The inky black of a November morning greeted us at 5.30am. It was only the prosect of mugging a few high powered cars and the luxury of the hired Hilux that acted as encouragement at this ungodly hour
Pete's Hilux Surf nearly died on its way back from Donington so we thought it prudent to arrange for more suitable for the hilly trip to Lincolnshire. This 2.5td Leviathan was quite superb. Anyway........the journey was simple enough and we arrived at 9am, as planned, just in time for a bacon sarnie and our signing in. We had a briefing at 9.45 after watching the first car come in on the flat bed.
This Clio had been patched up by the time I could take these money shots. The copious amounts of tank tape masked the damage to the front wing and bumper. No amount of tape could hide the headlamp missing. For that matter, no amount of tape could hide the damage sustained by a few others later on. When you misbehave at Cadwell it can bite very hard.
Pete was the main driver today, it's his car and I'm keen to get him up to speed as soon as possible.
This was the DD's 51st trackday and apart from rear brake pads, the car was imperious. In the damp the cars neutral, forgiving nature made it easy to build the rhythm so important at this flowing circuit. Pete was very quickly overtaking more ponderous drivers as his confidence built. We were using the R888's again, now with over 1100 track miles under their belt. Very impressive in my mind considering the abuse they get.
With noise testing becoming a feature at all MSV events, it was interesting to see the scrutineer getting more involved in checking cars, although this was a bit hit or miss.
My camera was not allowed due to 'inadequate mounting'. Bit of a bugger as I had hoped we could get some in car footage for Pete. I made do with an excellent DVD of pictures professionally taken by Trackphoto.co.uk. I'll upload them in the gallery later.
The mix of cars was excellent. Everything from Lotus Carltons to Caterhams, Jag D types to M3's.
Talking of M3's, I did think for a minute that Fast Eddy had sneaked along until I realised he was donutting around his local Halfords
It wasn't long before one of the newbs had a 'moment' near the woodland area
This was one of three spins from the same driver. I did catch one other ocassion
Bless :lol:
Lunch came around so the car got topped up and so did we. The food or staff were not a patch on the guys at Snett. Here's Pete reflecting on a good mornings work
I had a session in the morning and then I was out with Pete as a passenger in the afternoon. I'm not sure if he was trying too hard or just had a rush of blood or two but we had a little moment of our own. With Pete driving well we caught a couple of cars going down the hill at the back of the circuit. Passing these on the left we breached the blind crest at 115mph and he kept accelerating. He kept his foot planted about 30 foot later than I would have and sailed straight off!! He calming steered into the slide and left the accelerator and brakes alone, allowing the car to settle. No fuss and no drama. I'll be honest. I thought I was going to die
Pete brought the car back onto the track and I gestured that he should stay off of the racing line until his tyres were clean. Instead of that he accelerated as hard as possible and went straight for the chicane at the Gooseneck. At this point I made one of the subconcious sounds that you back on later and realise that must have sounded really daft. Oh well. On the very next lap at the very same point he tried to outbrake a 306 and made me make a sillier noise :lol:Back to the paddock (thank fook) and it was my turn to take Steve VR6 out for a lap or two. Steve and I have been doing track days together since around 2003. In all of those laps he's never been in with me. :twisted:
I was very well behaved and he commented on how smooth the car was and how much grip it had. He also commented on how I was the best driver he had ever seen. ( I made the last bit up, just to see who reads all of this)
More French pastry cars getting smashed up, this time a nice 306 driven by a chap who was pushing a little too hard.
Major damage and a very disappointed owner.
That's about it. I could dribble on about how great the car was, how I didn't tweak the map using methanol and how I could have driven harder to make myself look quick but I won't
. It was a great day and the Sierra is making a very difficult benchmark for the GTR to beat.We shall see next March.
Sounds like a line Bart would make :lol: 
