Cadwell 5/9/07

slarty bartfast · Post by **slarty bartfast** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:24 pm

Anybody going???

Just booked, bit last minute but as I am quiet at work why not

Post by **Stuart** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:37 pm

Did you mean Wednesday this week (ie the 9th month? )

If so, yeah. Pablo, Bart and I will be attending but only as part of a magazine feature. They are taking part and I'm just loitering

slarty bartfast · Post by **slarty bartfast** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:43 pm

Yes I meant this Wednesday

Post by **Stuart** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:45 pm

Look forward to seeing you there......taking the E30 I trust?

slarty bartfast · Post by **slarty bartfast** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:51 pm

Not sure yet, may do it in the CSL.

I

slarty bartfast · Post by **slarty bartfast** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:21 pm

Right E30 it is, that will be a 5am start then! Must be mad

Post by **Stuart** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:10 pm

See you guys there :thumb:

I'll bring my driving gear too (Thanks Slarty

)

pablo · Post by **pablo** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:42 pm

See you there guys, we should be there around 11 - 12 got to wash and polish the car, change the wheels and some how convince Alan to have a shave. :P

Post by **Stuart** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:10 pm

A great day out overall.

An early start for Pete and I as we left the Shire. He was keen to have a look at the track we'd be driving in November and I was just keen to have a drive of Simons car and passenger laps with anyone I'd trust

We arrived about 10am and got the priorites straight right away......

Pretty soon after that I got signed in and changed, found Simon who was busy lapping the tyres off of his trusty E30

Pete decided to get a passenger lap in with Simon, seemed like the best idea as Mr Bartfasts driving style is very smooth and the BM is a fine track car. Pete remarked that Slarty was the best driver he had been out with........ever

There was a nice mix of cars there including a lovely Hayabusa'd Fisher and a stunning Supercharged Atom

Another interesting car in the carpark was Mark Parsons E30

The rather unusual ride height can be attributed to the fact that Mark is a rally driver

Mark is a very good rally driver. Good enough to come third overall in the Targa Tasmania

This E30 has sump guards, extra strengthening all over the place but with slicks and a mental ride height.
Pete and I both sampled his driving and he can move his feet quicker than Michael Flatley........I've never been in with a driver who is so comfortable on the grass. He was trying to get some heat into his tyres with me in the car two thirds of our way into a lap when Slarty and Pete closed in like heat seeking missile. Marks reaction~ to push very hard through the gooseneck with a whiff of opposite lock induced by a bit of left foot braking on the entry and counter steering and flat in third. We ran wide (very wide) and only just kept any tyres on the black stuff. Normal people would do something like scream, jump in the back, lift or even just balance the car on the throttle. Mark laughed and kept it flat all the way to the marshalls hut, more left foot and then turned in. I nearly spoiled my freshly laundered race suit. This was lap one or two out of twenty. The guy was a legend. And a nutter.

Lunch was brief and coming to an end when Pablo and Bart rumbled in.

They disappeared for refreshmnents as Slarty offered me another drive. I politely declined and Tom, one of Simons mates jumped in.

Ooh, I should mention that my session in the 325 earlier was very impressive. The cars balance was superb, just enough power to be fun, great steering feel, good brakes but they needed to be used hard rather than feathered. The overall feel was one of a very well refined track car that loved to rev and one that could be steered on the throttle or wheel.

A shame then that Tom had a bit of an incident on his third or fourth lap.
The pictures tell their own story.

The last picture shows Simon looking forlornly at his car, one that hasn't let him down in 5 years of hard and regular use. Accidents happen and a credit to Simon that he didn't wring Toms neck. I'm sure he'll be good enough to pay for the damage but what can't be repaid is the one and a half hours tracktime that everyone lost whilst the team rebuilt the armco. The maintenance and safety staff at Cadwell were superb. They even helped the stricken E30 back onto the trailer but even that took over an hour.

This little bump really knocked the wind out of my sails and to be honest brought home the implications of driving on race tracks. Motorsport is dangerous as so many of us have found out over the years.

With the trailer loaded up we bid Simon farewell, said gooday to Mark and left on the 110 mile trip home. I thought Pabs and Bart had already left on their magazine write up but they were all taking part in a photoshoot by the exit, so they got a friendly toot too and that was that. Another day over, a bit more experience and more great experiences.

Look forward to seeing the re-birth mate

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:18 pm

ouch

"crash & carry" - love it :lol:

The BMW has to be on stilts - sooooo high it looks very strange.