Keethos 842 Report post Posted March 30, 2014 Thought I'd quickly post this up to say what an awesome day it was, will do a proper write-up tomorrow after some desperately needed sleep and start to get some video footage up but for the time being, here are just some quick snaps I took: Editted: So after some long over due sleep (though could have done with some more) here's my write up. Let's wind the clock back to Saturday, got up relatively early though not early enough as I was supposed to meet Deacon and Will at RRG Macclesfield for 9am, but since I got up a lil late, then left home, forgot my helmet when I got to Kenilworth and so I had head back, by the time I was truly ready to set off it was already 9am. So I decided to head all the way up to Wrexham to Demon Tweeks to pick up some racing gloves (which I didn't actually bloody need in the end as the event wasn't even a proper TSS day, hell the eventually didn't even bother enforcing the need to long sleeves.....but probably due to the fact that it got quite warm even though it was still quite gloomy, but I'll come back to all that. So in the end, I ended up buying a pair of last seasons AlpineStar Tech 1-Z racing gloves for about £50 which was about half price. I'm glad that I actually popped up there cos it was pretty cool, a big old place with lot on show, but mainly for the fact that the glove measurement charts show that you measure around the hand but without your thumb and around the knuckles while your hand is clenched, this meant that I was medium/close to large......turns out I'm an extra large.....bloody useless size charts.....luckily the XL was actually about £11/£12 cheaper than the large and medium.....result! Before I left, had a big old burger from their burger van outside, then off to RRG Macclesfield. Sadly by the time I there (turning up around 30mins later than I thought I would no thanks to bloody Sunday drivers being out and about on a Saturday ) Deacon had already left but I met up with Will, Lauren and Rich for a quick chat before we set off for Grantham....well me and Lauren did, Will left the convoy near Ashbourne. It was a pretty good drive as the sun was out, but again, more bloody slow ass Sunday drivers along with a load of trucks and a crazy mini bus driver who pulled out before Lauren could to overtake a truck in front (though only really getting in front of 1 truck and possibly a 4x4 while there was still another 4/5 cars in front including a caravan and another bloody truck. I finally managed to over take the truck at the but was faced with an on coming ambulance, got in front of the truck just in time only for the truck driver to start flashing at me and waving wanka.....so I stuck my hand out and gave him a thumbs up and that shut him up. Lauren on the other hand ended up speeding a head again and managed to overtake the lot......my time finally came when the road spit into 2 lanes before rejoining into 1 here I over took all the slow lot.....only to realise that we were pretty much at our destination.....all that effort for nothing! We checked into our hotels/B&Bs, we then met up in a local pub for a quick drink or two before heading over to a really nice Indian/Nepalese called Gurkha Square, did an awesome Rogan Josh, Lauren had an awesome Jalfrezi with a rather nice and spicy cheese and chilli (literally covered in chunks of green chilli's) nan bread where as Keith tried some Nepalese dish which was quite nice too! After an awesome meal, we wondered back to the pub so I could get my car and drive back to my B&B which was out in the middle of no where, think Lauren and Keith stayed for a couple more Awesome food but a bad case of heart burn/regurgitation in the middle of the night, forgot to take a Gaviscon before bed didn't I Come next morning, after a big ass breakfast, off I went to the RAF Barkston Heath Airfield for another awesome sprint day. It was a lil nippy to begin with but then it got rather warm towards mid day and onwards....did I mention it was bloody warm? Especially with my big ass hoody to make sure my arms were covered. Even though it got warmer, it didn't really get any sunnier, the sun was out but constantly being covered by some rather dark and gloomy clouds (you'll see in the vids later). It was a great turnout for the GT86/BRZ's, I think there was 9 in total and that included Will (who turned up to spectate and to ride along with some of us), Stan in his blue 86 who some of us had met last year at Blyton but doesn't really go on forums, and a new fella call Dan who was an early adopter of a red 86 but first time on track and who will hopefully join up at some point....and then Adrian's Street car (since his race cars wasn't ready yet....which was a big shame), but this did mean that he was free to drive everyone else's car....cunning fella that Adrian But to be fair, he was teaching us all how to tackle the sprint track (big thanks Adrian) which was really impressive with some of the lil things he was telling us to minimise your lap times. By myself I managed to get from about 1:04.97s down to 1:02.68s, after Adrian's help and more practice, I managed to get from 1:02.71s down to a 1:01.65s and then down to 57s!!! Well....not a real 57s, sadly the timer was playing up all day and my times with Adrian in my car wasn't logging correctly. What's even worse was my second lap with Adrian didn't even record (and it felt like a really good run too) cos I stalled the car and when I started her up again, it didn't start recording for some reason....absolutely devistated !!! But Adrian was explaining how on this track, it's very difficult to gain seconds cos it's such a tight, narrow and short track that you need proper precision to get an awesome time....like Stan who managed a sub 60s lap time (think he got 58s or something....that man is quick....just like he was at Blyton last year!). I didn't spin out at all on the sprint track but I did do a bit of skipping over the grass around a fast corner with Keith in the car.....and I did managed to hit the black and white posts twice However on the handling track, first time on there, all assists off, fast off the line, easy left and then I thought I give it some on the second corner and boom, span out After more playing and another spin out (all caught on camera by the way ) I started to get a couple of short drifts in, did managed to stumble my way into linking a couple of drifts together.....but I really need some tuition....wished I got Lauren to give me some pointers....but at the same time, unlike Jay who had a set of cheapo tyres he wanted to destroy, I only had my already pretty worn Primacys so wanted to keep enough tread to get home in cos the surface was pretty bloody rough So all in all, a pretty awesome weekend, spirited driving with the sun out, hooning around with all assists turned off while getting some fast laps in, couldn't have asked for much more! 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Special K 442 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Hope everyone got home safely... I was cream-crackered by the time I got home.. First impressions of Barkston Heath? A real mickey-mouse circuit, incredibly narrow and totally unlike any other circuit I've been to. But it grows on you... very, very technical, requiring precision driving to nail a good lap. The white-painted 'poles' that mark the apexes are a bit daunting ... but I wasn't alone in collecting white paint and scuff marks from 'em... right, Jay..? Huge thanks to Adrian of Fensport for giving up his day (the GTR was not ready for shakedown alas) and offering free tuition - :) . Really excellent tips and advice, I took over a second off my fastest time first lap out after his 'lesson' and finally managed to knock three seconds off before the timing gear went crock.. and this on a 3/4 mile circuit where 10 seconds can cover the fastest to the slowest on a TSS event... It was good to share 'passenger experiences' as well... poor Will, trackday virgin, must have suffered shellshock from a first lap with me, followed by a 'drifting' session with Lauren.. haha... going out with Stan and Keethos in n/a cars was really interesting for me.. and to passenger my own car with first Lauren and then Stan driving was very interesting... this is one circuit where the additional power from a f/i car can be nullified by driving technique.. Stan's car on ADO8's is very, very quick... So we can all look forward eagerly to the first TSS round at Blyton Park on 27 April, followed by our first 'big one' for 2014 - BHP at Lydden on 5th May, 'show' for the detailing gurus and 'track' for the petrolheads... I think there's still a few places available if anyone's interested. Spec K Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lauren 2259 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Agreed, was a fantastic day and I admit after going round the sprint track, I wasn't impressed. But, it did grow on me and when I did the session with Adrian all the tips paid off. Pity the timing gear went AWOL at that point, but still, I learnt a lot. Also was interesting to drive Keith's car running the different suspension modes and noticing the difference it makes. Thanks, Keith for the exciting rides, I'm such a terrible passenger, I admit, but it certainly kept me awake when we skimmed those poles! Also was a bit of fun playing with Jay's car on the concrete drift area. The surface was a bit rough to be consistent, but it was all good fun nonetheless! I was hoping to get my new suspension on in time for the first event, but we'll see. Does this mean back to the Travel Inn at Scunthorpe again? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GT86Jay 202 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Had a great time! Must admit I was a little nervous of the sprint track with the poles and tight chicanes! I think my quickest was a 1:08 but i pretty much stopped to go through the chicanes as wasn't keen on clouting one of the poles! Went out with Adrian and realised that the poles weren't all that scary! Benefit I had was a set of spare (crap) tyres. Which meant I spent most of my time on the concrete Drift (I mean Handling) circuit. Thanks to Lauren for tips on controlling a drift! Started of very sloppy and kept spinning but by the end of the day was starting to feel it and putting together a couple of nice corners! Learnt a lot on the handling course regarding limits and balance of the throttle! And sorry to Adrian for making him try and put in a good sprint time in with my car on awful cheap budget and worn out tyres! All in all a brilliant fun day! Cheap and learnt a lot! Wish I had more time on the drift circuit now and more tuition! Probably won't drive at Barkston Sprint due to my fear of the poles and knowing I wouldn't be able to put in a quick time! But will come along! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keelerad 256 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Almost got the inside front to lift Getting some tips from Adrian Rest of these photos taken by Xtreme in my photobucket album here http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/keelerad/library/Meets/Barkston%20Heath%20TSS%20Pre-Seaon%20Practice Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
faith 237 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Sounds like you guys had fun, love the photos Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike 458 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 What faith said - sounds like you all had fun. One thing does stand out, Alec's car is now filthy again! Then again, with this dusty/sandy rain mine is now looking a bit orange-y in patches Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rob275 1817 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 What faith said - sounds like you all had fun. One thing does stand out, Alec's car is now filthy again! Then again, with this dusty/sandy rain mine is now looking a bit orange-y in patches Got so much of that sand here My car is caked in it, feel like i wasted my time washing it. Does look like it was an awesome day, gutted I couldn't make it, even the first round could be a little patchy for me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
will300 812 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Here is some footage of Keethos: http://youtu.be/FynOIkw1oUQ and Keelerad: http://youtu.be/rDrNuSCT4rU. Definitely need a massive camera lens for motorsport photo's though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keethos 842 Report post Posted March 31, 2014 Arh Will.....I was hoping you would have caught me drifting Ah well. FYI, I've updated my original post with a big write-up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keethos 842 Report post Posted April 1, 2014 Here are some videos that I've finally put together, first off is footage of me hooning around the handling track with mega rough surfaces. Managed to spin out twice as you will see from the video....but I did eventually succeed in chaining 2 drifts together....however short And then some of the laps I did in the morning on the sprint circle. This was before Adrian was kind enough to jump in with me to show me how it's done at Barkston Heath: As the timer wasn't on for some of these, I ended up estimating the lap time while editing the video, managed to get from 1:07:22 roughly down to an official 1:02:68. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keethos 842 Report post Posted April 3, 2014 Here's another vid but with Adrian behind the wheel of 2 laps, again big thanks to Adrian from Fensport Performance for taking time out to sit with me and give me pointers on how to tackle the small, tight and technical sprint track that is Barkston Heath! Though this was most probably only because his awesome GT86R wasn't ready to test so an excuse to get some practice in for the Toyota Sprint Series was to "help out" us inexperienced GT86 Sprint noobs by driving our cars for us Still gutted that I didn't record my second lap with Adrian! And here's my afternoon session after Adrian's tips, first couple of laps were a bit slow, but my excuse was I had passengers But I did improve and get faster and faster, though sadly the timer started to play up again so my official fastest time was a 1:01:65 where as my estimated fastest time according to my footage is roughly a 1:01:33 which I managed to get twice in a row. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Keethos 842 Report post Posted April 13, 2014 Finally managed to get the photo's from the Xtreme Sports company (took them ages to response to my e-mails) so here are some of the favourites, as you can see some of them it's not just me driving, they managed to take a few photos of me and Adrian But gutted they didn't get more of me drifting (or even spin outs ) .....you never get the full story from stills: A nice side profile here Some opposite lock going on here so that one drift photo And here's one with me and Adrian together with Adrian driving. The rest of the pics can be found on my facebook album here: https://www.facebook.com/keith.tsang.9/media_set?set=a.10152524037537018.1073741838.515847017&type=1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
