Anybody used UK Circuit Guide (Circuitguides.com)

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Brushing up on things in preparation for my ARDS and beyond, just wondering if anyone has used this?

It sounds like it would be handy before track days/events in the future and just generally a good read before I went to each circuit. I'm struggling to find out what anyone makes of it, it's generic name not helping in google searches!

While on the subject, any other racers here have any other books they recommend?
 
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Personally reading up won't help you much and may actually have a negative impact if the focus is on getting your ARDS. When you get your Go Racing pack it contains a DVD that has pretty much everything you need. The written test is multiple choice in 2 parts and you need to focus on getting a clear understanding of ALL the flags as they will be part of the test. The flag element of the test basically gives you a description of a flag to which you attach the appropriate flag. The second part of the test is very simple really and had questions such as:

If you drop your helmet what should you do?

A) Paint it
B) Give it to a mate
C) Dont worry about it
D) Replace it (this!)

They also ask questions about understeer, oversteer, wet weather and again it's really not rocket science and the DVD has all the answers. At Oulton they made us watch the video again before we took the written test.

I have no idea of your experience but looking at pictures or reading about lines means very little if you don't have much experience so my advice is book half a day coaching on mornng of the ARDS as this will be most value to you and enable you to get the flow of the circuit. ARDS track test is not about being Senna, it's about consistency, smoothness and carrying enough speed to not be a road block. Spin and you fail but a few missed apexes or braking points will not be an issue. Focus on being consistent and smooth and the speed should come as a biproduct especially if you spend the morning with an instructor guiding you.
 
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I knew I shouldn't have mentioned the ARDS!

Really, the two aren't related. I've been reading around for the test and I feel happy enough in what I know, and what I'll be taught on the day. I'm not even sure why I mentioned the ARDS in relation to it.

I'm really into my driving, and just realised I've never even considered doing any serious reading around the theory of it. Maybe it's a waste of time, maybe there's some really interesting stuff to be learnt.

I was thinking past that, when I'd actually be wanting to enter events, is something like this worth looking at to get a feel for the layout of the track before I go on it? I can always just go out there and feel my way round, was just curious if anyone else had found things like this useful.

Thanks for the input though, always appreciated Housey :)
 
Man of Honour
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The best was to get a feel for a track is to drive it of course as it doesn't matter how much reading, watching or driving computer cars around it the real thing is always more daunting, not least from a low slung racer. However sims will give you an excellent feel for where the track goes, rFactor has most if not all the UK tracks and like iRacing is starting to get some laser mapped tracks which represent bumps, cambers and elevation changes better.

There is a DVD series by Mark Hales which is supposed to be very good for learning the UK circuits, one DVD per track and very detailed I believe. Plenty of books out there about driving, all with a different angle but the fundementals remain the same. When I am home next week I will dig out some of the ones I have and have seen.
 
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Yep, I've been looking into the racing sims. LFS was my sim of choice, but of course sadly no real tracks in there! It's taught me a few valuable lessons though hopefully. I'll look into the others. I'd heard good things about that dvd as well, I'll have a look around.

I appreciate that nothing makes up for real track time/experience but currently I'm knee deep in car repairs so real track stuff is going to have to wait!
 
Man of Honour
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I have Jackie Stewart's Principles of Performance Driving which is OK but is more focused around road driving but does speak about racing and fundementals such as weight transfer, trail braking and other techniques you will need to pefect to go quickly. I also have the Porsche High-performance Driving Handbook by Quick Vic Elford which I found interesting and worth a read. There are others out there and I do have a book somewhere from Piero Taruffi about driving techniques but that is from the 50's if I remember correctly.

My adivce would be try and locate one of the Mark Hales videos (he has been a Stig I believe previously) and give on a watch from your preferred circuit as I believe they are upto date and useful from many angles.
 
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From my experience on the bike the only thing apart from actually riding the circuit on a motorcycle that helps is walking or cycling round in the evening beforehand. This allows you to stope out circuit conditions, tarmac changes, curb heights and grip levels. It also allows you to work out potential lines and overtaking opportunities but only if you have previous experience on track (my first seasons racing I would try to work out a line and it would rarely be any use in full flow).
 
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