...as always it's great to get the boys together - it had been a while. Myself, Rob, Jamie and Robin set out early to get to Castle Combe Circuit in Wiltshire for a 7.30am rendezvous, where we met with two gentlemen, namely Mike Wilds and his son, Anthony Wilds, our instructors for the day. Father & son, both licensed ARDS Grade A Instructors, with a tonne of top-flight motor racing experience between them - in fact Mike's celebrating 50 years of motor racing this year!
My intention was never to track my car (far too risky), but I did want to learn how to drive it fast and more importantly safely on the open road, so decided to give Mike a call. This is what he had in mind:
'...a day on track to focus on learning and practising the techniques required to drive quickly and more importantly safely on road or track. There is no emphasis on speed, just good driving techniques of smoothness, looking well ahead, getting the driver in a settled mind set to think well ahead of the cars actual position on the road, corner lines of maximum continuous radius, vehicle dynamics under braking, cornering, power application etc etc.'
So, that's exactly what I did...a track day...but nothing could prepare me for what actually happened on the day.
Mike and Anthony's style is all about relaxing at the wheel so that the car can do what it's designed to do and that's most of the work (super important for endurance racing!), yet the conditions on the day sadly meant it went the other way for me. It was my first time on the track, in my precious pride & joy, it was wet (which amused Rob no end, as he knew how anxious this would have made me), there was no run off with Quarry Corner being responsible for 25% of the UK's track day accidents, plus I had to get my head round performance driving for the first time; short braking distances (brake-points), quick gear changes, turn-in points, racing lines, apexes, exit points etc. All of which I would have probably normally coped with, but add a swam of 'muppet' driven race-prepared MX-5s (all out testing and quite happy to ignore the code of conduct), being 'relaxed' was easier said than done.
So, what happened? Well, for me, not much to be honest. Mike was of course fantastic, but I simply wasn't. The car drove beautifully, handled really well and we got a few sessions in, one of which was pretty good, but all in all my nerves got the better of me, and with my concentration waning and front discs starting to judder towards mid-afternoon, I decided to call it a day early. It seemed like the sensible thing to do for both me and the car.
Mike and Anthony's style is all about relaxing at the wheel so that the car can do what it's designed to do and that's most of the work (super important for endurance racing!), yet the conditions on the day sadly meant it went the other way for me. It was my first time on the track, in my precious pride & joy, it was wet (which amused Rob no end, as he knew how anxious this would have made me), there was no run off with Quarry Corner being responsible for 25% of the UK's track day accidents, plus I had to get my head round performance driving for the first time; short braking distances (brake-points), quick gear changes, turn-in points, racing lines, apexes, exit points etc. All of which I would have probably normally coped with, but add a swam of 'muppet' driven race-prepared MX-5s (all out testing and quite happy to ignore the code of conduct), being 'relaxed' was easier said than done.
So, what happened? Well, for me, not much to be honest. Mike was of course fantastic, but I simply wasn't. The car drove beautifully, handled really well and we got a few sessions in, one of which was pretty good, but all in all my nerves got the better of me, and with my concentration waning and front discs starting to judder towards mid-afternoon, I decided to call it a day early. It seemed like the sensible thing to do for both me and the car.
The good news is that I got a taste of the track - it was without a doubt an exhilarating experience and I learnt a huge amount - the performance driving and racing basics about lines, smoothness, looking ahead, braking and relaxation are basic skills that can be adopted for everyday road driving with high performance cars. Yet, I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for myself, and a little battered after the onslaught of banter from the boys!
That said I remain determined and aim to get back behind the wheel, with Mike or Anthony by my side once again, later this summer. We're thinking Bedford Aerodrome would be better suited for a beginner like me, who obviously needs to be gently broken in. Also it's an open pit lane track day venue, has lots of run off and there won't be too many race cars using the circuit, which sounds perfect to me for track day number 2.
That said I remain determined and aim to get back behind the wheel, with Mike or Anthony by my side once again, later this summer. We're thinking Bedford Aerodrome would be better suited for a beginner like me, who obviously needs to be gently broken in. Also it's an open pit lane track day venue, has lots of run off and there won't be too many race cars using the circuit, which sounds perfect to me for track day number 2.
As for the other boys. Rob was having a blast in his Boxster (giving a 911 GT3 a run for it's money, see photo below), Jamie was loving his 944 (with new suspension set up) and Robin had fun, but sadly like me retired his 996 due to a few plumes of smoke from the exhaust (the air-oil separator is a known problem when tracking 996s). I'm still waiting to hear how Jamie's car is doing, as on the way home it began sounding like a tractor. I know that Porsche's are renowned for being bulletproof but Robin summed it up nicely: 'the old timers amongst the group are certainly showing their age'.
I'll take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to Mike and Anthony for being brilliant - an absolute pleasure meeting you both and we're all very much looking forward to the next one. Onwards and upwards, and sideways. Well, perhaps not sideways for me - I'll leave that to Rob. ;-)
