Cadwell Park - 8th March 2014

[Keethos 842]

Had an awesome trackday over at Cadwell Park this weekend while sharing my GT86 with my mate Andy.  He works for Borg Warner who make turbo chargers and his company actually has a motorsport social club where they can organise events the company would pay a percentage towards the events, in this case, they paid 50% for the trackday including car hire etc (so jealous), so while sharing my car, we split everything this weekend so it worked out quite cheap though we did get insurance to cover us both.

 

The weather was pretty good throughout the whole day, it was a lil chilly but dry at least....well...the track was....where we were parked off track i.e. on the grass, that was still a lil bit muddy which made for an entertaining first couple of corners each time we went back on track 

 

The only real downside to the day was that fact that it was pretty busy, can't remember how many were there but it seemed like loads, which was sometimes a nightmare as it was open pit and some slow ass drivers causing queues through corners.  Besides that, the track was new to me and my mate (first trackday for him in general  ) the track was quite technical and very intimidating as the track was very narrow in areas and plenty of things to hit, but still, a challenging and very entertaining track.

 

Quite a few interesting motors there that day, the main ones being an awesome Porsche 911 GT3 driven by a young fella while his dad watched (his dad's car, but think the young fella is a bit of a pro), a Lotus Exige S with some funky playing card suit decals dotted around, a rather nice old school Escort which sounded awesome and some mean and seriously kitted out Scubies and Evos.  There was even a white McLaren MP12 but this guys rocks up halfway through the day with some lass, dumps stuff into his front boot/bonnet (rather than emptying it) and then just ends up being a moving road block, the geeza didn't have a bloody clue and just drove around slow as you like.

 

Respect to a fella in a Radical (I think) who was pretty quick around track while only having 1 arm....that's right....ONE ARM!!!

 

Disaster struck for Andy's mates, two lads hired a Caterham for the day, one lad could only be there for the morning so he was to have the car all morning then the other fella has it during the afternoon, this was half price for them as they worked at Borg Warner too and obviously went halves between them, but after some sighting laps each, the fella who was to have it for the morning bloody bins it into a hay barrel and ends up bending the front passenger wheel and brake line, resulting in about £700odd worth of damage that couldn't be fixed there so the other fella paid about £160 for just a couple of sighting laps.  Another one of Andy's mates who had a stripped out Ford Puma ended up blowing his engine while heading down the Gooseneck just before Mansfield and leaking oil all over the track (caught on camera too as we were behind him  ), turns out his conrod had blown through the engine block and ruptured the oil filter and stuff.  Poor lad also had to get it toed back to Leeds by his mate in a Hyundai Coupe which took about 4 hours 

 

Also managed to capture an MX5 going too fast through Hall Bends which ended up cutting the corner, kicking up a load of mud and then spinning out.  Also caught an old Corolla (I think it was) spinning out on the Gooseneck while heading down the pretty steep hill, luckily he just span out onto the grass but again, we were behind him.

 

There were moments where I wished I had more power as there were quite a few stripped out MX5s, Saxos and 106s on track which were a lot quicker than me. There was even a nice red MX5 which had such an awesome supercharger whine too it as well.....made me really want to Supercharge my GT86 

 

 

 

There was another fellow GT86 owner but sadly I didn't get time to chat to him, he was there with his mate in a GT-R and they primarily drove his black 86 around but towards the end, they did jump into the GT-R a couple of times.  Seems like he's called me out on the other forum, should really have spoken to him, he goes by the name 86alex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Videos still to come but still compiling them, captured about 19gig's worth of footage and need to edit and render them out.  It's taken my computer about 9 hours to do 5 videos, each only about 10-15mins long and I've still got another 5 or 6 I think, then it's guna take a while to upload to Youtube too.....I need a faster PC 

[Lauren 2259]

Cool, just love Cadwell. Looks like there were a number of race cars though. Still good you survived! I'd really like to go back this year, it's been way too long since I was there last. 

[Kodename47 446]

Guy in the other 86 popped up on the owners club asking about the white car Jay pointed him in your direction. Glad you had a good day mate. I miss being out on track.... Thinking oil cooler is needed before I get too serious, especially if the blower's getting upgraded.

[Keethos 842]

Yeah, Jay pointed me there but not heard from the fella yet.

 

Finally managed to upload some vids, here are the first 2, still uploading more.....

 

 

[forge197 12]

That looks a lovely track one for the list

[Lauren 2259]

Best track in the UK IMO, Paul.

[Keethos 842]

I've got another 2 video's uploaded if people are interested.  This second session was driven by my mate Andy where we managed to capture a Blue and White MX5 enter Hall Bends too quick, cutting a corner and then spinning out as well as an old Corolla spinning out at the end as it loses control coming out of the Gooseneck:

 

 

And another session by me:

 

[rob275 1817]

That looks like real good fun that one, sticking it on my list to do!

[Keethos 842]

Here's another 2 vids.....strangely enough, it seems that it's only when my mate is driving that we witness an issue or a spin out as half way through this video, you can see my mates mate blow his engine in him Ford Puma:

 

 

And another session of me:

 

 

It is a pretty good track, I loved heading up the Mountain which can be a bit of a squeaky bum moment when you get over the brow as the car lits a lil and ends up twitching a bit while the traction control flashes mentally at you, then you speed through Hall Bends for the fast right left right left and then hard on the brakes for the sharp right round the Hairpin and then a steady drift around the Barn before the long straight.

 

[keelerad 256]

Does look good, was the video from your dashcam or did you borrow the go-pro again ?

 

Alec

[Keethos 842]

Yeah, these have been taken via my Mobius Dashcam, well impressed for just £50, you can't go wrong.

[Keethos 842]

Here's another 2:

 

 

[Keethos 842]

And my last 2:

 

 

[Keethos 842]

And here's a lil play with piecing 2 videos together in a fancy way: