*** TRACKDAY Brands Hatch, Fri, 7 Dec ***

[C J R]

Show off !!!
 
I\'m sat in an office and its pretty miserable !
 
Good to hear the weather will be reasonable for you all tomorrow. Keep it on the black stuff and off the green stuff.
 
Have a drink for me Steve.
I\'ll be in touch in the new year, I have some mods that will require your assistance.
 
Chris

[steve garbutt]

Look forward to catching up Chris
Just for ya drink. Now am looking forward to drinking it haha

[steve garbutt]

For = got. Don\'t ask me how that happened.

[Pukka]

All Packed for Tommorow, Had to De-Ice the Trailer!! Have loaded wets as I have no studded tyres!!, Will bring kettle,Microwave,All tools & jacks for every one to use if reqd, looking forward to meeting some of you guys/girls in the morning, Note must remember to bring my driving license with me :Hammer

[Casey]

Crumbs - kettle and Microwave :mmmm

Look forward to seeing you there tomorrow Phil

[steve garbutt]

Hope somebody remembers lots of coffee, milk and sugar

[lennycarloff]

Gutted I couldn\'t make this one but been busy so not had time to look at my car as it sick,but will be there next year ,so have a good day and put in a lap for me ,see you all soon
Jim

[Casey]

^^ You were missed Jim - you\'d have had some fun in the slippery conditions in the morning. I very much look forward to seeing you next year!

However, it was good to see Clive come along to say hello to everyone and bring the inevitable few bits for people, like brakepads - and thx for payment for the February trackday Clive.

The next bit is what I have posted up on the RX8OC forum, so if you\'ve already read that then don\'t waste your time reading it again!

Well, I got home totally cream-crackered last night and went to bed early before I had a chance to post up about the day.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who came along and made the day so enjoyable, especially given the rather miserable weather we were greeted with as we exited the briefing - sleet!! Luckily, the weather improved throughout the day; the track conditions changing from "like skating on ice" to just a bit greasy, with some dry lines developing throughout the afternoon. It certainly wasn\'t as cold as I was expecting either  

Various thoughts from me;

Aston - so sorry you weren\'t able to take your place, you were missed on track and around the pits, hope you are able to make the next one. Please speak to Pete (conann) who took a half day of your place last minute and will make some contribution to your lost day.

Will - best of luck with sorting out your engine problem. I was on the track the 2nd time your car started to belch smoke and it was such a sad sight to see. Good to see you are thinking positively about dealing with whatever the issue turns out to be. Remember that Clive had this happen at Cadwell and it cleared itself, theory I believe was a chuck of carbon had temporarily wedged a seal open and dislodged itself later.

Another sad sight of the day was seeing "bits" flying up from somewhere at the end of Cooper Straight and seeing people running to the fence at the back of the paddock. Once I\'d got there I saw the very sad sight of Phil\'s (Pukka) beautifully track prepped RX-7 pointing the wrong way on the circuit, having bounced off the Armco along the straight during it\'s first track session   . Shades of the issue Seanp had at Bedford several years back? The car didn\'t seem too badly damaged, but was trailered home later in the morning. I very much hope to see this car performing on track next year.

Everyone - most impressed with the driving skills out there is such slippery conditions :god. I honestly didn\'t enjoy my first session, it was just too skittish with my poor tyre choice, such that I was only able to achieve 77secs a lap  :shock:  instead of my usual 62-63 in the dry with the same setup. I\'m pleased to say my times and enjoyment improved immensely as the day wore on and the smile had most certainly returned after lunch  

Laugh of the day - NickD in the briefing; "the most difficult situation to deal with out there will be hypothermia"  :lol:   :lol:  - sorry you weren\'t able to join us Ian  

Ray - I\'ll have to get a set of those overalls, excellent piece of kit! Impressed with the acceleration you were getting out of the corners, looking from (increasingly) further behind    
Paul - you\'ll be awesome in the MX-5 with those Federals, MUST get a passenger ride with you before change the car again  :wink:
Steve - "Most Gravel Collected Award"  :Giggle , thankfully nothing else collected
Ian - awesome passenger ride where you were extracting everything out of the car, very impressed with the Vred\'s in the wet.
Chris - ditto, your car sounded great and performed superbly on the RE050\'s
Pete - thanks for your thoughts on the Falkens on track, having serious deliberation now!
Dre - hey, how did we miss not passengering with each other! Sorry the Black flag for noise put a slight dampener on the day for you.
Nige - great to see you having fun and smiling throughout the day, relieved nothing happened as you had no insurance cover!

I thoroughly enjoyed the food, atmosphere, sights  and most of all, the company, in the pub restaurant. Shame about the rather chaotic parking, but shows the place is popular!

I look forward to seeing many of you again in February, when I\'m hoping for one of the those lovely crisp days with bright sunshine and a DRY track to play with :driving

[steve garbutt]

Yes was a fantastic day
Found out I\'m quick when it\'s really wet even though I was on semi slicks :rollin
Don\'t know where I got the grip from considering the semi slicks I had on and most were finding it very slipy.
It\'s was only a slight gravel rash and a small impact with the barrier no harm done

I\'ll get a vid of me getting totally wrong and ending up in the little litter and some of my good laps on the wet, I\'ll edit them as they are about 30 mins long with waiting in the pits and all.

[Pukka]

You too can now experience the thrill of hitting the armco on a trackday!!
Could of been a lot worse!!
http://youtu.be/NH0s4KAP6_Y
 
See you in February had a great Christmas !!:Santa

[steve garbutt]

Was very lucky there, it could have been a bigger impact.
Glad everything was ok, apart from a bit of cosmetic work.

[Casey]

Ouch, I watched the video and every time it passed on Cooper Straight I was tensing up, waiting for the incident. Didn\'t realise it was several laps before it happened, so I was a wreck before I saw what actually happened. Quite a hard impact there, so pleased no-one hurt and the car didn\'t look too bad back in the garage. Was it just cosmetic damage, or did some suspension components get bent?

See you in February had a great Christmas !!:Santa

Have you booked on the 20th Feb Brands Hatch day Phil? It would be great to see the car again.

[Will66]

It was a good day!  My RX8 will be back and hopefully faster and lighter.  I have sinister designs on doing something motorsport-y too.

[HaywardRotary]

It was a good day!  My RX8 will be back and hopefully faster and lighter.  I have sinister designs on doing something motorsport-y too.

mmmmmmmmm.........sounds interesting!:cheers

[Will66]

I\'ll probably be in touch in the New Year Carl.