Silverstone Trackday
For quite a few years I’ve been wanting to have a trackday at the Silverstone circuit, however with dates not being convenient, track options not what I wanted (national circuit or southern circuit) and the shear cost of having a track day at the event( £300+) I had to make do with other tracks around the UK.
Finally a few months back I came across the deal of the century for the FULL GP track at Silverstone for a very reasonably £160. Without blinking I booked my space and another notch to my increasing trackday list.
I also mentioned this to Bob about the trackday and he was also keen to join me, so he booked not long afterwards.
Over the coming week I watched the weather reports like a hawk and hoped for a dry day. With 24hrs remaining the forecast was going to be a mix of sunshine and showers, but all I wanted was an hour or two with some dry track time and I would be happy with that. :-D
The day came and I was like a kid on Christmas day; the night before I had a restless night’s sleep thinking about the track, my driving lines and whether the weather would hold off for me to blast it round in the dry. Of course when I woke it was damp but the sun was trying its best to come out.
Driving into the paddock/pits area I was thinking of all the people that had been here in the past and what kind of machinery had been driving around here, so much history and also to know that the F1 was also staying here for another 17 years made it all the more wondrous. 8)
Talking of F1, some of you may be aware that Silverstone is now redesigning parts of the track and making new amendments to the existing layouts for F1 and MotoGP.
In our morning briefing we were told that due to the work going on was a bit of dirt around the track however they had been cleaning all morning with specialist cleaning machinery to remove the mud.
“There might be a bit of dirt here or there!” was the comments in the meeting. However once out on our sighing laps, it was more like a building site. I dread to think what it was like before, but when Bob and I got into the pits it looked like we been doing Rally Cross than a trackday!
Anyway the day opened with a damp and muddy track. After about an hour of the sun out and the track drying I decided to swap to my slick tyres. I won’t go on about how good slicks are, but what I will say is that Silverstone is a high grip track. When F1 technicians say that down force and grip is important, I know exactly what they mean. The corners are sweeping, fast and demand full concentration at all times; good grip is a must as is the right tyre pressure and suspension set-up to enable you really attack the track. Took me a while to get the suspension to something reasonable but I never really got it spot on due to the changing weather conditions.
However once I had the car to a decent set-up I unleashed it properly on the track and attacked it hard. The only real downside was the sound limit. The drive by limit was 105 db’s and I know that my car can be a “little louder” than that at times to I had to ease off the power along the start finish line to avoid a “chat” with the marshals.
With the track dry it was pretty much “overtake heaven” barring the three supercharged Arial Atoms, two race spec Ferrari’s and a turbo’d Caterham. However, what was more rewarding was blasting round Maggots and Becketts at full pelt, carrying massive speed though the corners and catapulting out the other side while others grappled to do the same or out-brake themselves.
As the day went out the rain crept in and although the track was getting more wet I decided to try out my slicks in the wet!
Insane, yes I thought that too, but you only live once I thought what the hell.:der:
For the 1st few laps I hammered down the straight bits to get some heat in the tyres, after 3 laps I then started to attack the corners. It’s certainly an interesting feeling of total grip and then nothing. As I made my way through Maggots and Becketts I had good grip, but then just before entering the Hanger Straight all the wheels lit up and I had a 4wd 80mph sideways drift and a very full pair of underpants.
With that I cooled it and popped back into the pits to change back to my wet/road tyres for the rest of the day.
The rest of the day was a little more relaxed and the rain made the handling trickier. Learning new racing lines, finding gripper areas of the track and attempting to adjust a mainly try set-up into a wet setup was quite challenging, so challenging that I even had a spin off at the 1st corner. Thankfully a semi-controlled spin helped me to slide towards the pit entry and out of the way of oncoming drivers.
Overall a cracking day was had and it’s certainly one of the most challenging and interesting tracks to drive in the wet and dry.
I wonder if it’s really worth the £300 price tag that many trackday providers charge, personally it’s not, but at £160 it certainly was. :thumb:
Happy days 8)
For quite a few years I’ve been wanting to have a trackday at the Silverstone circuit, however with dates not being convenient, track options not what I wanted (national circuit or southern circuit) and the shear cost of having a track day at the event( £300+) I had to make do with other tracks around the UK.
Finally a few months back I came across the deal of the century for the FULL GP track at Silverstone for a very reasonably £160. Without blinking I booked my space and another notch to my increasing trackday list.
I also mentioned this to Bob about the trackday and he was also keen to join me, so he booked not long afterwards.
Over the coming week I watched the weather reports like a hawk and hoped for a dry day. With 24hrs remaining the forecast was going to be a mix of sunshine and showers, but all I wanted was an hour or two with some dry track time and I would be happy with that. :-D
The day came and I was like a kid on Christmas day; the night before I had a restless night’s sleep thinking about the track, my driving lines and whether the weather would hold off for me to blast it round in the dry. Of course when I woke it was damp but the sun was trying its best to come out.
Driving into the paddock/pits area I was thinking of all the people that had been here in the past and what kind of machinery had been driving around here, so much history and also to know that the F1 was also staying here for another 17 years made it all the more wondrous. 8)
Talking of F1, some of you may be aware that Silverstone is now redesigning parts of the track and making new amendments to the existing layouts for F1 and MotoGP.
In our morning briefing we were told that due to the work going on was a bit of dirt around the track however they had been cleaning all morning with specialist cleaning machinery to remove the mud.
“There might be a bit of dirt here or there!” was the comments in the meeting. However once out on our sighing laps, it was more like a building site. I dread to think what it was like before, but when Bob and I got into the pits it looked like we been doing Rally Cross than a trackday!
Anyway the day opened with a damp and muddy track. After about an hour of the sun out and the track drying I decided to swap to my slick tyres. I won’t go on about how good slicks are, but what I will say is that Silverstone is a high grip track. When F1 technicians say that down force and grip is important, I know exactly what they mean. The corners are sweeping, fast and demand full concentration at all times; good grip is a must as is the right tyre pressure and suspension set-up to enable you really attack the track. Took me a while to get the suspension to something reasonable but I never really got it spot on due to the changing weather conditions.
However once I had the car to a decent set-up I unleashed it properly on the track and attacked it hard. The only real downside was the sound limit. The drive by limit was 105 db’s and I know that my car can be a “little louder” than that at times to I had to ease off the power along the start finish line to avoid a “chat” with the marshals.
With the track dry it was pretty much “overtake heaven” barring the three supercharged Arial Atoms, two race spec Ferrari’s and a turbo’d Caterham. However, what was more rewarding was blasting round Maggots and Becketts at full pelt, carrying massive speed though the corners and catapulting out the other side while others grappled to do the same or out-brake themselves.
As the day went out the rain crept in and although the track was getting more wet I decided to try out my slicks in the wet!
Insane, yes I thought that too, but you only live once I thought what the hell.:der:
For the 1st few laps I hammered down the straight bits to get some heat in the tyres, after 3 laps I then started to attack the corners. It’s certainly an interesting feeling of total grip and then nothing. As I made my way through Maggots and Becketts I had good grip, but then just before entering the Hanger Straight all the wheels lit up and I had a 4wd 80mph sideways drift and a very full pair of underpants.
With that I cooled it and popped back into the pits to change back to my wet/road tyres for the rest of the day.
The rest of the day was a little more relaxed and the rain made the handling trickier. Learning new racing lines, finding gripper areas of the track and attempting to adjust a mainly try set-up into a wet setup was quite challenging, so challenging that I even had a spin off at the 1st corner. Thankfully a semi-controlled spin helped me to slide towards the pit entry and out of the way of oncoming drivers.
Overall a cracking day was had and it’s certainly one of the most challenging and interesting tracks to drive in the wet and dry.
I wonder if it’s really worth the £300 price tag that many trackday providers charge, personally it’s not, but at £160 it certainly was. :thumb:
Happy days 8)
