[AndyW]

For those who have been following our progress and might be vaguely interested, Racer and I took our JCW Club Sports on track for the first time today, at Brands with Bookatrack.com, and had a fantastic day. The weather was superb, the day was organised very efficiently (more on that later), and the cars ran brilliantly!

There was the usual selection of trackday vehicles there – Elises, Caterhams, Westfields, an Exige, a couple of Evo6’s, M3’s etc etc, so we thought the MINIs might struggle – and they did, against some of the Caterfields & Elises (and others), but they held their own against a lot of the other machinery. We were both going past the M3s, the MR2s, and a few of the less aggressively driven Caterhams. Seeing as the MINIs were two of the lowest-powered machines there, I think we can hold our heads high!

The only downer for the day was that quite a few cars went off – a 911 racecar with the low nose (Racer will know the proper name for it) had a big off and smacked its front end in v badly. Each time someone went off, they had to end the session while it was being recovered, and the organisers weren’t too happy that some people weren’t driving as sensibly as they should. Luckily it didn’t affect us too badly as they always seemed to happen in other sessions or right at the end of our session.

So, how did we get on against each other? Well, I’ve been to Brands a couple of times before, Racer only the once, briefly, when he took his ARDS (race licence) test a few weeks back, so for the first session, he was taking it easy, and I managed to catch up with him reasonably easily. But that was the last time I could – well, the last time it was easy anyway! It turned out we each had our quicker places on the circuit – me at Paddock & Druids, him at Clearways. We spent the next few sessions until the end of the day, just tailing each other to see where we could improve, and getting used to the feeling of driving at speed in close proximity to another car, anticipating their braking points etc. A great exercise, but Racer now has a big divot out of his windscreen and I have 2 big stonechips on my bonnet to show for it though! .

The upshot was, we’re both pretty evenly matched, which is a good result (neither of us feels hacked off) – the problem will be when we start racing – I can see the end of a beautiful friendship! Just kidding – hopefully...

Absolutely knackered now, but with a big smile on my face

Maybe Racer will stick up a couple of photos we took today...

See you at Goodwood on the 3rd April!

Cheers

Andy

[smiffy]

Sounds like a good day out
At least you didnt crash thats the main thing

[Racer]

It was a truly excellent day - The 911 that bought it was a 935 flatnose! - If he'd stayed on the track long enough I would have lapped him !

Ready and Raring

After I've done all the MR2's I'm having a go at that Exige!

Tired and Hungry I'm going to bed!

[Paul]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[Garfield]

I've always referred to that Porsche as a "Slantnose".

That's very cool, glad to hear you guys had a great time. I am extremely impressed with the handling and poise of this car, I imagine it'll make a wonderful track car (I may eventually find out, who knows).

Have Fun!

Brian

[monsta]

I can't wait to see the action at Goodwood!!

[ELISEBOY]

how much did the day at Brands cost u guys?

did you do the GP or Indy circuit?

[scott shand]

how much faster are the jcc cars compared with my standard cooper

[Racer]

Quote:

Originally posted by ELISEBOY
how much did the day at Brands cost u guys?

did you do the GP or Indy circuit?

Indy - GP circuit is expensive and only opened up a few times each year - Cost was £169 (I think) - Easytrack are running a day on 19th April Indy Open Pitlane for £149