OcUK at the Bedford Autodrome [Video Inside]

fiveub

fiveub

fiveub

OcUK Staff
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Hi guys,

The first quarter of our competition has just ended, and my god it was excellent.

Basically all you have to do, is enter our Virtual Reality Racing Series Competition (it's free).

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lp/overclockers-uk-racing-series.html?__ckdesktop=1

And the top 6 that qualify end up moving from virtual, to reality! We pay for all 6 qualifiers to drive real race cars around the Bedford Autodrome!

Some of the guys that got through the first quarter are from the forum, and we really hope you enjoy this video showing how the day went.


The second quarter is running in January, so if you want to take part we highly advise coming to visit us and trying it out! - You may end up racing around the track! :)
 
It was indeed an epic day out, still can't thank. OcUK enough for the spectacular event. Well worth nipping into the showroom to race the VR sim for the chance to go to the Palmersport day :)

Can't wait for the final.
 
Grats on getting through, I had a go but I think I was about 6 seconds from your scores which is a fair bit!

Would you say it would be worth a grand for the full day then? Thinking of buying a voucher for my mate for his stag do.
 
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Plenty O'Toole said:
Grats on getting through, I had a go but I think I was about 6 seconds from your scores which is a fair bit!

Would you say it would be worth a grand for the full day then? Thinking of buying a voucher for my mate for his stag do.
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Sorry Plenty, lost track of this thread.

Personally I would say yes it's worth it, but I'm all about the cars and I'm getting particularly hooked on track driving (not hooked enough to invest in a track car myself though). Friends I've asked about doing it are more on the fence, saying they can get more value going skiing etc. etc.

The one other thing I'm thinking of doing is a full or half day with BaT (Book-a-track) including Caterham hire, which works out at a similar cost to the Bedford experience. I think you would end up with more track time (as many 20 min stints as you can manage). Saying that, my shoulders were killing me after the Bedford day, and I'm not sure how many more laps I could have physically done, you need a decent level of fitness and the smaller your feet are the better. I was wearing size 7 Adidas Samba and occasionally caught the throttle when braking.
 
Plenty O'Toole said:
Grats on getting through, I had a go but I think I was about 6 seconds from your scores which is a fair bit!

Would you say it would be worth a grand for the full day then? Thinking of buying a voucher for my mate for his stag do.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to improve your real track speed, is that the question? Forgive me as I am not/have not followed this thread or the competition at all!

If that is the case, then I would suggest some time in the same car at an open pitlane day with a coach would be the best way forwards. Palmer days are great but they are more about the experience of many different cars, with some competition mixed in rather than learning the absolute best way to get fast on track. A Caterham hire with a respected coach (look up OCUK forum member Maxx on here who is such a coach) on track all day will teach you more about pace.

Let me check that username, seems the wrong one.
 
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I'm not sure about that, perhaps it was different due to the nature of the "competition", but I found that all the instructors were giving me concise, accurate tuition about getting those extra few 10ths from my laptimes, to the point where in the Caterham event I was praised by numerous instructors for such a quick time in the damp.

Granted a whole day session in a single vehicle would get you far more actual tuition time, but my experience of the Palmersport day was more about the tuition aspect that the "thrill" of trying a few different cars.
 
paradigm said:
I'm not sure about that, perhaps it was different due to the nature of the "competition", but I found that all the instructors were giving me concise, accurate tuition about getting those extra few 10ths from my laptimes, to the point where in the Caterham event I was praised by numerous instructors for such a quick time in the damp.

Granted a whole day session in a single vehicle would get you far more actual tuition time, but my experience of the Palmersport day was more about the tuition aspect that the "thrill" of trying a few different cars.
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I think you need to do a full days testing to make a comparison. When you have a that you will know what I mean. Video, telemetry, overlays, comparative sector times, best laps etc etc etc. Also the ideal process is to start with a single car and stay with it all day. To get pace from a aero car is different to getting pace from a non aero car etc
 
It was an experience, but I think Housey is right. Bedford was a great experience of driving progressively quicker cars, but most of the time the instructor had dual controls. In the JP-LM in particular I found this massively intrusive, It's telling that my best performances were in the caterham head to head, the karts and F3000 none of which had instructor dual controls.

Having done other track stuff, I think more time in one car would teach me more. Don't get me wrong it was a great day at Bedford, and I'd like to go again.

Edit: The purpose at Bedford is to get the best possible time as quickly as you can because of the limited number of laps, more time to build speed progessivley would definitely teach me more.
 
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Thanks for the feedback.

I was interested more in the experience of getting to drive the different range of cars over the day.

It'd be for a friends wedding present really, but I think I'll probably end up hiring a couple of cars and doing a full track day at our own restrictions.
 
The progression was great, caterham head to head and defender first, so low speed stuff, bit of hooning. Then on to BMW GT4 which I liked a lot as I'm a bit of a tintop fan, back to the caterhams but on track, which was moist and slidey but great fun. After lunch we went in the Ariel Atom which was insane, just mind blowing really, insane levels of grip. Then on to JP-LM (so much grip again) with karting alongside it before the final stint in the F3000. I loved the Atom and the F3000, both brilliant cars, would have liked more time in the F3000 because it was quite different to the other cars, would have benefitted from a few more laps.

It's a great experience and as I said I'd pay to do it again.
 
Booked on for this with Skully on Saturday 4th Feb.

Only booked the driving bit not the VR bit, is that right?

Also do we know what car/track is being used so I can get some practice laps in? :)
 
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