Driver development day..

Had a great day out yesterday with the M3 on the Driver Development Day at Prodrive.

I think the old girl knew what was coming though.

For a track novice like me it was money very well spent having an instructor giving me the confidence to really attack the corners, I must admit to being a bit nervous before we started, mainly due to my desire to keep the car in one piece.

However after the instructor had a few laps I was absolutely amazed what my own car was capable of. I have been around a track a few times in my previous Evo2 and been passenger in many cars, including Richard Baxters DTM and with Chris Wadsley in his Sport Evo, but certainly I have never driven any car like I did yesterday.

With every lap I grew that much more confident and the "fear" of stacking it disappeared.

There were sessions on the skid pan, a circle sprayed with water/oil and a straight section covered with basalt tiles and also kept wet where you could practice controlling a snaking car.

I also had sessions on the adverse handling" circuit, a really twisty short track that really got the adrenaline pumping as you want to really attack it.

I would really recommend this to anyone that could benefit from instruction.

Now, the car has (probably) never been driven like that and after the first 6 laps of the Tower Circuit, the petrol light came on, I thought thats stupid because I filled up the and before and track driving isn't THAT thirsty. We came in and I asked them to put in 35 litres and had a coffee. Went out again on the skiddy bits and there was a right old stink of petrol, petrol could be seen coming out the overflow. It seems there was still half a tank left in it before, so looks like the sender or whatever is playing up now.

On the way, stuck in traffic the temp went up to the last mark and down to the first a few times, the slow speed fan is now not working, the high speed one does though. I replaced the double switch in the thermostat housing last year, I hope the fan hasn't packed up.

All in all had a great day including some spirited laps in the back of a CSL. Cheers.

sounds like a great day kevin.

hi nico! m3 back on the road yet?

Nico

£295, plus wear on tyres from understeering too much when turning in too hard!

Sounds really good! I'm aiming to do a driving course this year so maybe.......

It's good to hear that you were 'nervous...and wanting to keep the car in one piece'.
Relating to this, my main question is: apart from tyre wear, how much 'abuse' do you reckon the car took? I haven't tracked my M3 (sad I know) and it's in standard road spec. It's well looked after but I don't want to give it a hernia , if you know what I mean!

Very tempting......

Did Martin go too? If so, lets have ya full report fella!

HI Kevin

Glad you enjoyed the day - I did say it is addictive

and I sense a start of something here :-)

I really wanted to get to know the limits in the wet and the two skid pans were excellent for this and with one instructor per two drivers it was very focused.

the adverse handling track is just over a mile long with more corners than you can shake a stick at - but bumpy - good exercise in car control and positioning - helps you understand the racing line

The track was very bumpy in places and my car with it's very hard suspension didnt like some parts of it - on the long right hander i could feel all four wheels bouncing in a sort of drift before hitting the smooth apex :-)

Also still got problems with my disks - even after skimming (and bedding in properly) as soon as they got hot they were all over the place again - bit the bullet today and ordered two new ones - its only money

Good course and would reccommend it to anyone starting out on track days

Martin

In the BMW yes but in the Lotus Elan Turbo I am going over to France to do abbeyville and Folembray the weekend of the 4th May

See you at Caddwell?

 

Martin

andy, see other post on help..

http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=36882

 

Edited by thepits

Kevin,

You up Cadwell Park on May 16? I've been asked to pop up as well to meet the 'old guard' and am doing my best to, depending on my future employment as it's very uncertain at the moment. Will only be spectating though

Paul

Very interested in getting myself on this, but I couldn't find any details about it on the prodrive website - could someone point me in the right direction please? Thanks!

Thanks Kevin, I'll have to book that up, sounds like an excellent day.