Dreadnought track night August 2014 @ Knockhill

ghall2004 · user Joined: 10 Nov 2013 Posts: 105 Location: Edinburgh

Last event of the year organised by Dreadnought garage/racing

Open pit 2 hr session

First time out in the red turbo.

no real issues apart from lack of skill, and power ( standard boost) so was down 10-15mph terminal speed on straights

tyres. road tyres just dont cut it. lap to warm up. luck if i get a lap before they are over the cliff
Seat. standard coupe seats offer ZERO support at all. this has been a continuous issue for me on every single track outing.
I feel it hampers you massively to the point it is affecting how well you can drive

At time i was alone on track ( or at least no one near me)

Was overwhelmed by the difference not red lining each gear makes to the endurance aspirations of my runs. Also these runs are something like le mans territory for me personally only ever managing tens mins or so on track

There was a high level of etiquette with a older average driver taking part. and led to a great session. couple of numpties and an unfortunate incident with one of the dreadnought techs vvc metro.

A imprezza driver lifted off coming out of the arnold clark chicane, span, lost control and the metro( at speed) had no where to go by the time he left the chicane him self

all parties ok and metro still drivable ( ie pushed) best of luck to the guys getting that going again

went out with keith and it is evident how slow i am compared to him. He is a lot braver( or wild) and was throwing a relatively modest spec vvc into corners that i would not have thought possible in my car with higher spec setup. was a real humbling couple of laps

videos
setting early evening sun is always an issue at KH first few clips are hampered by this ( if you can opt for the highest quality available when playing these back)

Short warm up run, i pitted as i suspected an issue with boost loss. but turned out to be nothing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO-3KF7xiy0

Run 2 part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9A6ERGAZM

Run 2 part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC2EteDSgQI

Run 3 part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIsRXqQpaPQ

Run 3 part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40AmFBLM3xc

Run 4 end of session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB5mQ6SmnWA

External clips sound, is good until at speed. there are two backing plates to the go pro hero packages.

one for up to 100mph
one for past 100mph

this is wind speed i now suspect, i have been confusing it with raw mph of the car

4k hero 3 black @ 12fps 17:9

in the pits at knockhill ( for me a nice moment)

crome's track queen

two coops

yessssssssssss

noooooo

decent images thanks to kevin @ © www.facebook.com/photosbykevg

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andybell · established user Joined: 16 May 2013 Posts: 1239

I had a total nightmare of a night and one was definitely my fault the other I am still mulling over....

Did my first initial warmup lap get back to pit and just about 15 meters before I pull beside trailer steam starts coming out - oh oh. I grab my gloves and oil has already started pissing out the louvres in bonnet - to say my heart sunk is an understatement.

Take off the bonnet and oil has decided to spray over the engine bay and that's when I notice the cause... Stupid me had midweek checked oil level and decided to leave cap off to let it settle and check again. However when I came back I assumed everything was ok and put bonnet back on but *not* the cap.

I spent 15 minutes cleaning it out then decided to calm down and go for something to eat. I checked oil level and whilst the engine bay looked terrible initially the amount of oil lost was incredibly minimal (and I was still close to top recommended). About 7pm went back and cleaned off the engine some more and started her up and the blue midget was fine - bit of smoke from exhaust where it dripped so drove round car park and let it sit and was fine so decided to go out for one longer session.

Second mistake ish - Got caught behind a fat boy (that is someone with slightly more power but heavy and had to break way way earlier) and I (looking for good in people) assumed he would pull over as he saw I was a lot faster in bends (probably I had 2-2 seconds a lap on them). Didn't seem to do it then just before hairpin he did - yay.

Went past a Caterham then looked and saw he was about 1m from my ass on straight so I thought it best to pull over. Unfortunately he was incredibly close to his braking line so when I pulled back out to go behind him he had already slammed on brakes about 15m before I would usually brake. End result was I had to slam on my brakes and went into full lockup at 90mph which is less than fun. Thankfully I took the sensible approach (took me while to learn) and resulted in a short trip to gravel trap. It also means I have some fantastic bald spots on my tyres but thankfully they were getting binned end of this year anyway.

Personally I think the guy drove like an idiot (held me up for loads of laps) but on flip side perhaps I need to learn in future to back off for a lap to let people like that get well ahead of me. And it wasn't his only incident of night...

Some weird driving standars methinks people didn't list to briefing Smile

its pull over to right and people pass on left not other way about Wink

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http://www.youtube.com/user/andybalcairn/ to see how bad I drive!!!

ghall2004 · user Joined: 10 Nov 2013 Posts: 105 Location: Edinburgh

Thanks for posting

Least i got out the way nice and quixkly for you

And i dont think i made you pass on the right

Very Happy

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andybell · established user Joined: 16 May 2013 Posts: 1239

the passing on right was a big mother trucker Wink

and to be honest its not a problem usually its just after 3-4 laps you would think people would let you pass. But as I said I need to learn I have it in my control and should back off - I lack the power straight line but in twisties am usually quicker.

Great weather though!
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http://www.youtube.com/user/andybalcairn/ to see how bad I drive!!!

big eck · user Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 77 Location: Falkirk

I was there as well, I'm in the background in one of the above pics lol. I didn't go on track tho as my exhaust is blowing badly and Ive just had the gearbox rebuilt and I need the alignment done after fitting my bushes so confidence in the car is zero just now lol. That green metro is now written off. It was my mate that was in the passenger seat when it hit the scooby. The scooby was being driven by a lass I know as well and it was her first time on track lol.

Car of the night for me was my mates Evo 6 RS. 550bhp out that thing and it sounded insane.

The red rover coupe and the dtm calibre looked and well very well. The wee lotus 11 looked awesome.

andybell · established user Joined: 16 May 2013 Posts: 1239

interesting first time on track - I tend to find that causes people to be a bit more cautious. Guess different strokes for different folks and shame about the metro i had hoped was just superficial
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http://www.youtube.com/user/andybalcairn/ to see how bad I drive!!!

AK

...being cautious doesn't mean you wont spin. Smile

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Impreza Race Car - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car - SMRC
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
Toureg 262 RLine
Track Scotland

M!chael · user Joined: 27 Jul 2011 Posts: 200

chorlton

AK

is he paying her for her damage?

You sign disclaimers before going on track. You have options to take out insurance. Neither person wanted to crash, neither person wants to pay for their own damage let alone the other parties.

Dont crash!
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Impreza Race Car - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car - SMRC
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
Toureg 262 RLine
Track Scotland

andybell · established user Joined: 16 May 2013 Posts: 1239

all part of being on a trackday knowning that youre own driving could cost you big and even worse someone elses poor driving could cost you badly as well!
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/user/andybalcairn/ to see how bad I drive!!!

M!chael · user Joined: 27 Jul 2011 Posts: 200

Wow chill people, was just a general question. I realise it's your own risk etc etc.
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andybell · established user Joined: 16 May 2013 Posts: 1239

context as ever and how things are said are always lost in plain text in a forum. There was a court case down south where someone did progress legal route and there was talk about insurance for this type of damage.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/andybalcairn/ to see how bad I drive!!!