We went to Brands Hatch for an evening track day organised by Javelin on 25th August 2021.
Neither
@EthanMenace or I had been to Brands Hatch before and we just thought that if we turned up reasonably early after the entrance time of 3.30 pm we could get in to the paddock to change the wheels over and make sure the car was ready to go out for a sighting lap at 5.30pm. When we got to Brands Hatch at 3.30 pm there was a supercar driving experience taking place on track with a lot of Ferraris and Lamborghinis driving slowly around the track. You cannot access the paddock or pit lane at Brands Hatch unless you can cross over the track or use the underground tunnel - the tunnel did not open until 5.00 pm.
@EthanMenace drove his 182 Trophy to Brands Hatch as the support car full of tools.
We loitered before 5.00 pm outside the sign in point and swapped the road wheels over for the track wheels with the DZ03G tyres on. At the noise test the marshall asked me, "Has your Clio got any upgrades or gizmos?" I said not really. After holding the car at 5,200 rpm the marshall shouted out, "Stop, we will be here all day waiting for your car to make a noise."
At 5.00 pm there was a rush of cars down the under ground tunnel to grab a garage. We managed to get ourselves a garage and then waited for the sighting laps to start. The garage had an entertaining warning sign in it.
The pit lane was eerily quiet before the sighting laps started.
I like to play Forza games on my Xbox and over the past few days I had done quite a few laps of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on Forza Motorsport 7. It is not a simulation but more of a simcade game. I was just trying to get a feel for the track. I had not realised that in real life that the Indy circuit went up and down so much. Going round Paddock Hill Bend on the sighting lap felt like I was on a rollercoaster.
After the sighting laps were done
@EthanMenace got out of track first. Each time we went round Paddock Hill Bend I held on to the edge of the Recaro as hard as I could and tried to figure out how I would deal with the corner when I got my chance in the drivers seat. There was a really good mix out cars out on track racing including a Ferrari 458, a Litchfield modified Nissan GT-R, a Porsche 911 GT3, the usual bunch of BMW cars, there were two black 197/200s, a blue R27 and a red Meglio with the number plate CL10 OOH. There were also some slower cars like a few classic minis, and a 1.9 205 GTI. It was difficult to have many laps when there was not much traffic either in front, or from faster cars approaching from behind, but the track was not too busy all night and there were some good opportunities to put my foot down.
I got my first session in the car and immediately had to deal with Paddock Hill Bend as it is the first corner after the pit lane exit. It is a blind crest approaching the corner and then you need to brake and turn right whilst trying to keep the car from sliding off the track as track flows round and down a hill. I really thought at some point during the evening that the Clio might go too fast in to the corner and either come off in to the gravel, or even bottom out the front suspension and cause the car to become unstable. Thankfully this did not happen. After a few laps I became more confident in my abilities and the abilities of the Clio. It seemed as if the Clio was quite happy to go round corners and just about hold on to the tarmac. At the end of my first session I was able to beat
@EthanMenace best lap time so I was happy.
I noticed during the evening that the rear wheels were starting to rub on the wheel arches. I took this photo this morning:
I think that there there was so much movement of the car in the corners, going up inclines, down hills, including the weight transfer of the car, which caused the B14's to reach their limits. No damage has been done and the arch liner looks okay.
Both
@EthanMenace and I got another session in each before the chequered flag came out to end the evening session at 8pm. Although I was able to improve of my lap time
@EthanMenace took the fastest lap of the night (or the fastest lap between the two of us). We packed up the car and left. We seemed to be one of the last few cars to leave so it was really quiet.
The Direzzas are still performing well. They are not wearing as fast as I thought they would and they still have enough tread on them for a track day at Bedford in October. The Clio was fine all evening and did not cause any problems. The brakes were sharp and had all the stopping power I demanded from them. Also, the washer fluid stayed in the bottle so the duct tape must be working.
I really enjoyed Brands Hatch. Despite the slow start I felt like my driving improved throughout the evening. By the end of the evening I was happy to speed round Paddock Hill Bend knowing where the limits of the Clio, the B14s and the DZ03Gs were. Brands Hatch is about 45 minutes from my home so I might book up another evening track day session after spring next year.
On our way home we stopped off for some food and talked about the circuit. I asked
@EthanMenace, "Did you ever think the Clio was going roll on Paddock Hill Bend?" He said, "Yeah, maybe". Clearly I am too old at 45 and worry about going too fast.
