Anyone at Donington on Monday? 28/12/15

[FJ1000]

I see there are a few GTi's registered with Javelin for this trackday. Anyone from the forum?

[Tfsi_Mike]

I would have popped along. I would have probably booked as Dec has been quite mild. Alas car is in bits.

You booked on? 

[FJ1000]

I would have popped along. I would have probably booked as Dec has been quite mild. Alas car is in bits.

You booked on? 

Yup, as you say weather looks decent for time of year so booked in last minute. Brother in law will actually be in the golf all day <gulp>. I'll make sure I have a go too; DSG, and just had it bluefin'd, should be a hoot on track.

[xjay1337]

Didnt even realise! doh.
I'm driving up to York to pick up some wheels

[FJ1000]

Would you believe it for end of December:






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[FJ1000]

So, eventful day.

I still had a good time, despite the below, but I was disappointed I didn't get to have a go in the golf on track.

Positives:
- No rain all day!
- Fun circuit, with mostly flowing high speed corners
- The track staff seemed on the ball. Recoveries were pretty quick. Announcements over tannoy in paddock etc.
- Drive by noise test rather than queuing up for a static test

Negatives
- It was relatively busy compared to my only other track experience at snetterton with circuit days. There were 70 cars registered (I don't know if that's a lot or not) and it felt like everyone wanted to be on track all the time! Consistent queue in the pit lane to get released onto track, and felt crowded on track sometimes. I was warned about this with Javelin trackdays.
- It didn't rain all day, but it was very greasy in the morning. Javelin did warn us that the track hadn't seen any cars but a lot of rain for a few days, so was very green. But despite the warning we had lots of stoppages in the morning with people coming off the track and getting stuck in gravel or mud. I think we'd had 3 or 4 red flags by 11am
- The poor golf had to be recovered back to Sutton after my brother in law entered the chicane at an optimistic velocity, and Sir Isaac Newton intervened and told him he's not making the corner. There are particularly nasty sausage kerbs there...smacked the front left wheel pretty hard, and put a hole in the sump. Cheers bruv! I've got to say that the amount of help we got from other guys at the track was amazing and much appreciated. Recovery driver was excellent too.







Nice shot of the sun setting over the knackered golf. An apt metaphor.





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[Dave J]

Sorry to read about the damage to the golf - hope it will be repaired without too many £££!

Must admit - I love Donington as a track venue - have been a couple of times. A good mate of mine lives very close, so would be up for a track day in future!
Prefer the full GP track with the Adelaide hairpin, but it has been wet and cold both times I've been. Lots of stoppages both times I've been, but that's because of people racing and driving beyond their limits.

You approach it a bit differently when you turn up in your everyday car and want to go home in it...

[FJ1000]

You're right about approaching it different! I needed to get home so didn't want to take any risks. Guys in stripped out track cars that arrived on the back of a trailer however are a different story!

Sump replacement will be about £240 all in, including new oil, gaskets, labour etc.

Managed to find a single speedline wheel and tyre on eBay, £112 with a 10% code I had. Will swap that over while I figure out if I can refurb the damaged one. If so, I'll have a full size spare.

Should be back on the road tomorrow. Could have been a lot worse! Especially if I didn't see the oil after we parked up, and we started the engine.


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[xjay1337]

Glad to see you had fun, not really much of a serious problem. - Could have been worse, on PH all they are going on about is a m135i that smashed into an e46 at Bedford.

Hope your brother in law paid!!

see you at the next trackday! 

[FJ1000]

Glad to see you had fun, not really much of a serious problem. - Could have been worse, on PH all they are going on about is a m135i that smashed into an e46 at Bedford.

Hope your brother in law paid!!

see you at the next trackday! 

I saw that thread, and the video. 

That video, and the small incident with the golf, have got me thinking even more about buying a cheap dedicated track car. Something along the lines of a E36 328, a Clio 182, or perhaps even a Mk1 TT with haldex and suspension mods. I'd be devastated if someone punted my RS4 off the track!

He hasn't paid yet, and he'll be disappearing back to Australia in 10 days...

[gilesthedog]

Hi,

I've been to a few track days at Donington run by Bookatrack, renting one of their caterhams, the number of cars was a lot less that 70 with no queueing for pit exit and luckily very few stoppages, I'd definitely recommend them (this is their home track).

Cheers,
Tom

[xjay1337]

Glad to see you had fun, not really much of a serious problem. - Could have been worse, on PH all they are going on about is a m135i that smashed into an e46 at Bedford.

Hope your brother in law paid!!

see you at the next trackday! 

I saw that thread, and the video. 

That video, and the small incident with the golf, have got me thinking even more about buying a cheap dedicated track car. Something along the lines of a E36 328, a Clio 182, or perhaps even a Mk1 TT with haldex and suspension mods. I'd be devastated if someone punted my RS4 off the track!

He hasn't paid yet, and he'll be disappearing back to Australia in 10 days...

Generally you are OK.
Had no near misses at any of the trackdays i've been at 
A saxo span infront of me but you just slow down, not hard 

Trackday insurance would probably be a good shout if you are worried.

[flashp]

Glad to see you had fun, not really much of a serious problem. - Could have been worse, on PH all they are going on about is a m135i that smashed into an e46 at Bedford.

Hope your brother in law paid!!

see you at the next trackday! 

I saw that thread, and the video. 

That video, and the small incident with the golf, have got me thinking even more about buying a cheap dedicated track car. Something along the lines of a E36 328, a Clio 182, or perhaps even a Mk1 TT with haldex and suspension mods. I'd be devastated if someone punted my RS4 off the track!

He hasn't paid yet, and he'll be disappearing back to Australia in 10 days...

Generally you are OK.
Had no near misses at any of the trackdays i've been at 
A saxo span infront of me but you just slow down, not hard 

Trackday insurance would probably be a good shout if you are worried.

My insurance broker (Need2Insure) gets my insurance provided by Equity Red Star and they include all my mods on an agreed value policy (with photographic evidence) and 5 track days for a very reasonable figure. Far cheaper than paying to cover individual track days and paying for a modified car policy.

[xjay1337]

That's good, i'm going to specifically try to sort included track day cover as part of my normal insurance. 3-5 should be fine.

[FJ1000]

The insurance with track cover is something I'll look into when I come to renew. I did take out specific cover for my first trackday, but for £150 and a £2500 excess I thought I'd pass for the more recent Donington one.

Unfortunately my insurer (Sky), although excellent for modded cars, do not include trackday cover in their policy.

I did have a caterham spin out in front of me, just after a crest at Donington and was parked sideways across the middle of the track. I nearly shat myself.