DONNINGTON TRACKDAY: 3rd February 2013 - Sunday - OPL!!

Gibbo

Gibbo

Gibbo

OcUK Staff
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Hi there


Missing the track too much, the weather will be very hit and miss, maybe even snow, but hey its gonne be fun.

£159 for Open Pit Lane on a Sunday, good price, expect it to be busy, but its cheap so I shall just put up with the queuing, lets just hope things run smoothly:-


Donnington Track Day 3rd February Sunday OPL


Anyone else coming along?
 
ScoobyDoo69 said:
Why don't you give another track a go at some point?
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I love Donnington.

Done Bedford, Silverstone and Oulton Park in the past too. :)

I like Bedford, very easy to drive very quick!
Oulton Park is a rush and quite scary and Silverstone I could just not get to grips with properly, but it was half a day.

Think I shall give Bedford and Oulton Park another go soon too. :)
 
Hi there

Taken front camber from -1.75 too -2.05 today in preparation. :)

Trying to get a thicker rear bar too, just not as thick as the GT2 bar I previously tried.
 
Here's a few laps from today:-


Got a load more to go through.

Was a much better Javalin day, not so much queuing and by afternoon half had gone home, was pretty much only track weapons on track, very few road cars.

My car with extra front camber and slightly thicker rear ARB handled awesome, just a small amount of understeer now and not dollops of it as previously.

Yep that's 10 track days under my belt now in the 911, eight of which have being on the SuperSports and they still have 4mm+ all round on them and that's with 10,000+ road miles, epic tyres!

Shall upload more videos later! :)
 
Shad said:
Really?

Nice video but have you had much tuition around there? Definitely need to sharpen up some of those lines and use more of the circuit
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Yes and using the lines a couple of race drivers have shown me. The only more of the track I could be using would be taking a lot more curb, but I'm not trying to set a lap record or push the absolute limits.
 
wesimmo said:
+1 for everybody getting tuition on a new track, not that i'm commenting on anyones lines, i'm not good enough to do that!

But i remember having a session at Donington and the first window with an instructor was halfway through the day, so i was able to see what he told me versus what i'd picked up following people, the biggest diffence it made was on that uphill right hander 3/4 corners after Craners.

Where he told me to turn in was ridiculous, totally blind, i didn't dare do it for a couple of laps it was so early, but when i trusted him and just went for it, my god the speed i carried down that straight was night and day.

Whereas before i was losing out to Subarus with their power down the straight, i had a heavily track focused Integra suspension and brake wise, so not the most powerful thing in the world, afterwards they were using the power advantage to gain back what they lost in corner speed.
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Think your on about coppice, it is blind, you turn blind, take as much of first curb as possible and then get on the power taking the straightest line possible, I am coming out of that corner at 100mph and hitting just short of 130mph before having to brake for the chicane.

I know I could improve on braking after craners in preparation for old hairpin, but I am admittedly taking it quite easy there and not pushing the limits and again I could change my line and braking a little at the top of starky's I think it is, but again thats real limit stuff, get it wrong and your definetely off.

I've gone round with Marcus Carniel who races at Donnington in Porsche stuff and has won, he showed me the lines and what I could do more, which in essence was braking later and harder along with take a lot more curb, which on a daily driven car which I don't want to take any risk in is not wise.

I'd rather drive round at 90% of my ability, being safe and enjoying things whilst being as smooth as possible, you will notice in my videos my tyre squeal is very minimum as I am trying to be smooth and not chuck the car around. I could drive at 100% or 110% but wear on car would be far higher and I could run out of talent and the day not end so well for the sake of finding another couple of seconds.
 
wesimmo said:
Absolutely mate, like i say it wasn't criticism of your driving in any way, and not aimed at you in particular.

It's just some people i've met on track days spend a fortune on "performance parts" that add tiny incremental performance to their car, drive like a lunatic on the ragged edge but see the £35 (i think i paid) as a waste of money.

I did have a big off at Craners, but luckily nothing got damaged but my pride and a load of mud in the engine bay. As above though, i was driving a '98 Japanese coupe not an expensive 911, i suspect i would be far more circumspect if i had been!

edit: And yeah, i've had a pro drive my car round Cadwell Park to show me the lines, the biggest thing is the way they brake so late and hard and still keep the car balanced, totally had me awed and humbled.
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I've been fortunate to go on days with friends who are race drivers or meet friends who with there with racers, so bagged a lot of free tuition and tips. :)

Did not take it as criticism m8 so don't worry, one day I might buy a car I don't care about so much like an old 3 series or M3, completely strip it, throw slicks on and drive it around at 120%, because if I come off, well its not my daily driven 911, like you say just a dint in the pride.
 
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