Can anyone recommend a good source of trackdays or what sites / organisations to gain experince in their cars. We have never done any before, want to eventually use our own locost for track days but realise that we are likely to ruin it unless we get the experiance first. We are based in south east london so brands the natural course, but would welcome recommendations.
Cheers Richard

i don,t know of any companies that offer what you are asking but why don,t you use your own car? Track days are not racing, yes you can drive quicker than on a public road but can also take it easy until you get your confidence with the circuit, my suggestions would be to
a) attend the briefing session
b) be considerate to cars going quicker than you ( even tho they are not racing you) the briefing will inform you the passing etiquette)
c) check your car over thoroughly, no point it breaking down in your first track session.
d) relax & enjoy yourself.
brands is a fun circuit, the first corner(paddock hill) will remind you of what you had for breakfast.
good luck & hope you enjoy your track time.
andy

Bookatrack will loan you a caterham but it will cost you a fortune. Better off taking your own and taking it easy, you'll still be quicker than most other novices just because your in a seven. Pick a session day with a novice group and you are laughing. You'll be to careful to do any damage trust me - you have to drive home in it!

http://bookatrack.com/
http://www.motorsport-events.co.uk/
http://www.easytrack.co.uk/homepage.asp

There are others but those 3 are well established. I also tag along on some Lotus on Track days as well but they have a subscription fee.

As above just treat it like fast road driving without the nanny state pressures! Look for novice days, novice sessions on normal days and always consider some tuition on the day. Usually a small additional fee to get some 1 to 1 driver training or even just confidence on the track.

I've driven most of my cars on track from standish sporty cars to my rather extreme kit car as it is now.

www.javelintrackdays.co.uk

Most of them do tuition in your own car.

[Edited on 9/4/09 by Danozeman]

the motorsport vision novice days are worth considering and also take up chance of driver instruction for an additional £25. the novice days you have opertunity to gain experiance without the potential pressure of other more experianced drivers.
novice days

OUr first try was Motorsport Vision's novice day at Bedford. Would strongly recommend it as there's nothing to hit and it's well organised.

Doing Javelin's sprint session at Barkston in a couple of weeks. It's cheap and as a sprint track it isn't repeated laps - you go A to B then queue again, so much easier on the car and driver. Also only one person on track at a time.

Up here in Aberdeenshire you can hire out the small oval track at Alford motor musuem for 1hr for the massive sum of £40, for this price you get exclusive use of the track. Get3 friends to share the cost, only £10 each.

One 1 car at a time though and it is a small track!

I did my first track day a couple of weeks ago in my own car at Lyddon Hill near Canterbury.

It was really good fun and I'd certainly recommend it as a first track day.

Stu

There is a good trackday calendar on the totalkitcar website here
with links to the organisers. Covers April/May currently.

I agree with Lydden Hill.

I did my first trackday there as well and it was ideal.

Cheap, well organised, free instruction and a great circuit for 7's.

It's also easy to get to from SE London.

Caterham do half days and full days with instructors and their own cars. Link HERE

With respect, MSV novice days are complete bollox.

I did one at Brands. Turned up and it was full of full-on race cars, people on cut slicks and trackday tyres. And much more aggressive driving than on the very pleasant Javelin day I just did at RAF Woodbridge.

Why that is I don't know, but take the "novice" thing with an entire bucket of salt, unless novice means being tailgated in the snow at 100mph by a stripped-out Impreza WRX with a roll cage.

As for where and when, I find this a useful source:

http://www.circuitjunkie.net/calendar

Edit: Bedford a/d was recommended. No quibbles here, but it is a VERY strict 98db limit. Many locosts just won't make it.

quote:

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Originally posted by will121
the motorsport vision novice days are worth considering and also take up chance of driver instruction for an additional £25. the novice days you have opertunity to gain experiance without the potential pressure of other more experianced drivers.
novice days

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Thanks all, one of the reasons for wanting to use another car was to avoid damaged to the car, but if we go for an air strip or alike there will be no bariers to hit, jus cones to go through.
We are starting to build a trailer from a caravan, but want to get driving sooner than that will be ready.

Javelin have an MX-5 that they take to all their trackdays that they will let you take out for a fee - they also have an ARDS instructor who will go out with you.

Woodbridge (or any other airfield day) is ideal for a novice. The problem with a real track such as Brands is that if you screw up, at best you end up in the kitty litter looking like an idiot, at worst you end up having an expensive encounter with the armco. On an airfield, if you screw up you knock over a couple of little cones, feel a bit silly and then just carry on.

I agree with Ian - the atmosphere on the Brands 'novice' day really wasn't that nice - although the weather (driving snow at one point!) didn't really help matters.

Woodbridge was great - really friendly relaxed crowd, considerate driving and a great track layout. The one thing that is missing is that of course airfields are dead flat, so you don't learn how to deal with elevation changes.

Nick