We went to Snetterton on Thursday for a track day.
@Helpimonfire was there with his friend Wes.
We left home at 5.30 and and drove from Essex to Norfolk in the pouring rain. The weather forecast had varied in the days before the track day and there had been a real chance that it was going to be very wet most of the day. By the time we arrived at Snetterton the sky had cleared and the ground was starting to dry. The car was unpacked and we then got ourselves a hearty MSV breakfast.
Since the last track outing at Brands Hatch in August we had fitted softer springs on the front of the car and harder springs on the rear. This was an effort to reduce oversteer and give the car a better turn in. Although we don't have the fancy Bilstein suspension set up of a Cup Racer the softer springs was one of the last few elements amongst the EE brackets, bump steer correction, changed subframe height, 22mm ARB to get the front end as close to a Cup Racer that we could.
This was a Track Obsession track day and it looked like it was about half full. There paddock was not full and the number of cars was about right. The mix of cars was good. I counted three white Ciio 200s, a Gordon 200, Martin's black 197 (with a 200 engine), there were the two Track Obsession 197s, a nimbus grey 197, two titanium grey 182s, and a black Clio 200T. Some of the more expensive cars there were a Porsche 911 GT3, A Nissan R35 and a Lotus Emira. The usual smattering of Caerham type vehicles and a very old Triumph TR7 that kept breaking down. MY favourite car of the day was a Vauxhall Astra with Honda badges on the front and back, with aFiesta ST badge on the boot, and the number plate SH15 BOX.
Despite the track being wet we opted to put on the track wheels with Direzzas on to do the sighting laps.
@EthanMenace did the sighting laps and then we got going with the first session. At this stage the track was still greasy. I got in the drivers seat and did the second session. It was obvious that the track was getting better as I went faster than Ethan in my session and I was driving slow. By the third session the track was pretty dry and Ethan was able to push the car more. What we found was that the change of springs had really changed the car and it had pretty much no oversteer. The first corner at Snetterton, Riches, is a sweeping right hander than you can take at high speed in fourth with your foot to the floor. On previous track days we had to fight with the car to get it round the corner and watch out for oversteer. Yesterday the turn in was improved and it was so much easier to direct the car round the corner. Ethan did a 2m 21s lap on his second session.
I did a session what was then a dry track and thoroughly enjoyed the new set up and extra grip. In my usual slow style I was able to get a 2m 28s lap.
Wes had been itching to get out on track with Ethan. Anyone who has met Wes will know that he drives any car to the limit -
@Beany will know about this. They both went out and Wes came back he was like an excited child saying that he had had the best time on track, ever. This is their session on track:
After Martin had bled his coolant and bled his clutch we all went out with Wes for a session but after a few laps the petrol light came on so I had to cut my session shot and get some fuel. This stared a sequence of bad luck as every time I tried to get on track something would happen. We put some more 99 fuel in the car and had lunch. After much Ethan did another session and then I got in the car and the car started making a metallic screeching noise when I braked - we had run out of brakes. We knew that the front pads were low and had brought some new DS1.11 pads with us. Ethan swapped over the pads. At this stage the rain had started and a lot of people decided to go home. We taped up the brake cooling ducts and Ethan used the empty track to bed in the brake pads with 25 to 30 hard braking sessions.
After the brake pad swap I went out again to get the session cut short by a red flag. Eventually I managed ot get some slow wet laps in.
Ethan did the final session of the day with Martin on track at the same time. There was only one other car on the track at this time and Ethan spent most of his time trying to flick the rear of the car out to get in some minor drifts. I guess when you can't drive fast round corners you might as well use the time to practice your car control eh?
The best lap of the day set by Ethan was a 2m 18s which equals his best effort from 2023. I think that had we had dry weather throughout the day the car might have gone faster.
@R20BTG Get yourself some softer front springs and harder rear springs for your Gaz Golds because the difference in performance with a Cup Racer set up is really amazing.
Yesterday was good fun despite the weather only giving us about half a day of reasonably dry track time.
cliosport.net
