Cadwell Park Trackday Report: 26/10/08
"back once again, back once again with the ill behavior"
So we had James (The Count) and Danni stop over on the Saturday night prior to Cadwell Park as it was going to be enough of a trek for them to travel all that way anyway.
So alarm rings at 04:30am, and we knew we had to be gone for 05:30am, so there we were early doors loading up my Nova and James' Corsa with spare tyres and tools.
We got half hour into the journey where we met Rob & Matt, and then followed up to meet Ian & Kat just outside of Nottingham.
A good convoy, but followed with a minor mishap when a Transit van driver ploughed into James Corsa shunting him into the kerb, smashing his alloy wheel, writing off his drivers front wing, and majorly crushing his BBJ, but he limped it the last 5 miles to the circuit.
Meanwhile, I ran out of fuel lol and I had to wave someone down that was obviously heading towards the circuit, and I managed to get some fuel to get me there!
Got to do Cadwell at 7:45am, to get setup, no pits at Cadwell, but still a fantastic setup. Signed on as a driver, along with my 6 named passengers lol. As it was an open pit day, I could come in and out of the pits as and when we wanted, had our briefing at 8:30am and things got underway at 9am. Didn't go out on track immediately, as there was a lot of standing water so I wanted a good 45minutes before venturing out for the first time with Matt (m17tty) as passenger. All was good, car felt very planted.
First time out with my new new suspension setup, front 350lb springs in situ, and first session was mega wet and greasy due to half the circuit being under trees, and it being Autumn didn't help, so I came armed with my Rainsports, I also bought my 888s along just in case...
Figured out that I had a slight drip of oil when I came back into the pit area, so we had it up in air, and the leak was caused by how much castor I was running, where the driveshaft had gone so far up the back of the engine it hit a bolt just next to where the oil pressure sender is on the back of the block - we tightened it up, and made sure it was all good - and it was.
Went back out the hour later, this time with Michelle as passenger, and it a little dryer but still standing water in places, the biggest difference in the drive was how planted it felt in the corners, the lack of bodyroll and the overall stability in general at doing such high speeds.
Next passenger up for the jumpride was James (The Count), with exactly same setup as the previous session however still on the Rainsports at this point, however it was damp, but with a dry racing line - so I made the decision that for the next session to arm the car with 888s, but fuel was running low ish, by this time it was nearing lunch time, so before running out completely we came in.
Then our detour to try and find a Shell petrol station deemed harder than expected after passing about 4 different petrol stations we came to the conclusions that we we're going to find out. Whilst doing a U-turn in a petrol station a big bang, smash wallop came down from near the CVs, and yep, my passenger CV joint had exploded, which doesn't suprise me as since it was slashed months ago, I had not replaced it, nor the boot - so it had been running dry since... hey ho.
Got fuel with James, within 20 minutes being back at Cadwell it was replaced with a new item that I always take as spares! :) all good.
So after our lunch break the next passenger was nova ian, the plan was to put the 888s on, but as Rob & Ian were changing them the dark clouds came over and it started raining agin, so we left the Rainsports on, once again armed with a full tank the car felt awesome, I was getting quicker and quicker each lap we did, until I entered Park Corner a little too fast, locked up, dropped a gear to gain traction, locked up again, onto wet grass that only speeds you up, then I kinda knew we were going to hit the tyre walls so I pulled up my handbrake because at this point we were heading straight in, so I managed to turn the car 90°, to take the side impact.
Fairly calmly done, we remained in the car and I told the marshall its still a runner, and that I can get back to the pits under my own steam, so stuck to the tyre walls all the way around to the gates, and drove in the main enterance again, but all my support crew were still trackside wondering why I hadn't come back around yet!
Had a look at the damage, a few beaten up panels as can be seen in my WIP, but other than that - no serious damange, so armed with my Reebok Classics (chav) and a hammer, I did what I could, ready to get straight back out on track.
After Me & Ian were sent to the medical centre to get checked out, they let us back out - checked the car back over - and off we went again back out on track, gave it beans again, possibly getting my fastest lap time of the day in fact lol
Which was the last session we did, as we were aware that James had to get sorted, and the time was knocking on anyway.
Before I go, a massive thanks to all friends that came and offered support and helped me throughout the day, no need to name them all, but they know who they are :thumb:
Hope you've enjoyed reading yet another post-trackday report, this one being slightly more 'interesting' than previous ones lol
I'll now leave you with some pics, and a decent session thats entertaining all the way through imo, with James in the car as passenger.
Enjoy :)
Pre:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/nc1175.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q...ure/nc1174.jpg
Post:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...e/Ollys_01.jpg
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcR63IZKds
