where to go?

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Joined
15 Nov 2009
Posts
130
Location
stoke on trent
since passing my test 5 & 1/2 years ago my car history goes:

corsa merit 1.4 auto
alfa 146 1.6l
polo estate 1.9 tdi
zafira 2.0 dti

i passed my pcv test about 3 years ago and driving busses all day has made me a really defensive driver. as you can see from the previous cars i have owned they are a bit dull and all fwd.

now at 31 with 5 years no claims i wanted a bit of fun so bought an imperza wagon 2000 turbo which is a world away from what i'm used to, a bit too scarily agressive in the way it drives and i'm driving it like a grandad round corners when i know it has so much to offer in the way of fun. i know it has superb handling but am afraid to push it in case it steps out only ever being used to understeer.

where offroad can i take it to learn how to control it or maybe not how to control it but make sure if things get out of shape i know how to rescue it? i'm not after learning how to become a menace on the road as i need my license for my job, i just want to get over my fear of the thing.

Tony
 
You're concerned that your exhaust is too loud for a trackday? Perhaps you should consider its too loud to be legally allowed on the road as well.
 
You're concerned that your exhaust is too loud for a trackday? Perhaps you should consider its too loud to be legally allowed on the road as well.

Arn't track days very strict though?

You should be able to get a muffler for the sound aswell?
 
its passed at least its last 3 MOT's and never been pulled with the current exhaust as i work with the guy i bought it from. bear in mind from my car history to me its very loud. you've just sent me on a google hunt to see what the legal db limit is for the road and found no straight answer for cars. ive also had no complaints from neighbours when setting off for work at 4 am in the morning.
tracks are entirely different of course with set db limits and i dont want to waste fuel getting to a track and/or paying to get on the track only to be black flagged for noise.

was just hoping someone knew of a disused fairly large piece of land (old airfield, old factory car park etc) i can spend a hour on.

Tony
 
AFAIK tracknights don't really care about noise. I went to one in september and i nearly went deaf with the Vtec y0!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2q1cYVv1zU

are they all held at knockhill? checked on their website 105db limit. but more importantly would cost an absolute fortune to get there from stoke i imagine lol.

sincere thanks for your input (and the youtube link thats just sidetracked me for the last 20 mins :D) im currently looking at as many racetracks as i can think of that are not too far away to see what their limits are and a thought has just struck me that there is an iphone app for measuring sound i saw on top gear recently im going to hunt down. i dont know how acurate it will be but should give me a rough idea of how loud it is.
 
are they all held at knockhill? checked on their website 105db limit. but more importantly would cost an absolute fortune to get there from stoke i imagine lol.

sincere thanks for your input (and the youtube link thats just sidetracked me for the last 20 mins :D) im currently looking at as many racetracks as i can think of that are not too far away to see what their limits are and a thought has just struck me that there is an iphone app for measuring sound i saw on top gear recently im going to hunt down. i dont know how acurate it will be but should give me a rough idea of how loud it is.

TBH if the limit is 105dB (measured at what distance, by the way?) it sounds (haha) like the only reason for the limit is they don't want/aren't legally allowed to expose their staff to dangerous levels of noise. If you're louder than 105dB at say 2m, you're certainly too loud to be on the road. 80dB continuous noise is the level at which employers must provide ear protection; obviously pedestrians don't have that luxury most of the time, so if you're (hypothetically) hooning past some pedestrians, there'd actually be a significant chance of causing hearing damage.

Long story short, I wouldn't worry too much about being over their limit, and if you're concerned it'd be a better idea to ask them if it's OK before going on the track than relying on a fairly inaccurate iphone-sound-meter! :)
 
You're concerned that your exhaust is too loud for a trackday? Perhaps you should consider its too loud to be legally allowed on the road as well.

TVRs made it out onto the road with nigh on 100db exhausts from the factory and they were all approved....
 
from what i gather off the websites its more for the neighbours of the tracks and its looking like 105db everywhere. oulton park will test it for free, its not too far away from me and they do a "taster session" for £25 which involves 20 mins of track time after a few laps behind a safety car. sounds ideal as i wont get in anyones way.
the test is explained also as a db meter held 0.5m from the exhaust at a 45 degree angle with the car at 3/4 throttle.
 
the test is explained also as a db meter held 0.5m from the exhaust at a 45 degree angle with the car at 3/4 throttle.

Cool, if I get bored I might whip out my sound meter that I bought off eBay a few months ago randomly and test out my weedy 106 :p
 
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