gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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First off I am still grinning like a chesire cat was possibly one of the best days of my life 
Also possibly one of the most expensive  
Met up with someone off of civictyper.co.uk and headed on down there.
Myself and mark comendeered ourself a garage
Then I got myself briefed and signed on
Then after that we headed out on the sighting laps behind the saftey car.
Then it was open pit time 
I at this point went off for my instruction session. Possibly one of the best £25's I have spent. I learnt so much from dave my instructer. He used to drive press cars for honda here so knows how to chuck a CTR around so was ideal for the task in hand
I can say up until then I really didnt realise the car was capable of that much. When people say CTR's handle they arnt lying. By the end of my teaching session I was up to speed and following the lines nice and smoothly (possibly the biggest difference is getting the lines right as I now know)
Thanks again Dave 
Then I went for some laps its safe to say I got my moneys worth 3 tanks of fuel and I reset the trip meter when I left mine this morning and it now reads 250miles 
The amount of grip CTR's have is crazy (compared to a corsa anyway ) will grip and grip and if I does start to slide a little lift off will get it tight again. And its also nice and predictable with lots of feed back. It lets you know you are upseting it before deciding it likes the grass. I did have one hero style moment at graham hill at about 45 degrees but the car did well at not snatching back to suddenly and we held it together (much to the amusment of my passanger ) I think with an LSD my car would be very capable
Also went out in an impeza (doesnt feel that fast but clearly was ) and a caterham which I now want badly
In summery I would recoment one of these to anyone. Everyone was mega friendly and dispite the range of cars there I didnt come across or here of any bad driving from anyone
Car behave impecably too apart from filling it with petrol letting some air out of the tyres and tighening some wheel nuts nothing was needed. Other people seemed to have theirs in bits all the time. There was a mk4 astra gsi I there but I think that went pop  as it was smoking out on track and then I saw it getting recovered outside
Funniest moment of the day was my passanger singing kings of leon sex on fire changed to "your brakes are on fire" as we pulled into the pits I did have quite a bit of smoke coming from the front
Some pics I grabbed:
Only a few I got on my phone. I am awaiting others to post theirs.
The posh porche boys
Woops
Thats got to big my longest post ever
Gutted I couldnt get any video though. As they have banned suction mounts considered sneaking out with it but didnt want to ruin a good day
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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P1CK4D
Member
Registered: 19th Jun 06
Location: Around Essex Somewhere
User status: Offline
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Nice one! I want to do one of these. How much was it for the whole day and garage?
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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£159 for open pit from 9am til 5pm and drive as much as you want/can afford
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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BluKoo
Member
Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline
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Why have they banned suction mounts?
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Paul_J
Member
Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
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wicked mate
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Fro
Member
Registered: 20th Jun 06
Location: Rainham, Essex Drives: A3 2.0TDi Sport
User status: Offline
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Sounds like you had an awesome day mate!!
How busy did it get? Defo interested in one of these open pit day sessions
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Paul_J
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Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by gavin18787
£159 for open pit from 9am til 5pm and drive as much as you want/can afford
Wish I had known this was on, I sat home today bored - I'd of come and watched or gone out on track (ahhh unemployment...)
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by BluKoo
Why have they banned suction mounts?
must not think they are secure enough. Although I am sure my window would break before mine came off
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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Paul_J
Member
Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by gavin18787
quote:
Originally posted by BluKoo
Why have they banned suction mounts?
must not think they are secure enough. Although I am sure my window would break before mine came off
My suction cup used to fall off all the time... Some are better than others - so I think they banned them all... When they come off and you're driving, firstly it distracts you greatly, and most people try to stick em back up while at 100 mph
I've got a fixed mount one now.
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Paul_J
quote:
Originally posted by gavin18787
£159 for open pit from 9am til 5pm and drive as much as you want/can afford
Wish I had known this was on, I sat home today bored - I'd of come and watched or gone out on track (ahhh unemployment...)
Ah no way
I didnt know I was going until yesterday
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Paul_J
quote:
Originally posted by gavin18787
quote:
Originally posted by BluKoo
Why have they banned suction mounts?
must not think they are secure enough. Although I am sure my window would break before mine came off
My suction cup used to fall off all the time... Some are better than others - so I think they banned them all... When they come off and you're driving, firstly it distracts you greatly, and most people try to stick em back up while at 100 mph
I've got a fixed mount one now.
Yer I can see where they are coming from. Although mine is one of the pump up ones so is fucking hard to get off without meaning to
Dunno what mount I could get. As I dont have anything to bolt one too due to bucket style seats. Hence me buying a suction one last year 
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by fro-dizzle
Sounds like you had an awesome day mate!!
How busy did it get? Defo interested in one of these open pit day sessions
fairly quite all day. And after 3pm there was only about 5 - 10 of us out there
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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Fro
Member
Registered: 20th Jun 06
Location: Rainham, Essex Drives: A3 2.0TDi Sport
User status: Offline
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Schweeeet, sounds like you picked a very good day!
Do they have fuel on site?
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*JonnyG*
Member
Registered: 2nd Jun 08
Location: Lincolnshire
User status: Offline
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Sweett, looks fun.. cant wait to see more pictures.
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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Yer I think the risk of rain put alot off. Kind of like our day at the pod that time.
No fuel on site but the garage is just outside. Dont think I have ever filled up for the same garage twice in one day
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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Does anyone know if any photographers attend these days? Would love a pic of me on track
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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deano87
Member
Registered: 21st Oct 06
Location: Bedfordshire Drives: Ford Fiesta
User status: Offline
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sounds awesome - when you recommend it to anyone, I can't imagine a 12v being that interesting
Me and dad have a headcame for biking, which has a strap, so you can put it on a helmet - that would be ideal for something like this 
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smcGSI16V
Member
Registered: 26th May 03
Location: Farnborough Drives: Thurlby 888 CDTi No.98
User status: Offline
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Rawaction.co.uk took the photos when I was there in November.
Looks like you had a good time, I do like it there.
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by smcGSI16V
Rawaction.co.uk took the photos when I was there in November.
Looks like you had a good time, I do like it there.
 I will check it out
Yer simple curcuit but very challanging and with alot to learn. Lots of gradient change too
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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richc
Member
Registered: 24th Mar 07
Location: Ilkeston
User status: Offline
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Did you have brake fade. My i took my corsa sport around donnginton, pushing very hard to keep up with much faster cars...... i completey killed the braking system after about 10 mintues. Needed new cyclinders, pads, rear shoes etc!
I know thew ctr is alot more modern and more race car style, so i expect it to be better, but by the sounds of it you did loads of laps!
What were they like?
Well i say totally fade i mean fade at like 5, virtually not usefull at 10, then i went and did another session 
Afterwards took its toll
[Edited on 25-02-2009 by richc]
[Edited on 25-02-2009 by richc]
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deano87
Member
Registered: 21st Oct 06
Location: Bedfordshire Drives: Ford Fiesta
User status: Offline
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Gav probably had the attitude, "brakes, what brakes?!  "
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by richc
Did you have brake fade. My i took my corsa sport around donnginton, pushing very hard to keep up with much faster cars...... i completey killed the braking system after about 10 mintues. Needed new cyclinders, pads, rear shoes etc!
I know thew ctr is alot more modern and more race car style, so i expect it to be better, but by the sounds of it you did loads of laps!
What were they like?
Well i say totally fade i mean fade at like 5, virtually not usefull at 10, then i went and did another session
Afterwards took its toll
[Edited on 25-02-2009 by richc]
[Edited on 25-02-2009 by richc]
Didnt get any noticable fade. Fitted some fedoro ds2500 pads though so this would have helped this.
They did get hot though. Nice amount of smoke at one point
However a quick cool down in the pits every now and again (leaving the handbrake off! ) all was fine
Everything still feels fine now
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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Paul_J
Member
Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
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Ds2500's are awesome
I think people waste money upgrading calipers / discs / 4 pots etc... just fit some Ds2500 pads and job done
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MJ
Member
Registered: 18th Sep 03
Location: Hampshire Drives: ITR DC2 + Skoda Felicia
User status: Offline
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sounds like a very good day mate, hope to put my teg on a track very soon. did u have insurance on the track?
Cheers MJ
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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Quality, I'm going to do one inbetween now and Castle Coombe.
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