Attended a trackday at Snetterton yesterday, first time there but to be honest i wasnt taken by the track. It was a little boring compared to the likes of Brands Hatch and Donington!
Anyway a good and major event free day was had by most except a caterham which hit a wall head on and got the front tyres to buckle in and touch eachother and an arse clinching moment when my questionable driving talent ran out trying to keep an R26.R behind me and i ventured over the rumble strip of an exit and well into the dirt/grassy area of nowhere lol, no damage done except a bruised ego and an embaressed overtake by a laughing Megane owner
The last session of the day was when the entertainment really began. As i was blasting round the track quite happily i all of a sudden noticed blue clouds of smoke coming from my footwell near the pedals. Thinking it was an electrical fire i pulled over on the side of the track, fire extinguisher in hand and both me and the misses evacuated. Luckily the car didnt go up and i returned it to the garage, had a good long inspection but nothing seemed faulty so i guessed it was brake smoke coming in from the bay.
So after a long day of racing ( i was up at 4am to get there ) i headed home, cautious of the car of course. I got about 2 miles out of the track before the magic smoke appeared again and this time left me stranded on the hard shoulder of a busy dual carriageway. Having no recovery cover i gave Matt @ TDF a quick call for some advice and he very kindly offered to pop down the road and have a look. Upon inspection, at this point daylight failing us, we found the breather under the bonnet was exhausting massive amounts of smoke which had obviously been getting drawn into the cabin when the car moved over 20mph. Diagnosis: Blown head gasket
I said i'd drive it back regardless but was advised this could turn a slightly ill engine into scrap so once again i was saved by TDF who returned to HQ to collect a trailer for recovery. This left me on the hard shoulder in total in pitch black for about 5 hours and it was freezing, unable to start to car for the heaters as the cabin filled with oily smoke in seconds. The misses was not impressed!
Anyway once back at TDF at approx. 1am Matt kindly drove us to the nearest hotel where i spent the night and had to call for my good old dad to pick me up this morning, he arrived at 11am today and i finally returned, very tired and desperate for a change of cloths, about 2pm this afternoon after setting out 4am the previous day, minus one very sick clio 197
Trackdays and modified cars ay, you gotta love it!
Anyway a good and major event free day was had by most except a caterham which hit a wall head on and got the front tyres to buckle in and touch eachother and an arse clinching moment when my questionable driving talent ran out trying to keep an R26.R behind me and i ventured over the rumble strip of an exit and well into the dirt/grassy area of nowhere lol, no damage done except a bruised ego and an embaressed overtake by a laughing Megane owner
The last session of the day was when the entertainment really began. As i was blasting round the track quite happily i all of a sudden noticed blue clouds of smoke coming from my footwell near the pedals. Thinking it was an electrical fire i pulled over on the side of the track, fire extinguisher in hand and both me and the misses evacuated. Luckily the car didnt go up and i returned it to the garage, had a good long inspection but nothing seemed faulty so i guessed it was brake smoke coming in from the bay.
So after a long day of racing ( i was up at 4am to get there ) i headed home, cautious of the car of course. I got about 2 miles out of the track before the magic smoke appeared again and this time left me stranded on the hard shoulder of a busy dual carriageway. Having no recovery cover i gave Matt @ TDF a quick call for some advice and he very kindly offered to pop down the road and have a look. Upon inspection, at this point daylight failing us, we found the breather under the bonnet was exhausting massive amounts of smoke which had obviously been getting drawn into the cabin when the car moved over 20mph. Diagnosis: Blown head gasket
I said i'd drive it back regardless but was advised this could turn a slightly ill engine into scrap so once again i was saved by TDF who returned to HQ to collect a trailer for recovery. This left me on the hard shoulder in total in pitch black for about 5 hours and it was freezing, unable to start to car for the heaters as the cabin filled with oily smoke in seconds. The misses was not impressed!
Anyway once back at TDF at approx. 1am Matt kindly drove us to the nearest hotel where i spent the night and had to call for my good old dad to pick me up this morning, he arrived at 11am today and i finally returned, very tired and desperate for a change of cloths, about 2pm this afternoon after setting out 4am the previous day, minus one very sick clio 197
Trackdays and modified cars ay, you gotta love it!
