***TRACKDAY, Cadwell Park, Friday 17 October***

[Casey]

What a superb day :Giggle

Thanks to everyone who came along to support this event and have some track fun. I\'ve posted up one picture of most of the cars in the paddock in the afternoon, parked up during a read flag incident. In frame is samoht, nutty_chappie, sagar and GreySilver Beast.

Weather was fantastic for the time of year; warm, little or no wind, dry all day (apart from 10 minute attempt at some drizzle at the lunch break!). Not too many red flags either - and we were responsible for at least one of them when nutty_chappie decided on using a tyre wall to re-design his bodywork :o Luckily, the car was still driveable and now has a certain "street urban" look to it - from the driver\'s side anyway!

I hope to post up a short in-car video later.....

Roll on Brands Hatch :Thumbs-up

Click on image to enlarge

[samoht]

Got home last night after a great weekend, had an awesome time at Cadwell

Having instruction mid-morning made a huge  difference to starting to unlock this track and get a flow going.   Turning into the uphill left at the end of the main straight (Coppice) at 100mph,  and sweeping through into the right over the crest, felt awesome.  The FD is great with the sequential twins, great grip and balance and always responsive on the throttle.

Car behaved perfectly and I was able to take a few guys out for passenger rides, one quote \'Alton Towers has got nothing on this\'

All the photos I got are here, including a sequence of an unlucky MX-5 driver:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110971171497128646652/albums/6071994432667954737

Big thanks to Malcolm for organising the trip, it\'s far more fun going as a group than alone, your efforts really made for a great day out for all of us :Thumbsup!

[shaunwil]

Wish I was there !!!!!

Did the mx5 go squirely over the mountain ??

Shaun

[Casey]

Wish I was there !!!!!

Did the mx5 go squirely over the mountain ??

Shaun

You would\'ve enjoyed it Shaun!

The MX-5 driver couldn\'t remember exactly what happened, but it wasn\'t over the Mountain or Hall Bends, or the Hairpin. It was on the exit of the next corner, Barn, leading onto the lower straight. Very odd, as this is not normally a difficult corner, with plenty of room on the exit. I was on the track just ahead of him, so I didn\'t see the incident, but saw the red flags at the end of Park Straight. By the time I\'d got to the straight out of Mansfield, leading to the Mountain, I could see the recovery vehicle orange and medical blue lights flashing just out of the exit to Barn. It didn\'t look as though he\'d gone straight on at the bend, but must have lost it somewhere on the exit. Really quite bizarre how he\'d managed to end up, upside down on top of the tyrewall. But the rollcage did an excellent job :Thumbs-up

[sagarh]

Car behaved perfectly and I was able to take a few guys out for passenger rides, one quote \'Alton Towers has got nothing on this\'

Thanks for the car ride Tom and I still maintain it was better than Alton Towers! Your car\'s handling was awesome:driving

[Casey]

As posted up on the RX8OC:

Comments on the trackday, in no particular order;
1. Briefing from Steve Hewston was one of the best I\'ve experienced.
2. My breakfast bacon roll and coffee, consumed during the briefing, were top-notch.
3. Track marshalling and clearance after red flags was up to the usual very high standard at MSV operated tracks.
4. The FREE instruction session was a MASSIVE bonus on a £120 day. If you knock off the £20 (minimum) that would normally have cost, then the day was only £100  :Thumbs-up  One might have thought that such free tuition might have been with less experienced instructors, but no, I managed to get Andrew Creighton, who runs the MotorSportVision ARDS test centres at Cadwell and Snetterton. He was BY FAR the best instructor I\'ve had sitting in the passenger seat. He spent an hour with me in all, as my track session ran into the lunch break and we were chatting about many things motorsport related after the track session ended. I was chuffed when he asked, less than a minute into the track session, "do you race?" When I said "no", he said "why not?" At the end of the session he said if that had been the ARDS track test I would have passed with no problems
5. It was great we were all able to park up together in the paddock - well done to Bob for marking out the territory before the main troops arrived  :Thumbs-up It made for a very social day where we could chat, help one another out and share advice. I had a pair of lads park up next to me with a Renault Clio who politely asked to borrow my jack. Got chatting to them during the day and it transpires they live about 5 miles from me in another part of Colchester; what a coincidence.
6. I was pleased to help out Jo, a friend of Iain\'s, by sitting in the passenger seat of Iain\'s car for her first every drive in Iain\'s car and her first ever session on track    She improved immensely during the 15 minutes or so we were out there and was very good at taking in and implementing instructions. She had a huge smile at the end and I think she enjoyed it! Respect to Iain for trusting Jo and me with his car  =D>
7. I got chatting Nick Dunn, the driver of the MX-5 with the "Gulf" paintwork in the morning, as it was clear he was very fast on the track (left me standing  :oops). He drives in the Max5racing series. I then got offered a session in the passenger seat and what a hoot that was - great driver and very good car control. I was therefore very relieved at the end of the day to learn he was fine after the "car upside down on tyrewall" incident posted earlier.

Roll on Brands Hatch, but I need fresh brake pads on the front before then, methinks a call to MRP is next on my list :Laugh

Finally, here\'s a rough edit from my dashcam of various rotaries spotted during the day see if I caught you in there  :cool

[shaunwil]

Sounds like a really good day. Hopefully I\'ll work my fueling issue out soon and get back out on track !

Is it the same Nick of MOT too, had a passenger ride with him on a very wet mallory and was amazed at his car control !

Shaun

[Casey]

You are thinking of Nick Dougill of Mazdaontrack, who also races MX-5\'s. It was a friend of his, Nick Dunn, who crashed this week.

Both are excellent drivers. Nick Dunn\'s crash came right at the end of the day and one possibility is that his tyres had "gone off". Nick Dunn did say to me in the morning that the Nankang tyres used in the race series do warm up and become effective quickly, but also go "off" quickly too! Mere speculation of course, but his level of car control displayed in the morning makes me think he had an issue with the car or tyres which led to the incident.

[lennycarloff]

It\'s sounds like I missed a belting day, glad you had a great day out, my motor should be sorted soon so I can get back on track, I have to say it\'s been a long year

[Casey]

I missed you Jim - I did think about you when at Cadwell as you\'ve been with us there many times before. I missed chasing you around the circuit too, losing you on the straights and catching up a bit in the twisty bits

I hope you get your car sorted soon and hope to see you again early next year!