SIDC at Knockhill, Saturday 8th August

[Modena Scotland]

... now officaly broke ( moneywise ) !!!!!

But she will enjoy the day

[eoinmac]

And when is the wedding ? The next SIDC trackday 19th Sept !!!!!!!!

[jason]

Hayabusa 1300. About 180 bhp and weighs 450kg. The problem - it's fragile.

That car should be capable of quicker than 58s surely, fragile or not?

[David]

And when is the wedding ? The next SIDC trackday 19th Sept !!!!!!!!

But the food will be good

[Modena Scotland]

May be Jason, but I reckon it will require a better suspension and brake setup......

[ClarkyBoy]

i would have liked a shot to seewhat it was like, maybe the guy just needs time to get used to it?

in saying that it was my 1st trackday too.....

[KEF]

hi folks, less than an auspicious introduction but I should probably admit to being the owner of the wildly rotating Westfield XTR2.

Sorry to Clarkyboy, GDR and David for giving them a scare at Scotsmans, if it's any consolation I probably got the bigger fright as I went pirouetting along the edge of the track. I took a wander around the paddock later looking for the cars that had had to avoid me, but was struggling to work out which ones I was looking for (rear visibility out of that thing is probably worse than even the sevens).

As to the car being ill-handling, that's probably not altogether fair to the car, bigger problem was probably the driver - as Jason mentioned this was my first time out at a track day, and in reality probably my first time driving the car quickly. I'd considered making up a novice sticker, on reflection that might have been a good idea. I think I got quite a bit quicker as the day wore on, but certainly for the first few sessions I spent my time just following the slower cars, staying out of peoples way and generally trying to figure out where the track was going and where the braking points were supposed to be, the chicane is hilariously blind sitting that low !!!! I'd hoped to take Mass up on his offer of a few passenger laps to learn my way around - but he seemed to be busy enough with the SLR's problems.

I was surprised just how fast the rest of the cars were on the day - it seemed to be that everything from the exiges upwards was comfortably quicker than me on the straights. I seemed to be pretty close to most things from the S's to carlube but was struggling on the uphill straights (fuel starvation problems out of the hairpin not helping, probably combined with fear of lunching the gearbox as this was it's first run out since a complete rebuild £££).

As to my spin at the end of the session, that was totally driver error - I knew there were two cars close behind at the end of the main straight, but as I can back onto the line I caught a glimpse of a car just about sitting on my left rear and panicked - straight lined the S's and simply ran out of track at Scotsmans.

promise I'll do better next time - if you see me around give me a shout (hopefully by that point I'll have thought up some exciting new excuses)

Happy motoring
Ken

[smitstui]

promise I'll do better next time - if you see me around give me a shout (hopefully by that point I'll have thought up some exciting new excuses)
Happy motoring
Ken

Good first effort!

Hopefully see you on the 19th.

[Modena Scotland]

Hi Ken.

Good to see you on here.

You really don't need to let anyone pass you until the straights (main, between chicane & Clarks or the back). So next time, no need to panic. I plan to be at next SIDC in the Club racer rather than the SLR as it's still in bits. I will take you out for some sighting laps then.

Hope the XTR is going well.

Mass

ps Introduce yourself in the Newbie section

[gdr]

No worries Ken, wasn't that close (to me at least, not sure about Clarkyboy!) Perhaps the XTR not the most forgiving machine to learn in, but hope your back on 19th for next SIDC sure it'll be quick with practice and the fuel niggles ironed out.
As Mass says, once onto Duffus, don't worry about what's behind, just drive the racing line as briskly as you are comfortable with and let any quicker stuff past on straight after chicane

[David]

As to my spin at the end of the session, that was totally driver error - I knew there were two cars close behind at the end of the main straight, but as I can back onto the line I caught a glimpse of a car just about sitting on my left rear and panicked - straight lined the S's and simply ran out of track at Scotsmans.
Ken

I think this was me - I remember catching you at Duffus and turning in for McIntyre (Scotsman?) only to see you start to rotate. I remember looking at your helmet visor and having visions of being launched off your front spoiler, but you were still going backwards fast enough for me to get out of the way. I just wish my camera was working at that time Were you on slicks?

We've all been a newbie (not that long ago for me) and I wouldn't get too concerned about 'holding up' faster cars - just go at your own pace and hold your line until you're on the designated straights for overtaking.

Looking forward to seeing you at the next one

David

[kenny]

We had a brief chat at the end of the session.

Both myself and Jason greatly enjoyed your "I thought the corner entry cone was the braking point" comment

[ClarkyBoy]

Sorry to Clarkyboy, GDR and David for giving them a scare at Scotsmans, if it's any consolation I probably got the bigger fright as I went pirouetting along the edge of the track. I took a wander around the paddock later looking for the cars that had had to avoid me, but was struggling to work out which ones I was looking for (rear visibility out of that thing is probably worse than even the sevens).
Ken

Good to see you on here, regardless of your spin you looked to be having fun, and dont worry about it at all! it was my 1st trackday too, and i was just glad it wasnt me, and i have had closer brushes when i used to do offroad racing so nothing to worry about - trust me!!!

hope to see you at many more trackdays - SIDC ones seem to be the best place to learn, try grab an instructor next time, i manged to get joe to come out with me and tut of course which was a HUGE help!

The best part is now you have done your 1st you will only improve - then the fun really starts!!!

[KEF]

We had a brief chat at the end of the session.
Both myself and Jason greatly enjoyed your "I thought the corner entry cone was the braking point" comment

Hey, before everyone decides I'm a complete rocket can I just make it clear I figured that one out very very quickly

Slow start - descent middle stint - then finished on a total cock up - just like top gear I'm ambitious but crap.

Up until that point I was having a ball, after about the 1st 10 laps or so I felt I knew my way around and was working hard trying to carry more speed through the corners. Stepping into the westie it never ceases to amaze me just how brutal you can be on the brakes (albeit I think new pads are on the cards) but it takes a while to get confident enough to try it; driving up in a landrover with a two thousand yard stopping distance isn't exactly great preparation

I'd always planned a lesson before my first track day - so I popped up there about 6 months ago and wound up with Joe as an instructor - no sooner had I set off when the gear linkage snapped, followed a few weeks later by the gearbox disintigrating.... this time around I spotted Joe a few times in the pits when I was coming back in, but he was mysteriously absent every time I was setting off...

so - just booked on for the 19th - hopefully see you all there
ken