Thanks for the opinion and feedback Mike. Good to see you today and glad you got home safe.mikeb wrote:just like to say what a brilliant track day had good fun glad that gerry got there. Got a chance to drive gerrys car for a few laps that is one very quick and capable wagon. big thanks to dave and phill track marques. Good to see everyone excellent atmosphere.
Opentrack Saturday 6Th December Snetterton.
Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or hump it, piss on it and walk away!
A wordy, alcohol and curry fuelled memoir
For some reason, today was a trackday that had me very excited. Not in a Tommy Tent Trousers kind of way, but a childish, grinning, bouncing off of the walls kind of way 
This childish behaviour lead to Gary and I exchanging MSN messages 'til God knows when last night, as we spoke about our hopes for the day. Awesome
My big Brother Rob was scheduled to co-drive Betty. He had only done one Ring trip and one previous trackday and I was very keen to help his learning curve along if I could. He arrived very bleary eyed after 3 hours kip and we set off for the track.
Dr Hayward was there, still excited, and we all got unloaded and ready for the chaos at 9am, where we would all be unleashed on the track. The briefing by Dave was cool. Brief and humorous enough to make it bearable for the old hands who have sat through hundreds of these by now. Mike, the chief medical officer, made sure that he stayed on track also
So briefing done, cars noise tested and safety laps done it was time to pull on my serious head and go for a proper peddle. Yeah right! Rob and I took the Golf and inched our way around the genuinely treacherous circuit. Imprezas were spinning off left right and centre and that didn't help Robs nerves or mine.
The track dried out soon enough (after several very high speed excursions on my part) and the pace built. Considerably
Gary was ballistic in that Evo we've all come to love, monstering just about everything else there and easily spinning the wheels regardless of the first three gears. Bastard
MikeB was quick from the off; the Impreza looked so stable and clearly had an abundance of speed.
Mike Shearer and his simply gorgeous type R kicked arse :lol: I loved the classic and simple lines of the car and, according to impartial observers, handles like a dream with grip everywhere.
Blacky was so quick he tore his rear skirt off As you would expect of Logan, he drove very well all day. Shame about the damage but the morning conditions were that bad, that it could have been far worse.
Gerry belated rocked up and seeing that wagon roll into the parking area was a lovely sight. He and I have always got on well , from day one, and he has had a lot of shit this year with a car repeatedly biting him on the arse. Through adversity comes triumph and I was as pleased as anyone to see him turn up. Shame about the reduced laps but great that he should make the effort.
Christian and his Zed was a treat to see. The 500bhp plus 300 is something that I've worked long and hard on and in many ways, seeing it thrashed around Snett was the natural culmination of so much combined effort. It went well, Christian grinned a lot and when we both went chasing Gary in his Evo, barged passed (he was on a warm up lap) and then I span about 120 yards across the grass..............we all regrouped in the pits, laughed a lot, pointed at the mud in my wheels and the bent timing strut from me touching the Armco
My big Bro (Rob S)did really well. Drove like a numpty in the Golf but given the keys to the M and he came alive. More confidence and loads more speed. It was wonderful to see him get the bug. The bug that he kept me at circuits for the last twelve years (the bug that has kept me skint :lol: )
Mr Beales Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mr Beales :notworthy:
Stu and I had swapped banter for a while, each of us flinging the verbal gauntlet back and forth. When he confirmed that he was attending I was chuffed. Not only do we get on well, but our cars and driving is similarly matched. For me, this is always the Holy Grail of trackdays; an equal sparring partner to trade blows with. The slippery morning sessions proved a headache for me. I couldn't get any decent grip and I span the car several times in cornering and even under heavy acceleration in a straight line; twitching hard enough on the pit straight that I thought I was going to hit it!
Anyway, when the fabled dry line arrived he and I pushed a whole lot harder. Our times tumbles and we lapped in very close company for about a dozen laps before I ran low on fuel once again. We got down to low 1'22"'s for reference and had an absolutely immense time doing it.
It was great to see so many guys watching the action from BigPower. The level of support at the event was commented on by the organisers and it always makes me proud to use Snett as our home circuit. You guys coming along to cheer us on and get involved with passenger runs was mega. It was good to meet James (Fezza) and Jon (Micared) and I'm delighted to know that Jon enjoyed his passenger runs in the Golf. Slow but steady mate :thumb:
An enormous thanks to Dave and Phil at Trackmarques. Another great event packed with a lovely diversity of cars, excellent driver standards and even a couple of GT3rs's to overtake Joking aside it was one of the best trackdays of recent years. I look forward to many more next year.
I'm still grinning, And that's before the photos, laptimes and videos go up.
This childish behaviour lead to Gary and I exchanging MSN messages 'til God knows when last night, as we spoke about our hopes for the day. Awesome
My big Brother Rob was scheduled to co-drive Betty. He had only done one Ring trip and one previous trackday and I was very keen to help his learning curve along if I could. He arrived very bleary eyed after 3 hours kip and we set off for the track.
Dr Hayward was there, still excited, and we all got unloaded and ready for the chaos at 9am, where we would all be unleashed on the track. The briefing by Dave was cool. Brief and humorous enough to make it bearable for the old hands who have sat through hundreds of these by now. Mike, the chief medical officer, made sure that he stayed on track also
So briefing done, cars noise tested and safety laps done it was time to pull on my serious head and go for a proper peddle. Yeah right! Rob and I took the Golf and inched our way around the genuinely treacherous circuit. Imprezas were spinning off left right and centre and that didn't help Robs nerves or mine.
The track dried out soon enough (after several very high speed excursions on my part) and the pace built. Considerably
Gary was ballistic in that Evo we've all come to love, monstering just about everything else there and easily spinning the wheels regardless of the first three gears. Bastard
MikeB was quick from the off; the Impreza looked so stable and clearly had an abundance of speed.
Mike Shearer and his simply gorgeous type R kicked arse :lol: I loved the classic and simple lines of the car and, according to impartial observers, handles like a dream with grip everywhere.
Blacky was so quick he tore his rear skirt off
As you would expect of Logan, he drove very well all day. Shame about the damage but the morning conditions were that bad, that it could have been far worse.Gerry belated rocked up and seeing that wagon roll into the parking area was a lovely sight. He and I have always got on well , from day one, and he has had a lot of shit this year with a car repeatedly biting him on the arse. Through adversity comes triumph and I was as pleased as anyone to see him turn up. Shame about the reduced laps but great that he should make the effort.
Christian and his Zed was a treat to see. The 500bhp plus 300 is something that I've worked long and hard on and in many ways, seeing it thrashed around Snett was the natural culmination of so much combined effort. It went well, Christian grinned a lot and when we both went chasing Gary in his Evo, barged passed (he was on a warm up lap) and then I span about 120 yards across the grass..............we all regrouped in the pits, laughed a lot, pointed at the mud in my wheels and the bent timing strut from me touching the Armco
My big Bro (Rob S)did really well. Drove like a numpty in the Golf but given the keys to the M and he came alive. More confidence and loads more speed. It was wonderful to see him get the bug. The bug that he kept me at circuits for the last twelve years (the bug that has kept me skint :lol: )
Mr Beales
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mr Beales :notworthy:Stu and I had swapped banter for a while, each of us flinging the verbal gauntlet back and forth. When he confirmed that he was attending I was chuffed. Not only do we get on well, but our cars and driving is similarly matched. For me, this is always the Holy Grail of trackdays; an equal sparring partner to trade blows with. The slippery morning sessions proved a headache for me. I couldn't get any decent grip and I span the car several times in cornering and even under heavy acceleration in a straight line; twitching hard enough on the pit straight that I thought I was going to hit it!
Anyway, when the fabled dry line arrived he and I pushed a whole lot harder. Our times tumbles and we lapped in very close company for about a dozen laps before I ran low on fuel once again. We got down to low 1'22"'s for reference
and had an absolutely immense time doing it.It was great to see so many guys watching the action from BigPower. The level of support at the event was commented on by the organisers and it always makes me proud to use Snett as our home circuit. You guys coming along to cheer us on and get involved with passenger runs was mega. It was good to meet James (Fezza) and Jon (Micared) and I'm delighted to know that Jon enjoyed his passenger runs in the Golf. Slow but steady mate :thumb:
An enormous thanks to Dave and Phil at Trackmarques. Another great event packed with a lovely diversity of cars, excellent driver standards and even a couple of GT3rs's to overtake
Joking aside it was one of the best trackdays of recent years. I look forward to many more next year.I'm still grinning, And that's before the photos, laptimes and videos go up.
http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
Great write up as usual Stu.
The day for me got better and better and ended up in our fantastic dice on track.
To say we had fun is an understatement lol i learnt a lot following you and was thankful for my power advantage as without it i think you would have cleared off...
It was great to meet Big Rob, top bloke and great passenger we had a right laugh watching everyone spin off in the morning while i was driving like miss daisy.
Good to meet Logan, nice smooth driving as i've heard is the norm for you.
Gary's car is just a monster and one i am in awe of! we said we would give eachother passenger ride but it never came off, next time mate.
Like Stu said it was great to see Gerry turn up at lunchtime, didn't see him on track but heard his car fly pass and saw the flames spit out when we came in.
Looking forward to seeing the video's and photo's sometime soon.
The day for me got better and better and ended up in our fantastic dice on track.
To say we had fun is an understatement lol i learnt a lot following you and was thankful for my power advantage as without it i think you would have cleared off...
It was great to meet Big Rob, top bloke and great passenger we had a right laugh watching everyone spin off in the morning while i was driving like miss daisy.
Good to meet Logan, nice smooth driving as i've heard is the norm for you.
Gary's car is just a monster and one i am in awe of! we said we would give eachother passenger ride but it never came off, next time mate.
Like Stu said it was great to see Gerry turn up at lunchtime, didn't see him on track but heard his car fly pass and saw the flames spit out when we came in.
Looking forward to seeing the video's and photo's sometime soon.
Thanks to everyone involved in a fantastic day.
To Stu for his patience and faith in me, his trusty black and white M3 is a real pure rush to drive, and it's obviously well set up, as even I managed to drive the bloody thing! (After 1/2 spinning his Golf on the sighting lap, I just wanted to go home :oops: )
To Mr Beales, a gracious gent who gave me loads of great passenger laps in his CSL. Sitting next to him, watching him go about lap after lap of consistant hard driving, was impressive so say the least. Top bloke, see you soon hopefully (Your CSL sounds awesome on the video!)
Gary, thanks so much for the rocket ship ride in the Evo, quite how he processes that much information about the speed, position, apex, braking point.....at warp factor 10, it certainly changes your perspective on things.
Thanks to the organisers, as I said to them on the day, a fantastic event, with a cracking set of guys, impressive cars, and suprisingly nice track etiquette.
I would recommend your services to anyone.
I'll probably use the Subaru next time, the old E30 will feel like I've left the hand brake on after the M3
To Stu for his patience and faith in me, his trusty black and white M3 is a real pure rush to drive, and it's obviously well set up, as even I managed to drive the bloody thing! (After 1/2 spinning his Golf on the sighting lap, I just wanted to go home :oops: )
To Mr Beales, a gracious gent who gave me loads of great passenger laps in his CSL. Sitting next to him, watching him go about lap after lap of consistant hard driving, was impressive so say the least. Top bloke, see you soon hopefully (Your CSL sounds awesome on the video!)
Gary, thanks so much for the rocket ship ride in the Evo, quite how he processes that much information about the speed, position, apex, braking point.....at warp factor 10, it certainly changes your perspective on things.
Thanks to the organisers, as I said to them on the day, a fantastic event, with a cracking set of guys, impressive cars, and suprisingly nice track etiquette.
I would recommend your services to anyone.
I'll probably use the Subaru next time, the old E30 will feel like I've left the hand brake on after the M3
was a great day one of them that will be remember'd
great to meet you rob :-D :-D
bealo any time mate ill take you out
was good to finally have some luck and be out there for as long as i was,only to stop for a simple blown seal
bring on another soon i reckon,
ps im getting better in wet
great to meet you rob :-D :-D
bealo any time mate ill take you out
was good to finally have some luck and be out there for as long as i was,only to stop for a simple blown seal
bring on another soon i reckon,
ps im getting better in wet
EVO 7 with 2300cc,GT35,HKS 272's,1000cc,MOTEC...the list goes on..
Great write up as usual Stu.
I had a ride in Mike Shearing's 2.2L Type R and very nice too. Comfortable a fqst. The way it handles corners has me green with envy but a lot of it is down to Mike's very smooth style.
Interesting to see a rather nice white wagon having it's nuts wrung out as it passed us down Revett. Then I realised it was my wagon with Mr. B driving.
I had a ride in Mike Shearing's 2.2L Type R and very nice too. Comfortable a fqst. The way it handles corners has me green with envy but a lot of it is down to Mike's very smooth style.
Interesting to see a rather nice white wagon having it's nuts wrung out as it passed us down Revett. Then I realised it was my wagon
with Mr. B driving.Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or hump it, piss on it and walk away!
Haha
I bet that was surreal Gerry
I bet that was surreal Gerry
http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing