sure if it still running, another good choice for whiteline stuff is call David featherstone at demontweeks 01978663042 he did me a very good deal on whiteline stuff again was a scoobynet group buy thingie, hope this all helps i have my chasis sorted now, just need more bhp when will it ever end! btw silver evo in pic was my buddy adam only chance i got to get passed him as he blitzed me on the long straight one day i will have revenge laters dude and drive carefully but

swtmerce

Here's pics of the Cobra

fwdnutz

sorry buddy was out last evening when you posted this but yep you are lucky dude gettin a ride in cobra, would he not let you have a drive i am still buzzin after sat i think cos it was such a good day with no big probs that i enjoyed it even more it could have all gone pete tong and a long way from home too i will download yours and the cobra pics if that`s ok and print the good ones off! still waitin for pics from evo m8 and my cousins alfa almost on two wheels

swtmerce

It was late in the day when I was taken out and the Cobra had been losing quite a bit of oil (not to mention petrol too) so it was the last run of the day (just in case it blew up!). I've driven it before on the road but next time on the track I will definitely be having a go.

I know what you mean about still buzzing. I seem to have to tell everyone I bump into what a great day I had I'm currently eyeing up future Bedford events and hopefully booking soon. My friend wants to do Nurburgring but funds won't stretch that far for me this year

fwdnutz

adam my evo buddy knows all about the loss of petrol he was complaining about being sprayed by your mates fuel loss and gettin covered in it on the track, good job it was hot as it evaporated quite quickly! if i had known i would have followed him with a bucket and had it for my car, as the 1.10 on site fuel charges were abit of a **** take i thought(talk about milking it! )_

swtmerce

Oops you'll have to apologise to your mate for us. Luckily the flames from the side exits didn't ignite the stuff You can see the flames here if you watch carefully: YouTube - AC Cobra vs Impreza STi v4 April 07

Looks like I AM going to Nurburgring now (great understanding wife - you've got to love her ). Mate and I are going on Sat 26 May using the Cobra only (funds don't stretch to taking the Scoob). And hopefully will be doing a Bedford evening event in July or August. How about you? BTW what mods/power does your car have?

fwdnutz

nice one go for it! some of the Subaru Club of SMACS, South Manchester And Cheshire Scooby's went last year and they had a really good time! so you should enjoy (nurburgring that is ) as for me i hope to do one of the oulton park dates coming up and anglesea in august if funds stretch this far io know wat you mean i have spent far to much on scooby this year lol could probably have bought a newage one if i added it all together but hey there is more fun in modding your own car i think
atm i have 440cc sti yellow injectors,
walbro fuel pump,
esl performance chipset from ANDY!
apexi Avcr,
mongoose 3" full turbo back system,
2" stainless uppipe,(did have a tubular mainfold till it cracked three times in 18 mths so won`t be botherin with that again!,
api lightened flywheel,
exeedy h/duty clutch,
aircon deleted,
autobahn 88 oilcooler kit,
hks induction kit,
hks fmic kit,
alloy underdrive crank pulley,
all fitted to std cdb 2.0 l jdm wrx engined car with td05 running approx 1.2 bar and on last dyno 300 bhp 286 torque .
so not a bad set up but not enough to out power the evo
but then i did`nt pay around 28k last year
i hope to do more modding when funds allow to go to around 400bhp mark but nothing to mental as i want it to be practical and drivable for every day usage! will post some more pics of evo etc. hows about you wat you running? on the sti?

fwdnutz

this shows how much you can push on evo and it will still ffin corner
oh and i thought i had better post the second pic to keep my m8 adam happy as he was infront most of the time

fwdnutz

just watched video and is cool he didnt really lose you until the end did he and it looks like you running some good bhp there also! chassis mods i have done include:
whiteline rear arb and drop links,
front whiteline antilift kit,
gab adjustable coilovers with tein springs,
suspension geometry and ride height set up by powerstation,
just fitted b4 track day ap racing 4 pot calipers,braided hoses and 320mm discs these certainly helped me to stop especially on the haipins as you say a couple of times i overcooked it chasing the noble and the aerial atom, bit of a difference in handling and braking

fwdnutz

some more pics a tea break for the evo driver



and an alfa driver with attitude

swtmerce

Nice spec there! And the Evo looks great too. My car is a 98 STi version 4 that had an engine rebuild by Special Scoobys of Colchester last year. The big ends went on me 200 miles after I bought the car! It was rebuilt using:
version 9 crank
cometic metal head gaskets
acl race bearings
Roger Clark oil pump
block and heads all cleaned and checked
new piston rings, new seals
(repainted manifold and a load of samco hoses )
Also has:
AP Racing organic clutch
UK ratio gearbox
knocklink
green filter
decat downpipe
scoobysport box

The chassis has the Whiteline ALK and a geometry set up. In fact there's also a camber bolt on one of the rear wheels.

On the dyno at Power Engineering she ran 302 bhp and 256 lb ft. The torque curve runs absolutely flat between 4000 and 6000 rpm.

On the video, the Cobra just can't take our British country roads. As you can see I could keep up. But on the track I got left!!!! At Bedford, the first long straight was testament to how fast the Cobra is. I was full throttle out of the corner leading to the straight (I was on the power earlier than the Cobra) but within no time the Cobra caught me and when he overtook, it was like my car overtaking a car that was doing 30mph - there was a shockwave as he went past!!!

fwdnutz

nice one sound like you have a much stronger block/bottom end in your car now, i know wat it`s like within in a month of buying my car in aug 05, the thermastat was seized and caused me to cook my cyl heads then i rebuilt it with new cometic head gaskets and belt, then 6 mths later on my way to work the bottem end let go and actually locked all fourwheels as i came into the staff car park!
when i eventaully got it started again(bad idea) it made a sound like a builders yard dumper knocking and clanking away! and when i admitted defeat and stripped the heads and sump off, the sump was like panning for gold in the old wild west, bits of crank bearing everywhere, and there was about quarter of an inch play in one of the rods vertiacl play that is so i managed to source a used closed deck block motor out of an early legacy and todate fingers crossed she has beeen ok. but i hope to do some modding to this motor later this year when finances allow
want to reliner it and possibly 2.2/2.33 stronger crank,forged pistons,h beam rods, etc. and bigger turbo to get me a reliable but strong 400`ish bhp.
anymore and i probably won`t need it plus then would have replace gearbox etc and then list just keeps growing. trouble is you can get to a point when you think is it really worth it but then it`s like a drug addiction these cars you always want more

as you say your m8`s cobra is good for track but uk roads need a rally car/4x4 for everyday use wat with the bloody potholes and gravel and idiots on the roads these days hence reason i gave up superbikes it`s just not fun anymore!

fwdnutz

hey up m8! did you get sorted with tyres and brake/suspension bits in the end?

swtmerce

hi there. No the tyres aren't sorted. They've some life left in them yet. I also won't sort the brake fluid and ARBs until the next track day. Just got to pace myself with the mods (which is always hard to do!!). Strictly there's lots to do and pay for around the house. Not a problem though. I had sooo much fun at Bedford that even if I don't do the mods before the next track day, it's no biggie.

The Cobra got its once over this week. The front discs were completely cracked straight through can you believe it? It also needs bigger oil breather pipes, an oil catch tank and a rebuild of the diff!!!!!!! Seems the diff was built wrong by the last guy to work on his car. Oh the joys of owning a bespoke car. He's not phased though. The work's being done and it'll be ready for the ring in May!

swtmerce

I just realised, your club (smacs) would be my club if I hadn't moved down south. I grew up living in Poynton and then lived in Wilmslow for a while before coming down here. Small world isn't it

fwdnutz

just becuase you live down `sarf` doesn`t mean you cannot still be a smac`s ed just means a lot of fuel to be burnt on the thursday meet nights seriously though i am sure there is a club nnear you full of scooby nutters like us and perhaps we will meet again at another track day or at scoobynet shootout or similar! just waitin on more pics from my buddy of the alfa and evo on track will post soon and there could be a vid yet depends how good the camera survived bein in back of alfa

fwdnutz

will post more pics in a wjile just waitin to download them from disc!