Talk to me about track days

Having turned 40 I’ve decided I deserve to have a midlife crisis and have become a boy racer (well I’ve bought a hot hatch-can’t see me going to full hog though really).

That said I would like to try a track day but don’t know a) where any decent tracks are within an hour or so of Sheffield, how much they cost, what you do about insurance etc.

Can someone enlighten me on the whole shebang please…

Within an hour of Sheffield? Cadwell! Also Mallory, Oulton, Donington, hell Silverstone isn’t too far away.
Insurance? I’m sure you can but I imagine it costs a bomb. I never have for bikes, but they’ve always been paid for and I’ve never been concerned about the potential for it being smashed to bits.

croft would be a good circuit to start out at, bit more room for error than cadwell or oulton although those 2 are my favorites. donington is also good
costs vary a lot depending on circuit and time of year, i’ve done cadwell at not much over £100 and also paid about £230 for oulton. i was doing 8 or 9 days a year and it usually averaged out about £180 per day.
when you factor in other costs, fuel getting there, fuel on track(£70 worth is easy to use in a day) and general wear and tear on tyres, brakes etc. it soon adds up.
when i started my road insurance would cover me on a track day for a one of charge of £50 per day but after a few days i stopped bothering.
done about 60 track days and only put it in the tyre barriers once with surprisingly little damage so for me insurance isn’t worth it.

I’d say not Cadwell for your first. It is a fabulous circuit but it has a lot going on. I did my first track day there and in hindsight Oulton would have been a much better bet. Of the four UK tracks I’ve done I would say Brands Indy was by far the easiest to learn but a trek for you.

Get some tuition in the morning too. It’ll just help you get the braking and turn in points right.

You will need to buy or rent a helmet. Open face is better in my view for visibility.

A lot of people I met at days reckoned a click forward on the seat rails so it is easier to get your weight on to the brake pedal and you’ll have the throttle in the carpet a lot more too. I found this good advice.

Build up your pace over the day.
Watch your mirrors , let faster cars pass you are not racing
Short stints
Watch your gauges. You will be working everything much harder and hotter. If it’s getting hot come in and cool it off.
Allow the car to idle for a little while before switching off it keeps the coolant running round.

Anyone after a track toy? Got a saxo vts (awesome) with stripped interior and buckets/harnesses taking up room in my garage….

If you’re unsure what to expect then book a BYOC day so an instructor can i) gauge where you’re at, ii) teach you some skills and point out some “watch outs”, and iii) demonstrate track expectations and etiquette.

Pootling round is one thing. Tearing round at speed is another.

I did my sessions with Andy Walsh[/url] (who allegedly had Schumacher’s Benetton seat) and it was an eye opener. Bottom line for me was: my car was way more capable than me + it was willing to be driven harder than I believed possible + learning a few techniques was incredibly satisfying.

They’re great fun, not cheap and how fast you go round the track is not related in any way to the car you have, like cycling it’s 99.9% about the talent of the driver. To reduce costs look on the various car forums as sometimes they’ll do deals with circuits. When I did them for Donnington I was looking at something like £200 to £250 per track day, then factor in three to four tanks of fuel at £80 a tank as is was then, plus an allowance for additional wear and tear and fixing anything that breaks and it works out an expensive day. If I were to do it again I’d probably go down the cheap Saxo type route – something you can afford to write off.

I’d agree that Cadwell is probably a bit much for your first one what with blind apexes and so on. Bedford is good.

Blyton Park is also worth a look and generally good value too. Cadwell can be a bit intimidating… I’ve done both 🙂

something you can afford to write off.

Unless you’ve got an expensive car and are going to take out insurance every time that’s good advice.

To start with brakes are the only thing I’d change, fit a decent set of pads and change the brake fluid to something with a high wet boiling point. Normal fluid will boil in no time and you’ll spend all your time having to nurse the car round or worse still going into a corner and the pedal going to the floor 😯

If you really get into it a decent seat and harness is worthwhile as it means you can concentrate on steering rather than hanging onto the steering wheel through corners. Also rather than bother with expensive trackday tyres you’re better off buying a spare set of wheels and some part worn rally slicks.

Keep an eye on your mirrors too, it’s surprising how a properly fast car will appear from nowhere. Other than that just drive within your limits and have fun 8)

Having done track days for the last 15 years, I’d use http://www.bookatrack.co.uk. Most insurance companies now can add track day cover or as said above don’t bother if its not an expensive weapon. Donington would be your best first timer track as plenty of run off space!

I’ve never done a trackday (apart from the Nurburgring in 1993) and I’ve no real intention of doing a trackday in the future but I’m curious on the insurance thing.

If you don’t bother with insurance and wrap your own car up fair enough but are you responsible for any damage you might do to the track or barriers etc?

And what about if you take someone else out and write their car off? Is it just “one of those things” or would you be liable for their repair bills?

even if you have insurance it will only cover damage to your own car(with a large excess). car to car contact is very rare, i think i’ve only seen it once and heard about a few others but you are there at your own risk if someone takes you out.
i assume the cost of possible barrier repairs is taken into consideration when a circuit sets its hire charge for the TDO, never heard of anyone having to pay for damage.

my cadwell pic to go with the above one, going over the mountain.

vid of how quick it can go wrong at cadwell, i think i just had a slight lapse in concentration and once i had touched the wet grass there was no coming back.

Lovely lapping until that lapse. Such a shame, walk away from it and its a result tho.

Cheers bigfoot, that makes sense.

Good video, until the end obviously. How much damage to your car does an off like that do?

i was lucky with that one, going into the tyres almost square on saved a lot of damage. all i replaced was the silencer, a wishbone and a steering arm. bodywork got a bit of damage but not enough to be worth changing. was out at oulton a month later.
neck was very sore for a good few days though.

i have seen the results from someone going of at the same place in a similar car to mine and that didn’t end so well. the front corner of the chassis was bent and the suspension was ripped of one corner so the potential for a lot of damage is there.

Some trackday organisers have their own cars they can rent you.

Might be worth a look.

I loved doing track days… But now I have boring cars.