VXR Track day thread

I think the courses will be different at different tracks - times are not comparable.

I did it in about 28.5 at Oulton, that said dumping the clutch at 6k rpm bellowing smoke from the front tyres isn't the way to do it fast - its fun though :D
 
Liverpool-Lad said:
37 secs? Thats pretty slow. Fastest on ours was 29. I flicked it around reversing out of the 'bay' and couldnt find first, managed to pop it into reverse and fumbled for a few seconds, bah, and even I managed 33 or something.

Did 2 laps with the BTCC drivers in both the Astra and the Corsa when it was wet, handbraking, drifting, sideways, the lot :)
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Sounds like it was a shorter test then, as bug one said most people were getting 40s plus.

Bug one, I done the auto test in a very similar way to you but I didn't brake hard enough passing the 'garage' so swung out a bit too wide but still managed to hand brake into it.
 
Well I got back from the morning session at Brands and I think it was an amazing effort from VX and I couldnt think of a better deal for £95!

Now I love cars but im not a schu'y wannabe and had no previous track experience. I also drive a rubbish car at the moment so for me it was absolutely fantastic and I rarely found myself being held up as I was probably slow (sorry super sonic peops). I rarely had to wait more than 30 seconds for the next car to come in and had a go in most cars at least twice. Going out with Chilton and the other guy was fantastic and its hard to beleive just how much faster they go than your average human :p. I asked if I could film the lap with my camera but was told the marshals wouldnt be happy??

The autotest was cool and it was nice to apply a liberal amount of handbrake. I got 40.1 which I was pleased with as people started off at about 50. something. The handbrake parking was a lot harder than I thought and I stuffed up both attempts. Not sure if anyone picked it up but at Brands we were taught by a certain Paul Swift. When it was my turn I asked if he was son of Rus Swift and indeed he was!

All this for £95 including getting fed & watered along with all the freebees is a fantastic offer. Not convinced this will happen again and I fail to see they recouping any costs!?
 
Just got back from the afternoon session today, was soo glad I booked it.

Biggest suprise of the day for me was the corsa, very easy to drive not that much understeer and pretty nippy. Biggest disappointment was the vx8 the track at brands didn't suit it and the instructor was a jobsworth.
 
I was at the Brands session today as well :) Managed 36.8 on the autotest thing, though that bit of the day was pretty rubbish.

Other than not a huge amount of track time it was a really good day. I'm genuinely impressed by the Corsa but the Astra was my favourite.

The Vectra is absolutely woeful, the worst of all there and the VXR8 wasn't that great but to be fair it isn't suited to that kind of track.
 
Muncher said:
I was at the Brands session today as well :) Managed 36.8 on the autotest thing, though that bit of the day was pretty rubbish.

Other than not a huge amount of track time it was a really good day. I'm genuinely impressed by the Corsa but the Astra was my favourite.

The Vectra is absolutely woeful, the worst of all there and the VXR8 wasn't that great but to be fair it isn't suited to that kind of track.
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where you in the morning or afternoon session session ?

I was there in the afternoon in the green group. Did the autotest in 42secs I've got a vid aswell will have to try and post it.
 
mattx2 said:
where you in the morning or afternoon session session ?

I was there in the afternoon in the green group. Did the autotest in 42secs I've got a vid aswell will have to try and post it.
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I was in the afternoon, green group too. I was the one to do the Autotest last and the handbrake turn thing first.
 
Muncher said:
I was in the afternoon, green group too. I was the one to do the Autotest last and the handbrake turn thing first.
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ah I did it the other way round. must have seen each other at some point i guess.
 
MrCake said:
Well I got back from the morning session at Brands and I think it was an amazing effort from VX and I couldnt think of a better deal for £95!

Now I love cars but im not a schu'y wannabe and had no previous track experience. I also drive a rubbish car at the moment so for me it was absolutely fantastic and I rarely found myself being held up as I was probably slow (sorry super sonic peops). I rarely had to wait more than 30 seconds for the next car to come in and had a go in most cars at least twice. Going out with Chilton and the other guy was fantastic and its hard to beleive just how much faster they go than your average human :p. I asked if I could film the lap with my camera but was told the marshals wouldnt be happy??

The autotest was cool and it was nice to apply a liberal amount of handbrake. I got 40.1 which I was pleased with as people started off at about 50. something. The handbrake parking was a lot harder than I thought and I stuffed up both attempts. Not sure if anyone picked it up but at Brands we were taught by a certain Paul Swift. When it was my turn I asked if he was son of Rus Swift and indeed he was!

All this for £95 including getting fed & watered along with all the freebees is a fantastic offer. Not convinced this will happen again and I fail to see they recouping any costs!?
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Rus Swift was doing the hand brake parking part. On the auto test I was in with Paul and he was smiling all the way through my test and looked impressed :D

VX done the track day last year as well, so I really hope they do it again next year.

I'd seriously consider buying a VXR Corsa if it were a little bit cheaper or they had a better finance deal on it because I really really liked it!
 
Sirrel Squirrel said:
Rus Swift was doing the hand brake parking part. On the auto test I was in with Paul and he was smiling all the way through my test and looked impressed :D

VX done the track day last year as well, so I really hope they do it again next year.

I'd seriously consider buying a VXR Corsa if it were a little bit cheaper or they had a better finance deal on it because I really really liked it!
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The Corsa did seem a great little package and it was clear that the BTCC boys loved them too!!!!!! Seeing them drift round together was awesome! The only thing I wasnt as sure on was the interior of the Corsa but its miles better than the old shape.

It goes against the grain but I think my suprise favourite was the Vectra. I think its probably because I miss my old V6 barge and knew that the VXR8 while fantastic, is something that I wouldnt be able to afford to buy or run.
 
I was at the Brands session yesterday afternoon in the "green group". For those there, I was the old git with the "up the duff" g/f and big Canon DSLR (not the 400D with add on power pack).

I put in a 33.3 on the autotest, I believe the fastest of our session was a 33.1.

Overall, definitely a great day. Can't say I was too bothered about the parallel parking stuff, but then I just don't see a normal use for it.
I was certainly surprised at the number of "good" drivers there to supervise us, and struggle to believe that the event did anything but cost Vauxhall a LOT of dosh.

I've never driven at Brands before, really enjoyed the track, lovely complex place to drive around, almost worth going just for that.
As for the cars, well frankly they were all road cars driven on track and none of them really made me think "wow". I've certainly had more fun driving karts at 60mph, but that's what happens when you try to use a road car.

I managed to simply avoid the Meriva and wasn't bothered at being scared by a "pro", much more fun to do it myself.
The VXR8 was definitely the most interesting vehicle, and I think I got around 8 fast laps in them. Not as mad as I expected for the power rating, but maybe that's a good thing as I'm sure I was topping 130mph on the main straight (i.e. foot to the boards all the way to the braking points). I was certainly surprised at how slowly some were driving them. I remember crawling all over some chap in an Astra who was following a VXR8, whilst I was driving a Vectra.
Infact the Vectra quite surprised me as it was intriguing to drive smoothly and at speed.

I did manage to get a telling off at one point whilst in a VXR8. I'd caught a chap up in I believe a Corsa during the bendy bits and followed him for most of a lap. Quite clearly the driver knew his stuff and going onto the start/finish straight he clearly pulled right to let me past. Unfortunately I simply ignored the fact that he'd not signalled whilst I was barrelling past at some rather high speed. Didn't exactly earn me any brownie points with my instructor, but hey, it happens.

Would I buy any of them post the day? Not really. Got back in my German barge and had a lovely cruise home with an interior that was miles better than anything that I tried on the day.

So, good day overall, great track, well organised, good instructors, just simply not as much of a hoot as kart racing.
 
I was at Oulton park (afternoon session). Was very good fun! Excellent value for money. The lap with the professional was a real eye opener. I consider myself a fast driver, but that was something else - was 110% sure he overcooked it on the first corner, but the angle of drift he held was amazing.

Car to person ratio was excellent - waited around 1 min for the VXR8 :}

Went with the missus and she enjoyed it too :)
 
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