We went to Croft on 6th May 2022 for what was a bit of a Clio gathering. There were a lot of Clios there but not a single Clio 172 or 182. Quite a few forum members were there which made the day far more enjoyable. We did the 4h 30m journey the night before so woke up and took a short drive from the TravelLodge to Croft.
@Helpimonfire stayed at the TravelLodge so we drove to Croft in convey.
The weather was dry and overcast and stayed that way for most of the day until about 4pm when it started to rain with some light showers.
After doing a quick fitting of the Oz Ultraleggeras before Croft I was a bit concerned with an offset of ET40 that on track the wheels were going to rub the bodywork. I was not too concerned about the arch liners as they seem to be a disposable and consumable optional extra if you want a better handling car on track.
We had booked a garage at Croft and had
@RSRowe next to us together with one of his Track Baguettes clan members (I think he was called Ben).
@PITA was close by in another garage.
@R20BTG Was in the same block of garages.
@Helpimonfire set up camp just behind us.
We did the sighting laps with
@EthanMenace doing the driving. I had never been to Croft and immediately took a liking to the track. The straights are not too long, it has enough corners and twisty sections to make it more Clio friendly. After the sighting laps were done we headed out and began to enjoy the track.
The Gaz Golds had been set to 6 from full hard at the front and 4 from fun hard at the back. The combination of the Gripper, Gaz Golds, a decent amount of camber and the Direzzas was immense. The tyres started taking a beating from the first session and the front passenger tyre spent most of the day squealing as it kept the car on track round the large number of right hand turns.
I have always been a slower driver than
@EthanMenace which I put down to being older and having more fear that something will go wrong, or that the car is not as capable as it actually is. Throughout the morning I got faster but was slowly lapping at about 1m 50s,
@EthanMenace was lapping at about 1m 45m.
I enjoyed a spectacular spin at Tower Bend. I was getting more confident and went in to the corner intending to carry some speed through the apex but failed to brake in time, ran wide and then span on one side of the track and span across the track in front of
@RSRowe. Fortunately no damage was done to the Clio or any other cars.
At lunch time we had to top of the car with more petrol as Croft was proving to be a reasonably thirsty track. After lunch we increased the stiffness of the dampers and this helped give the back of the car a bit more rotation. I had not really noticed the back end of the car on track before - perhaps because I don't drive too close to the limit - but it was interesting to feel the car move about as it was thrown about.
By the end of the day
@EthanMenace had managed a few laps at 1m 42s. I sent him out alone to see if he could do a few flying laps without a passenger in the car but the weather had started to change and it was spitting. He managed to get another 1m 42s before a Lotus managed to lose it on the first corner at Clervaux in the gravel causing a red flag. It was about 4pm and the combination of the red flag and the change of weather seemed to make it a sensible point to end the day.
As we packed up the car we inspected the arches and found very little evidence of rubbing. The car does not sit crazy low. The wheels had not rubbed on the body work and the arch liners had a few marks but were still fully in tact. The front passenger side tyre had worn on the shoulder, but that was because it took a beating all day. We also found a screw embedded in the rear passenger side tyre but hopefully that can be repaired as it is not on the shoulder of the tyre.
By then time we had swapped over the track wheels to the road wheels, packed up, and we ready to leave everyone else had left the circuit.
The car performed really well. Everything we have done over the past 6 months to the car is really having a positive effect on track. We managed to do at least 80 laps without any mechanical issues and no temperature problems. The track day was good even if we did have to queue in busy times for up to 10 minutes to get on to the track.
After
@EthanMenace took a passenger ride in
@R20BTG awesome car he had decided that we need to get a set of harnesses.
The next track day we have booked is Donnington on 14th June 2022. That should be enough time to acquire and install a set of harnesses, and perhaps improve my braking skills?