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Testing (wheres best)
dalefaulkner - 15/5/03 at 01:11 PM

Im a pain with lots of questions Sorry!

Wheres the cheapest place to go testing for the first time, how much and where?

Cheers

Dale


ned - 15/5/03 at 01:42 PM

lydden hill near dover will probably be very cheap, a good club level circuit.

mallory is quite reasonable for a well known track, otherwise try local airfields/kit car track day type things.

sorry, no prices!

Ned.


steve26 - 16/5/03 at 12:55 PM

Hi Dale, Unfortunately Lydden don't offer / operate any test days...which is a pain because its my local track!

From my experience test days and cheap don't go together. Ned is right that Mallory is reasonable...if a dull track! (controversial I suspect)

U will probably get some good deals on particular track days (only Road License required) if u shop around, rather than 'circuit organised test days' (MSA Race license required). The ones to look out for are 'Open Pitlane Sessions' because u generally get a lot more time on circuit.

Try: www. bookatrack.co.uk and www.uktrackdays.co.uk for starters.


dalefaulkner - 16/5/03 at 02:20 PM

Cheers Lads, I will check them out, Im taking my licence at the end of June/early july and the cars completion shouldn't be far behind.

Cheers

Dale


Viper - 16/5/03 at 02:29 PM

surely the best place to test has to be the circuit that your next race will be at?? or else what are you testing? the idea of testing is to set the car up for that particular circuit, if you just want to settle a new car in or run an engine in then i guess a cheap track day would be your best bet..


D Beddows - 16/5/03 at 08:25 PM

I'd do track day type thing at the nearest circuit or whatever to you so everything that is going to go wrong does (and trust me on this one bits WILL fall off engines/carbs wont work etc etc - it happens to us all!!!) BUT track days don't tend to like you timing laps and all the other racey stuff 'cause it's not what they're about - very good way of learning a track though.

After the track day I'd suggest going to somewhere like Mallory - yeah it's boring etc etc but it's as it's not part of the Octagan mafia it's not that expensive (relatively speaking obviously - budget for about 150 quid all in if you live fairly close) , it's a track that we race at which means you can properly judge how close you are to competitive lap times, you'll get to know at least one track AND it has a weighbridge that Locosts are officialy weighed on.......always worth a go on!


Jon Ison - 20/5/03 at 12:17 AM

open pit lane, unsilenced, donnington park, 10th june, if you want any more dates gis a shout.........

oh, £150, usually £120 on silenced days, if ya get there early enough you can usually nab a garage too, if you fancy it you can share a garage with us.......

one MKGT1
one pug 205 stock hatch.


racingdick - 21/5/03 at 08:55 AM

Llandow near cardiff is pretty straight forward with lots of run off.
Convienient if your near the welsh border and a days testing should be under £100


Mark Benson - 30/5/03 at 03:21 PM

Myself and Nik Tarry did some testing at Llandow a couple of weeks ago. I had fitted softer springs and wanted a cheap circuit which was quite tight.
It cost £120 for the day, we were the only ones there for the majority of the time, which was nice.
It's a sprint circuit though, it's short (1 mile), narrow (being a sprint circ. it's not built for more than 1 car at a time) and the runoff in places isn't that great.

However, it's relatively cheap, was a good place to test my softer springs (by God Mike Saunders had hard ones ) and being the only ones there, we didn't have to queue to get out.

If you have the cash though, you may as well do a track we race at - means you'll have a bit of track knowledge when you finally race there too which is worth a couple fo seconds in practice...


DickieB - 3/6/03 at 04:33 PM

For a first timer, I'd try an airfield day - if you spin off there is less to hit (even race tracks have crash barriers)
Dickie
http://www.TeamDickie.co.uk


Mark Benson - 4/6/03 at 12:24 PM

If you decide to do an airfield day, make sure you discuss the type of car you want to take with the organisers - many do not accept cars which are designed to race (even if the car is 'capable of passing an MOT' like the Locost is). I speak from experience.

Don't assume that just because they are willing to take your money, they'll let you out.....