I LOVED the old 'bridge' circuit and am really sad not to be driving itn again, have litterally done 1,000s of laps on it, 3 x 24hr races and 100s of trackdays, plus worked there for a while.
I liked it as a whole because it had a great flow and my only real negative of the new layout is that it doesn't flow as well. Bridge was a great corner but the new right hander (Farm) which takes you onto the new section is, IMO, equally as exciting. The next left is also a great corner, the first hairpin is OK but the 2nd one is a bit fiddly and awkward.
I did a day there back in January, track was still a bit damp and Copse particularly slippy but I put together a 'composite' lap of my best sectors, a thing I often do for my coaching clients so we can view a 'best theoretical' lap over and over again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyLXR2Jnufg
Car is an S2 Elise with Type-R engine (210bhp) and 888 tyres.
Worth noting that, IMO there is no point running out too wide to take the traditional hairpin line on that 2nd hairpin UNLESS you find you could carry more speed through the left kink onto the straight (most cars i've driven have to feather at minimum there).
In lower powered cars (i.e. MX5 racecar) i'd take it even tighter than the Elise and just go for the shortest distance (2mtrs @ 40mph = 0.1 sec)
Maxx
Silverstone GP Circuit 27 Feb 2011
Glad the video helped Harry. I heard it was very wet again! and they had the all to common pitwall collision out of Woodcote.Harry wrote:Have to admit that the new GP layout is brilliant thanks to Bart and Maxx for their video clips very helpful, rather knackered now so will post a write up tomorrow
I hope it dries up for Thursday as I will be there in my Elise with The Racing Line (new trackday company).
Maxx
PS. Anyone on here also there Thursday??
Well the day started under a star lit sky as we were making an early start to get to Silverstone for sign on and briefing (no bacon sandwich Russ?) unfortunately the weather did not hold and as the day progressed the rain came in and we had a pretty wet day.
Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of Silverstone, the garages are bigger the pit lane longer than anything else I can remember and then out on track ITS BIG with stands everywhere, massive run-offs and gravel traps.
A point to note if you haven't done a Gold Track Day they do not do sighting laps, and I think this contributed to the number of red flags during the morning, not in isolation as there were too many drivers with red mist.
Russ and I decided that we would take it easy on our first laps and it was on our first or second lap that a Ginetta made a spectacular exit towards the armco I think it was at Vale as we were making our way back to the pits under the red flag we had a grade one Numpty trying to overtake us and trying to make me drive faster he backed off when Russ gesticulated to him that we were under red flag.
I managed to get another couple of laps in before Russ took over and boy did he suffer the red flag syndrome every time we went out there was an RF it must have taken at least 5 attempts to get his 3 laps in.
We spent the rest of the morning session feeling our way around seeking braking zones and turn-in points I think Russ mastered this a bit quicker than I did. At 11:00 the track closed for Church only for 10 mins, now I have never been to Silverstone on a Sunday outside of GP day so if anyone knows the story of this I would be pleased to hear it.
Early lunch or was it late breakfast a full breakfast before the hoards came in set us up for the rest of the day after which we had a wander down the pit lane and were a little surprised to see that there were about 100 cars (each has a number we were number 20)
The track opened again at 12: but the rain that was forecast for 3pm had already arrived and I was very doubtful about staying for the afternoon session based on the morning but am I glad we stayed the afternoon was absolutely brilliant.
The Subaru really came into its own showing massive grip (even with Kumho tyres not R888 they certainly suit the car setup) we managed during the course of the afternoon to start to string together series of corners but I never managed to get all corners sorted on the same lap unlike Russ who seemed to delight in the conditions particularly if the was a Porsche or Aston Martin in his way.
The biggest surprise for me was the variation in grip around the circuit the most difficult section being Brooklands and Luffield where you could not put any steering baking or throttle inputs in without unsticking the tyres a very subtle hand and foot was needed.
Woodcote was again difficult as the car found grip, no grip, grip so it was necessary to get the car pretty straight into the Pit straight before accelerating hard.
We both found Woodcote a little difficult from my perspective because the corner and run off is so wide it seemed to disorientate, on to the complex of Maggots, Becketts and Chapel what a truly wonderful combination that is going to have great influence on you speed down Hangar Straight and we both found it a great place to dispatch slower cars including GT2s and DB9s
Stowe was awash with detergent from an engine blow up on Saturday and the first time I entered at speed there was a definite tightening of the sphincter but is was OK there was great traction, Vale needed care as it is quite tight after the high speed section but there was plenty of grip and club simply goaded more speed but common sense or lack of bravery won the day and I dithered between keeping third shifting up to fourth and giving it some welly but another good place for overtaking. Abbey and Farm were OK for grip but great care was needed at Village as the circuit feels very tight on the exit and you have to keep steering input in to get the car over to the right for the Loop.
The Loop seems to go on forever it is a low speed corner but you need to be patient which is rewarded with a superb drive through Aintree (thanks for sorting the line out Russ) which saw three figures come up on the run down Wellington Straight to Brooklands where once again it was tippy toe until you got back onto the pit straight.
There was a good mix of cars though only 1 Subaru and a lone Evo car of the day was a Gulf Liveried Aston and a couple of Race prepared Porkers together with their road going variants. Funniest thing was a Smart Car out-dragging a Porker up the Pit Straight
A fantastic circuit I didn't miss Bridge but you really do need to be on top of your game to draw the best from the circuit, your car and of course yourself and would really recommend it to anyone no matter what car you drive, it would be helpful to have a Russ with you to seek out the quicker lines through the corners
Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of Silverstone, the garages are bigger the pit lane longer than anything else I can remember and then out on track ITS BIG with stands everywhere, massive run-offs and gravel traps.
A point to note if you haven't done a Gold Track Day they do not do sighting laps, and I think this contributed to the number of red flags during the morning, not in isolation as there were too many drivers with red mist.
Russ and I decided that we would take it easy on our first laps and it was on our first or second lap that a Ginetta made a spectacular exit towards the armco I think it was at Vale as we were making our way back to the pits under the red flag we had a grade one Numpty trying to overtake us and trying to make me drive faster he backed off when Russ gesticulated to him that we were under red flag.
I managed to get another couple of laps in before Russ took over and boy did he suffer the red flag syndrome every time we went out there was an RF it must have taken at least 5 attempts to get his 3 laps in.
We spent the rest of the morning session feeling our way around seeking braking zones and turn-in points I think Russ mastered this a bit quicker than I did. At 11:00 the track closed for Church only for 10 mins, now I have never been to Silverstone on a Sunday outside of GP day so if anyone knows the story of this I would be pleased to hear it.
Early lunch or was it late breakfast a full breakfast before the hoards came in set us up for the rest of the day after which we had a wander down the pit lane and were a little surprised to see that there were about 100 cars (each has a number we were number 20)
The track opened again at 12: but the rain that was forecast for 3pm had already arrived and I was very doubtful about staying for the afternoon session based on the morning but am I glad we stayed the afternoon was absolutely brilliant.
The Subaru really came into its own showing massive grip (even with Kumho tyres not R888 they certainly suit the car setup) we managed during the course of the afternoon to start to string together series of corners but I never managed to get all corners sorted on the same lap unlike Russ who seemed to delight in the conditions particularly if the was a Porsche or Aston Martin in his way.
The biggest surprise for me was the variation in grip around the circuit the most difficult section being Brooklands and Luffield where you could not put any steering baking or throttle inputs in without unsticking the tyres a very subtle hand and foot was needed.
Woodcote was again difficult as the car found grip, no grip, grip so it was necessary to get the car pretty straight into the Pit straight before accelerating hard.
We both found Woodcote a little difficult from my perspective because the corner and run off is so wide it seemed to disorientate, on to the complex of Maggots, Becketts and Chapel what a truly wonderful combination that is going to have great influence on you speed down Hangar Straight and we both found it a great place to dispatch slower cars including GT2s and DB9s
Stowe was awash with detergent from an engine blow up on Saturday and the first time I entered at speed there was a definite tightening of the sphincter but is was OK there was great traction, Vale needed care as it is quite tight after the high speed section but there was plenty of grip and club simply goaded more speed but common sense or lack of bravery won the day and I dithered between keeping third shifting up to fourth and giving it some welly but another good place for overtaking. Abbey and Farm were OK for grip but great care was needed at Village as the circuit feels very tight on the exit and you have to keep steering input in to get the car over to the right for the Loop.
The Loop seems to go on forever it is a low speed corner but you need to be patient which is rewarded with a superb drive through Aintree (thanks for sorting the line out Russ) which saw three figures come up on the run down Wellington Straight to Brooklands where once again it was tippy toe until you got back onto the pit straight.
There was a good mix of cars though only 1 Subaru and a lone Evo car of the day was a Gulf Liveried Aston and a couple of Race prepared Porkers together with their road going variants. Funniest thing was a Smart Car out-dragging a Porker up the Pit Straight
A fantastic circuit I didn't miss Bridge but you really do need to be on top of your game to draw the best from the circuit, your car and of course yourself and would really recommend it to anyone no matter what car you drive, it would be helpful to have a Russ with you to seek out the quicker lines through the corners
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Mr Fletcher
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Great write up Harry ,glad you guy's came away unscathed i saw some pics on another forum of an unfortunate aston race car 
[SIGPIC] [/SIGPIC]
http://www.cuttersmachinerysales.co.uk
http://www.cuttersmachinerysales.co.uk
Nice write up Harry!
Yes it was bloody wet! -But so much fun!!
Harry you forgot to mention the fact that your drivers side wiper was unafective over 100mph and spat its self off at one point, Luckly it got pinned down by the wiper arm so we could re-attach it back in the pits.
You drove well all day mate:thumbs:
I will up load some of my crappy camera phone pictures (including the bent aston) later when ive a bit more time.
Yes it was bloody wet! -But so much fun!!
Harry you forgot to mention the fact that your drivers side wiper was unafective over 100mph and spat its self off at one point, Luckly it got pinned down by the wiper arm so we could re-attach it back in the pits.
You drove well all day mate:thumbs:
I will up load some of my crappy camera phone pictures (including the bent aston) later when ive a bit more time.