Mike called at about 2pm to confirm that he was there but also to confirm that the weather was officially crap. As I only live a few miles from the circuit I had watched the weather go from glorious sunshine to howling winds and rain on and off a few times, all morning. Awesome conditions to try out an untested car!
I rolled up to find him tucked away in one of the garages with the shutters down, trying to keep warm and dry; he's not daft, I'll give him that
We both got the Golf properly dry after its brief run off of the trailer and its sodden trip over from Suffolk. It gave me a proper chance to have a nose around it, taking in the details and quality that photos never seem to capture. It really is impressive for a home built car. With the car dried off, Mike thought he should try and fire it up before heading out for noise testing.Action shot
The weather got worse again around 4pm and as we'd already consumed a Snett Pasty (8/10) and coffee (4/10) I decided to leave Mike to it for a while whilst I attended to some errands in town and collected the good lady. I arranged to get trackside by about 6pm, allowing adequate time for chip sarnies and a cuppa tea.
By the time that I got back Mike had christened the car and was quietly pleased that things were generally pointing in the right direction. It was quite greasy on circuit and he was still running R888's, untested brakes, suspension, engine etc etc. He was cautious in his observations of the car and also how he felt driving it after a lengthy lay off. With a huge disparity in driving experience and car types present, the tricky conditions were not helped by having people there as diverse as novices and Caterham academy stars of the future, through to Vauxhall Tigra's and fully prepped mk2 missiles
As the evening wore on it was plain to see that Mike and the car were getting into a groove. He was, or certainly seemed to be, gradually getting faster through the corners and later on the brakes as lap by lap he would reel in supposedly faster cars. 170bhp in a sub 900kg car is pretty damned useful, and especially when it is peddled by the Essex mafia on semi-slicks
Aside from Mike, I saw a few other faces from yesteryear! Cannit (Paul) was there in his Megane 250, Mad Dad (Andy) was there in his gorgeous 996 turbo and I even caught up with Safety James too
Catching up with a few of the other staff at Snett, it was nice to be back but watching is still shit and doesn't compare favourably to getting out there and getting stuck in. I was delighted to have been there to see Mike test the Golf and I think that they both came out of it with flying colours, so it was well worthwhile and it was great to be of some support to Mike (I think I was more of a hindrance but he was too polite to say)With Mike's Golf loaded back onto the trailer, and us going our separate ways I got into the Vito and reflected on the afternoon and evening.
Did I miss the driving? Well, yes, but only if I was driving something that didn't fall apart and it would still have to thrill. A lot of caveats there then.
Where does the majority of the fun come from? Being comparable in speed to your mates I think. There will always be someone faster on a trackday, but if you are reasonably close to your mates that is all you need Just how much would I need to spend to be competitive with the likes of Mike? More than I want to, so that killed that stone dead
Mike and the Golf were genuinely quick at Snetterton. With set up time, seat time and a track like Cadwell........I really believe that he will take some catching around there.
So there we are. An enjoyable time with Mike and his trusty Golf. It was nice to catch up with Paul, Andy and James too. Roll on Cadwell
