***TRACKDAY Donington GP Circuit - Friday 18th December SOLD OUT***

[Vj4sothername]

Don't forget to read the online briefing document today and fill out the info requested from Javelin

Events Team

[Vj4sothername]

Cars packed, briefing complete.

I wish I had remembered to install my towing eyes before I packed the car..... Fingers crossed the grease I filled them with has kept the rust at bay.....

[njkmr]

All set ,car checked over.
Looking forward to tomorrow.
Hope we get some dry spells of weather.

[Vj4sothername]

Have a great day guys!

[v-rex]

Think I'm ready. Do peeps put towing eyes on beforehand? I was gonna do at the track...

Think I have everything else.... find out tomorrow. Rain or shine I'm looking forward to it!

[Mpv2k3]

I usually put one tow eye in at the track.

Hope you all have a great day!

[njkmr]

Have a great day folks, I hope the weather is not too damp.

[Vj4sothername]

Morning everyone hope you all slept well and dying to get on the track today

Will be leaving home shortly, so see you all sometime after 7am

Events Team

[Mpv2k3]

Have fun

[MightyCondor]

Have fun

Thanks I did.

It was my first time at Donnington, and I have to say that I really like it. In the dry it must be incredible, but I was enjoying myself in the wet anyway. The hairpin in the GP section was like ice, and I set my ABS off a few time braking into it, before having to tip-toe around. Redgate had to be taken slowly. Coppice was fun, as it felt like a corner that I could really play with the throttle on, and I was taking a pretty good line through it compared to most of the other cars (thanks Youtube).

With all of the red flags, I didn’t get enough traffic free laps which was a bit of a shame, but I was certainly lapping a lot quicker throughout the afternoon. Still lots of time on the table, but didn’t fancy ending up on the grass at any stage. Definitely a track to revist in better conditions.

The RainSports coped well in the 28-30psi range. There were a lot of cars struggling for grip out there, and I certainly felt that I was on the right tyres.

I’ll do a video at some point, but have a bit of a backlog with my Brands ones still a w.i.p.

Good to see everyone. The company makes these days. Catch you for some more days out next year.

[v-rex]

I didn't realise you were videoing Alan. I wouldn't have let you by, so I could have been the centre of the shoot ! Hopefully I got in some of your footage. Apologies again for Will flashing you and trying to get by. He was determined to overtake that McLaren as he wanted to show that guy what a pansy driver he was with his supercar and being so slow with so much power ... lol

I'll talk about my experience properly tomorrow but I'll start off by saying how great it was to have everyone there. I would have been lost without everyone there to help out from the club and it was really great to finally put some names to faces. On my end I'll just say my hair is not usually that bad, it was a bad case of helmet hair I think!

Special thanks to Stuart for giving me a fuel topup at the end, so I could make it to the petrol station without any probs. I few people like John offered as well ( thanks all ) but I didn't check out how little fuel I had till almost everyone left and it was tickling the bottom, so Stuart saved me. I owe you a beer for sure. Amateur mistake on my part....

[Vj4sothername]

Fantastic to see everyone yesterday. Few more issues with my brakes so didn't get to work the car as hard as it worked me.

Looking forward to next time now I've experienced this track. Very technical and much more intimidating than Mallory.

[REF]

This is quite a technical and very interesting track to drive. Also good to drive the GP version.

The condition of the track varied from very moist (slippery), wet (more slippery) and very wet (very slippery). As Alan said, it was like driving on ice at times whereby my focus was more around not going into the various gravel pits or losing it on the various bends as I did want to get home in the same car I arrived in. Despite this I still lost the back at the hairpin at the first time (very cautious on that part going forward) and there were also "moments" during the rest of the day. The behaviour on the track was generally good (apart from a particular silver mini for me). Nevertheless, I rarely had to worry on whether I was on the track too long to lose concentration as the length of my session was usually decided by a red flag moment.

Given the weather (which got steadily worse during the day) I was glad I booked a garage. However, given the landscape where the garages are at the bottom of a hill and the inadequate drainage system, I found that a small river started running through my garage (number 25) to the extent that I thought my garage was built on top of an old water course. My apologies to those who were using my garage to keep their stuff dry. Also, they had to stay open due to Covid and so offered little protection to the wind and turned into their own wind tunnels at times.

It was good to see everybody yesterday - catching up with those met at previous track days and also meeting others for the first time. It is this club atmosphere that make these fun days whatever the weather. I look forward to seeing Alan's video of the day - I may even be in it as he went past me a couple of times (as did everybody else to be fair!).

I hope everybody had a safe journey home and I look forward to seeing everybody at the next track event.

[Vj4sothername]

Well we all had a good day despite what the weather threw at us

Had a few slippery moments out on the track, but nothing that I couldn't handle

Kept coming across that pesky Red RX-8 with a number plate starting with 425 driven by Robert that needed overtaking every time

There was another GT86 in Black, but every time I saw it on the track, it was always signalling to be overtaken, so never had much of a play with the driver

So this trackday was No.67 for my GT86 and also the third time had driven the GP Circuit and every time it is so enjoyable to drive it

Great seeing everybody yesterday and seeing you all having a good time on and off the track

Events Team

[Nickp47]

I can only echo the majority of the comments above, I must say I loved the track though (first time there) and am keen to go back in the dry to fully experience it, be that the GP or National layout as the bits I like most are in both.
I brought a couple of mates so did not get as much time in the car as I would have liked but "Bro's before go's" is something I always say (by always I mean never).
Nice to talk to some of the other member there and apologies to those I did not get to speak to, all in all a nice way to round off the year for me.

[njkmr]

Yep as said, thoroughly enjoyed the day despite the weather.
Track is great and very tricky to master some of the corners and being so slippy it made it nail biting at times.
Especially with some clown in a Dark Blue Clio (its always a Clio) undertaking me as i turned in on the Fogarty esses. He did not have the speed on the straight but had to get passed at all costs. Looked like it was testing for a race series as it had numbers on it and was stripped out. He should have known better in that case, that track days are not race practice days. Chunk.
Anyway ,saw plenty of spins but was thankful to stay on track during all sessions. Respect to the McClaren driver for taking his car on there in the conditions and enjoying it for what it was made for.
Also the jag driver ,who spun during the sighting laps...! Doh.
The MX5 driver who practically drifted on every corner of every session (not sure if it was intentional) and had me and my passenger rolling with laughter as he hung on to it, whilst we kept well back .
Another Clio who was desperate to get passed me and when he finally was "allowed" past when i eased off, promptly put it in the gravel 3 corners further on...!
I have to say i did not see any shinnanigins from the RX8 guys so well done for promoting the club in the right light.
I didnt realise it was about 20 years since i was last at Donnington (on a bike track day) but i hope to be back there in the near future with a dry day hopefully.
Regards
Rob.

[Salokin]

I too had such a great day yesterday. Whilst the weather was a little rough, it did make things fun. I've not done Donington before but I really enjoyed the track. The GP circuit in particular with the extra hairpin to the national circuit made things interesting in the rain. I thought I was going pretty slow round it and I still ended up triggering traction control .
I thought the event was ran really well and most of the time I had plenty of space on track which allowed me to have plenty of laps with little traffic.
On the whole, people generally behaved apart from the few mentions already. The jag spinning on the sighting laps must have been a little embarrassing!!
There were some really nice cars there too! The McLaren 570S was an absolute beast (perfect in orange). I tried to keep up with it when I let it pass but that really didn't last long! . I personally liked the E46 M3 too but didn't see it on track during my time out.
What really topped it off was seeing the people I already know and meeting yet more great people - the club really has lots of them .
So all in all, a great day. I look forward to the next one .

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

[Salokin]

Ps, thank you to Robert and Linda for allowing me to use their garage space for my stuff. Much appreciated

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

[v-rex]

Hi me again,

The kids are in bed so I can finally talk about this properly. So in the rush to get ready for this day, I didn't even get a chance to look at a track guide for this track. Luckily the other driver with me, Will, knew the track well and taught it to me quickly. For the sighting lap and the first time out, alot of the corners looked pretty similar and I struggled to tell them apart. What I initially thought first was the change in elevation and camber was interesting, and something that wasn't so obvious in vids of the track. Especially the Craner curves and then up by Starkey's bridge and Schwantz Curve, was a nice down up and felt a little like Eau Rouge at Spa to me. Will went out and then I went out again and it all started to make more sense.

At first it was a struggle with my rainsport 5's and the rear kept kicking out under power. I started thinking that it was maybe my car or the alignment was off at the rear, and maybe a trip to Fergus was on in order. However I did have the pressures at 33-34, and after talking to Nick Palmer who had the same tyres I dropped them down to 30 and it seemed better, however the track was drying so maybe that was it? Alan then also suggested dropping even further to 28. I actually forgot to do that but at 30psi, the tyres felt much better. Also I reckon maybe the tyres were not scrubbed in enough at the rear, because even when we went out later in the rain, they felt nice and grippy on the rears so probably a combo of wrong pressures and scrubbing in. Braking was fine with my pagid pads and discs. I wasn't sure how they would perform and if they would melt under the load but they performed admirably. Stopped perfectly every time, and no fade, but that could be cos it was cool and we didn't get the speed we would in the dry.

Corner wise I didn't think I did the first one that well as I felt slow on exit, but Will reckon I had a good line through Redgate, and then really good through the Craner curves, especially the 2nd part and many people were late apexing that one, whereas you can do a nice early turn in for that one and carry speed. Then up through old hairpin and Starkey's Bridge and and Schwantz Curve was easy ( although i did have a few oh crap moments through Starkey's Bridge as if I had the line slightly wrong there was a bit where the car swung out. Mcleans was ok, but it's very tempting to go through too quick through there and then slide over the kerb on exit.

Coppice was my biggest struggle. Being blind it was hard to judge the braking point and then I tried lots of lines, inside outside etc, but could not get the rear down and had to feather the throttle through coppice, and I really wanted to get the power down for the next straight. I think when I was following you Alan (MightyCondor) you were doing this corner really well. Fogarty esses were fine, just take maximum kerb on exit on the right and try to clip the tyre barrier on the left. I did struggle with braking point though, and despite having thinking time down the straight I still struggled to get my speed just right for the esses at times.

Melbourne hairpin was fine, but just struggled getting power down on exit, and same with the next left hander. No real struggle with braking as I was probably braking a bit early. Nice track and I only really have Bedford to compare it to, but it being technical and flowing in many places it was nice to be able to keep with alot of cars, unlike Bedford where people would get away on the long straight. I really liked the flowy down up part through Craners etc and the views were lovely just after Hollywood.

My biggest struggle, as I thought it would be, was getting the braking and gear changes right. Sometimes I'd brake too early and sometimes too late. With gear changes I would try and do them too fast before I'd scrubbed off speed with the brakes, or sometimes hold the clutch down mid corner, as I didn't feel the car was slow enough to get into the lower gear and then I would lift mid corner which is awful technique. Bad habits from road driving. I need to work on keeping the brake on, downshifts before turning into the corner, and then keeping some brake on and gently releasing to transition into the corner. Will was saying I was releasing brake a bit when heel and toeing so car was lurching back and forth a bit, and then I was jumping off the pedal before turning in. I got it right a few times, and in Melbourne hairpin getting the smooth transition into the apex meant it was easier to get the power down and come off the corner smoothly. There was much traction control lights on exit, on alot of corners, though never really lost it, the Rex always gave a good indication of how much it was slipping on the butt dyno. I didn't really have the ABS kick in too much. I reckon the key to more speed will be getting better corner entry speed in some of the corners, and linking it all up at speed. Taking a bit more kerb in areas as well, but I just got worried about going into the grass with the wetness yesterday.

In terms of other drivers most were good. The Jag was hilarious, and also the GT86 ( the black one ) also spun it on the sighting lap. He was a bit of a tool and got in the way on our first stint but was so slow so easy to overtake, and luckily didn't see him much after. Other then that I often got out of the way for most of the drivers but some were aggressive. The two red RS Meganes were pretty aggressive ( they can't have been standard ), and then a grey VW golf also tried to overtake in the corner, but most were good. I remember there was a dark blue or black clio that indicated to let me by and then almost took me out, and then there was a grey Porsche Cayman which kept getting in my way. He'd get in my way in the corners and then accelerate away on the straights after I'd lost all my momentum. Even when I let him get ahead as other cars came by or just to get some room then I'd be back on him on no time. Clueless. Will had pleasure in flashing a blue Renault Megane R26R with some livery out of the way, en route to the Mclaren. No one blocked which was good. Lastly I enjoyed watching a grey bmw m3 with the plate NI55 OFF, drift it on about every single corner.

So, all in all, as I said before I really enjoyed it and actually think if COVID is ever over and all the facilities were open it would really be a great day out. The benches and cafe etc were all really nice and I can imagine all of us having a nice lunch together on a sunny day and having a good chat. I am keen to get back and would love to see how the track is in the dry, and with some grippier rubber. Will was impressed with the car and said it was amazing how communicative the car was and how quick it went through the corners. He said you only realise how fast you are going through if you look at the speedo, as the car is so smooth it doesn't feel like you are on the edge at all. The car also easily communicated clearly that it was starting to slide so you could correct. He's keen to drive it again with grippier rubber on a dry day as well.

Ok, my first track day in a long time, so apologies for jabbering on, and I'll be quiet now....

njmkr - Did we meet on the day ? I don't remember if we did, but apologies if we did and I forgot ? Even bigger apologies if I didn't come and say hi and you were just there. Maybe I didn't realise you were with us as you were driving a MX-5 ... but I should have realised.

[njkmr]

Great write up v-rex,
no dont think we met ,but to be fair i was keeping my distance from most people due to being my mothers carer and i cant afford to catch Covid (and pass it on to her as shes too frail) ,not saying you guys have it..! so apart from a brief chat with Nigel i just stuck with the two guys i came to the track with. My mate had a red RX8.We were parked behind your garages on the car park
But next time i will come over and be more sociable hopefully if Covid is under control.
I dont know how but i also never really got much track time when you guys were out ,so i must have timed it wrong but look forward to the next time.
Regards
Rob.

[v-rex]

Great write up v-rex,
no dont think we met ,but to be fair i was keeping my distance from most people due to being my mothers carer and i cant afford to catch Covid (and pass it on to her as shes too frail) ,not saying you guys have it..! so apart from a brief chat with Nigel i just stuck with the two guys i came to the track with. My mate had a red RX8.We were parked behind your garages on the car park
But next time i will come over and be more sociable hopefully if Covid is under control.
I dont know how but i also never really got much track time when you guys were out ,so i must have timed it wrong but look forward to the next time.
Regards
Rob.

Ah I see. Yeah absolutely no problem, COVID is not something any of us should be complacent with at all. I did see the red RX8 parked up a few rows back from us, and did wonder why it was not with us. Was thinking should go and introduce the club if they were not a member! It will be great one day if we can all meet, but only when it's safe.

I hardly saw the other members on track either which was weird. I saw the red RX8 of Robert, and drove a bit with Alan. Saw John briefly when went we out together on one stint, and I think maybe Nick ( Salokin ) was following me for a bit on one stint?. I never saw Stuart, Nick Palmer, or your mate's RX8 on track, when we were out. Not sure I saw Nigel's GT86 on track either. I might have seen you but might not have known if you were in a MX-5. There was one pretty decent quick driver in a silver/grey MX-5 who was driving well, that Will followed for a while.

[Conan]

Good to see everyone had a good time.
Donington is directly in the flight path of East Midlands airport and the surface is very slippery when wet, it’s usually better when it’s fully wet for grip.
I remember one race there in horrendous rain. 4 cars pulled into the pits refusing to start the race on the warm up lap.
I came into the pits during the race to get someone to wipe my visor inside and out as I just couldn’t see and I still didn’t come last
Pete

[njkmr]

I guess a bit of aviation fuel splattered over it didnt help us then...!

[Studle]

A bit late to the party!! but just wanted to ditto other comments. It was a great day on and off the track. Very well organised and really good to meet some new faces. Glad I could help a fellow member with the fuel situation

I’ve attached a few pics of some of our cars. Apologies for not catching everyone’s.

[GreySilver Beast]

Photo's are on the Javelin Website - Events Team

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