Prodrive Day Report

[clive]

Hi  Dave and Welcome from all the MRC team ,

Thanks for sharing some of your day with us

Any chance of putting a couple of your pics up on this site ?

[clive]

Wow, thanks Dave your report was that good it was like having our own Professional Mazdarotaryclub reporter in attendance.

Pleased you got the maximum from your Prodrive day that l know you was looking forward to.

Good to hear your going out at Castle Coombe as l am hoping we get not only a few RX-8\'s out on track at Japfest but also it will be interesting to see various different RX cars out around a track together.

 JAPFest, will be our first event of the year and is at Castle Coombe, Wiltshire on â€"
Saturday 22nd May

[Glenn Butcher]

Wonderful write-up Dave.

It looked like it was a bloody top day out and well worth doing it.  You are pretty lucky over there.  Here in Oz we just get sent out with a local company which I think is just a normal driver training day.  Yet to do mine.

You get the works there!!

[Glenn Butcher]

Oh!  forgot to ask...

Did they get everyone to check their oil level before going out racing around for the day?

I checked mine the other day and it was quite low, hadn\'t checked it for a while as the ground isn\'t level where I am.

[druck]

Originally posted by gbutcher
Oh!  forgot to ask...

Did they get everyone to check their oil level before going out racing around for the day?

I checked mine the other day and it was quite low, hadn\'t checked it for a while as the ground isn\'t level where I am.

They\'ll give you a free top up of oil before you start the session, if you need it. I\'d have filled up the weekend before, but waited to take advantage of this. :p

Make sure you check your oil afterwards though, as by the weekend after, I needed over a litre to bring it back up to the top mark. All that hammering around circuits, certainly gives the oil injectors a bit of exercise.

Cheers
---Dave

[Glenn Butcher]

Good stuff Dave.

I drive mine pretty hard, and it needed around 2 litres the other day.

Yes - for track days etc. you can use up to 3 litres of oil.

.ps What oil did they use?

[druck]

Originally posted by gbutcher
Good stuff Dave.

I drive mine pretty hard, and it needed around 2 litres the other day.

Yes - for track days etc. you can use up to 3 litres of oil.

Well it was 1/2 a day on the track, so I used 1.5 litres!

.ps What oil did they use?

They had a job lot of the Mazda 1L bottles that you get with the car.

Cheers
---Dave

[DaveCollins]

I had my oil checked but it was nearly full so it did not need topping up.  Put in about 600ml to bring it upto full after track sessions.  I just used standard Mazda Dexelia 5W/30 (apparently this is manufactured by Total).

Dave

[rxsam]

I thought the day would be spent in one of their cars.  I don\'t plan on needing new tyres, brakes etc.. at the end of the day!!!
No seriously I am dissapointed because I planned on thrashing the car but not my own.

[druck]

Originally posted by rxsam
I thought the day would be spent in one of their cars.  I don\'t plan on needing new tyres, brakes etc.. at the end of the day!!!
No seriously I am dissapointed because I planned on thrashing the car but not my own.

The point of the day is to learn the the capability of the car and driver togerther, and even using a different RX8 wouldn\'t give you that.

Its up to you how much you thrash it or not. You dont do that many laps on the race track surface, so tyre wear is minimal. You will shed quite a bit of brake dust in the ABS tests, but there is plenty left. I\'d say you aren\'t going to do more wear than the equivelent of a couple of hundred miles of normal driving, which is insignificant considering the trip there and back and the 3 hour road section.

Cheers
---Dave

[druck]

Incase anyone is worried about using their own car, I set out the risks here and my full report is here.

Cheers
---Dave

[DaveCollins]

I would not worry at all about using your own car.  You only have to push it as much as you want to so if you don\'t want to thrash your car you do not need to.  The day is worth it for the ABS stop demos and skid pan alone if you don\'t want to push on high speed handling circuit, there is plenty of room to let faster drivers past.

Dave

[steve1]

Hi
My insurance would\'nt play ball when i told them about my invitation with pro drive.. i would\'nt be insured and that was that....someone i know had the same problem but said he would get a tow truck to take him to the public highway if he had a bad go !!! luck had it he did\'nt need it ... any way prodrive rang me up and the instructor is coming to me for the day this friday...dont know whats going to happen but im looking forward to it.. al let you know

[steve1]

Hi
Had my prodrive today.. instructor came to me at 9am asked me what sort of driving i wanted to do.. mainly A & B roads not motorways I requested.. he said he was familier with the area so he would work out a route..uhmm we went to Newhaven (someone might now where this is) then started going to Brighton.. crawling along at 5MPH..Why head to Brighton.. lovely place.. bit like london if your walking..  but not if you want to drive your car.. I said this is my worst nightmare.. i dont do this.. so i turned off and headed inland.. To Heathfield (i know most of you .. no sorry all of you wont have a clue of these places) anyway the instructor is giving tips as we go like this is a 30 speed zone and  im doing 32 mph..so on & so on .. he tells me to take left turns into housing estates that are dead ends!!! we go down country lanes with no middle white lines because its so narrow.. i tend to go slow in this situation because of all those blind bends and the big tractor waiting to greet you etc ..25mph max ... my instructor thought he would be taking it faster... yeh right i thought....i said can we find a proper road where i can drive the car..some of the advice is helpful like seeing rubbish bins outside

[steve1]

peoples houses.. this might indicate a refuse lorry nearby.. right ok.. i wanted to overtake a slower vehicle on a long straight.. i pulled out slightly to check it was ok which it was,nothing ahead.. he told me to pull right out but dont acclerate only when it was safe should i overtake..Ok im now in the other lane sitting there .. i put my foot down cos call me old fashion the long straight is\'nt quite so long now and i can see another car comming my way.. iv committed my self and thats it no problem.. he was telling me to brake and get back in .. I might be wrong but surely you dont sit in the other lane for 5 seconds and lose that distance on what would have been a safe manoeuvre.. when we got back to Heathfield area we made our way home.. the instructor said make your way home on what ever route ..so i chose the fastest roads..not thrashing it ..just driving swiftly and safely .. he said you\'ve shown an improvement on this morninng... i said no we have just found the right roads ... shame i got only 15mins of them.... been driving 22yrs fined for speeding once and thats it .. the day was a bit disappointing .. he said have i learn\'t anything ... and no i didn\'t really