Event Reports…
Goodwood
Track Day 8th November 2003.
Goodwood
Track Day 15th February 2003.
Goodwood
Track Day 16th November 2002.
Goodwood Track
Day 1st June 2002.
Goodwood
Track Day 23rd February 2002.
Goodwood Track Days
2005.
2005 sees the implementation of some new legislation in the Track Day
industry in relation to Liability Insurance and Health & Safety. As a consequence, Goodwood
can now provide its own Liability Insurance package at a very favourable
cost. The downside to this is the
additional red tape and paperwork associated with it! For those of you who attended our events in
2005, you will already be only too familiar with the new forms to be completed
for insurance purposes. For those of you
who have yet to experience this, there are even more forms to complete not only
for drivers, but also ‘every’ passenger!
I would ask you to bear this in mind when attending any of our events at
Goodwood and please do what you can to complete all
paperwork prior to signing-on, as this will save valuable time.
Our event on Saturday 19th February could have been confused
with a summers’ day! We had beautiful
sunshine and clear blue skies. We all
had a great day and look forward to the 12th November. Unfortunately however, our event scheduled
for 12th November had to be cancelled as a consequence of Goodwood re-surfacing the whole track just prior to our
event and the need to allow time for the surface to cure! Goodwood Circuit
Management were very apologetic and we entered into
negotiations for our next scheduled event on Saturday 18th February
2006. I am very pleased to say that we
were able to negotiate our next event FOC thanks to Goodwood,
we accepted this offer on the basis it would be passed onto those clients who
were directly affected by the cancellation.
Just ask yourself, how many other track day organisers would do this for
their clients? I’ll leave you to think
on that one!
Goodwood Track Days
2004.
Following the success of our event in November 2003 with the ‘Goodwood Day’ (5 cars on the track – 105dBa) format, we
decided to continue with this format for our 2005 events. Both the February and November events were
fully subscribed in advance which is excellent, a special thank you to all of
our loyal clients.
Our 2004 events ran as smooth as silk, even if I say so myself! Our clients thoroughly enjoyed themselves in
their wide range of machinery, which included Peter Wyhinny,
Brand Director for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK in his new Volkswagen
Caddy Racing Van!
We look forward to seeing you all in 2005.
Goodwood Track Day 8th November 2003.
Following the February event and after gaining some feedback from our
clients, we decided to change the format from the ‘Road Traffic Day’ (10 cars
on the track – 98dBa) to a ‘Goodwood Day’ (5 cars on
the track – 105dBa), with a maximum entry of just 20 cars to ensure plenty of
track time!
What a result, the event was over subscribed a month in advance! Clearly, the quiet days are a major problem
for many road going performance cars, not to mention competition cars. This was obviously the right move!
As for the day itself, well despite being bitterly cold, the weather
stayed dry all day. We even had glorious
sunshine in the morning. With just 20
cars, we ran 15 minute sessions with four groups of 5 cars. It was a fantastic day,
everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves, including me. That just leaves me to say thank you to our
participants for your continued support.
We look forward to seeing you again in 2004!
Goodwood Track Day 15th February 2003.
Oh boy… where do I start? I guess
with what can only be described as a sign of the times! It proved very difficult to secure entries
for the event, in fact, we ran with only 16 entries with the additional take up
of 5 single sessions during the day!
Needless to say, the event ran at a considerable loss for the first time
ever! We have of course made small
losses previously, but this has normally balanced out over the year with two or
three events. As you know, we are
certainly not in this for a profit, but by the same token not any losses!
The day itself ran very smoothly, as one would expect with such a low
entry. The weather was fine, very sunny
and even a warm feeling in the morning, but by lunch time it was overcast and
fairly cold. Though it did stay dry and
everybody really enjoyed themselves. I
again braved the elements and gave my Sports 2000 race car a run in just one
session during the afternoon just for a quick shake down.
Incidentally, a significant
number of days remain ‘vacant’ during 2003 at Goodwood,
possibly due to pricing? But it is also
worth noting that a small number of Track Day organisers have ceased
trading? Could it be that this little
industry has reached saturation point? Too many players with too much choice and not enough clients to go
around? Only time will tell?
Goodwood Track Day 16th November 2002.
Despite the very slow take up of places, we did ‘just’ manage to fill
the event! As you would expect, Goodwood in November is generally wet, though not too wet
on this occasion and not dry either.
There were one or two showers during the morning, but no wind, so the
track did not completely dry out, not even a dry line! This made driving on the track very
entertaining to say the least!
There were a few thrills and spills from some of those who really should
know better! Having repaired my Sports
2000 March 86S race car just recently, I braved the conditions just to give it
a little shake down and check all was okay!
Obviously the car was set up for dry conditions and fitted with slicks,
so a degree of caution would be required.
It was now mid afternoon and the track was as dry as it was going to get
(still very damp), so it was now or never and I really wanted to make sure it
was all working okay! Off I went then,
gradually building up speed as I gained a little confidence, passing the other
participants proved just how difficult it was to maintain control, almost
everybody was struggling to keep their cars on the track. Surprisingly, I only had one scary moment
when towards the end of the session I was turning into Madgwick
and the back end decided to let go, a very quick opposite lock correction on
the steering brought the car under control again, but that was a very close
call!
Everybody really enjoyed themselves, there were a few off’s but no
damage was caused, so all in all a very good day out. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank all of the participants for their support during 2002 and look forward to
seeing you all again during 2003.
Trevor Willard.
Goodwood Track Day 1st June 2002.
“Just a quick thank you for a most enjoyable day, I've put together a webpage
for my site here at http://www.skylinegts.co.uk/GW.htm
of pictures and video of the event, with an honourable mention of your goodself :-)
Cheers, Ron Shields.”
"Trevor, thanks for the excellent day at Goodwood,
the event was well organised and run by both your staff and the Goodwood Marshals, all staff present were friendly and very
helpful, the coaching you gave my wife boosted her confidence no end. The amount of cars on the track was ideal for
my wife, it gave her a chance to go out and enjoy the driving (although she did
have one close call). I built my
confidence up no end during the day and the excellent conditions/weather topped
it all off. Best run event I have been
on so far and a very friendly bunch of drivers too.
Cheers, Tony. Mustard Elise S1
(197BHP)”
Goodwood Track Day 23rd February 2002.
So you get to that time in life that you either take
out a subscription to the Readers Digest or return to motor racing after a
30-year absence.
I had done the Peugeot 306 GTIs
at Silverstone and had followed that up with the Ferrari Experience at Thruxton. Both
outings had confirmed to me that there was some basic speed left in the old
bones and my instructors had suggested there wasn’t much wrong that some
serious track time wouldn’t put right.
I had bought an estate shaped Subaru Impreza WRX 6 months earlier and was about to have Mr Prodrive add a handling kit, which required new tyres and
rims as well as new brakes. There is no
point scrapping barely worn kit so I was on to the Internet to discover who in
February could accommodate me. I was
fortunate that with a few days to go Trevor Willard could put me into his Goodwood track day.
The sub-plot to all this was I was determined to pass my MSA licence en
route to the Ginetta Cup this year and some serious
laps would boost the confidence no end.
New track, new car, new helmet, new experience, we all
assembled at 8.40 for the Drivers Briefing.
Trevor explained is his excellent avuncular manner the why and
wherefores and split us into three 10 car groups each of which had a 20 minute
slot every hour - three sessions before Lunch and three sessions
afterwards. That’s 2 hours track driving
in a day - Not bad for under £200!
I have since appreciated the luxury of having only 10
cars on the track at any session. A few weeks after I experienced a test day at
All newbies are meant to
taken round by a qualified instructor.
But having explained to me intricacies of the modern helmet – it was all
chin cups and popper studs in my day – Trevor told me to follow a V8 TR7 he was
instructing in for a lap or two to get the lines. After a lap or two of playing follow my
leader I was confident enough to go solo.
Goodwood
is brilliant circuit for the newcomer and you can drive it tolerably quickly
quite easily. But if you really want to
master it there are a hundred subtleties, which need to be learnt and that was where I had my big slice of luck for the day.
At Thruxton, Gillian
Goldsmith who is an ARD’s instructor based in
Wiltshire had instructed me in the Ferrari 355.
Good fortune and a smashing lady called Julia had brought her to Goodwood as part of Julia’s preparation for her MSA
Licence. Fortunately Gillian and I
recognised each other and my wife and I were invited to team up with them for
the day.
This had two particularly big advantages. Firstly I got some extra and unexpected
tuition and secondly Gillian had a big warm motor home into which to huddle
between sessions. You need to understand
that Goodwood has precious little shelter
particularly in February. There is a splendid
WWII tea wagon but you can’t sit in it and the flying club, which has a seated
café, is some way away from the circuit area.
So be prepared for inclement weather.
A few driver’s girlfriends had dressed to
impress rather than for warmth and froze all day.
As far as atmosphere and organisation was concerned
there was little to fault. Those
elements that needed to be efficient and safe were and gentle reminders and
encouragement achieved everything else.
I think one over enthusiastic driver was firmly reminded that his
headlights should always point down the track but the courtesy all drivers
extended to each other made for an enjoyable day. We are all enthusiasts and Trevor’s club
atmosphere rubbed off on all the participants.
So how did I get on?
Well stopwatches are frowned on a bit but I didn’t need a stopwatch to
tell me that I was getting progressively quicker all day. At my speed between 8 or 9 laps were
achievable each session so that was 50 plus laps in the day just the track time
I was looking for. I was astonished at
just how quick a road car can go but of course pride comes before the fall.
Each session ends with a chequered flag at which you
can proceed at track speed as long as you do not overtake anyone. As I passed the pits I saw the Gillian/Julia
combo in front of me. As they had
started 10 seconds behind me and I had a complete lap to go, I could “lap” them
in 8 laps - a bit of a moral victory for the male ego.
I set off after the BMW Z1 with renewed vigour. The first bend after the pits is “Madgwick” which I thought I had got the drop of by
then. Unfortunately, in my hurry I got
it all profoundly wrong. Line, braking
points, turn in point, I only ever saw the apex in my rear view mirror as with
a great squeal of tyres I 360’d on the tarmac before 720ing on the grass. Only the kitty litter saved car and driver
both of whom escaped chastened but unharmed.
A valuable lesson on not driving beyond your talent.
I would definitely go again. I was surprised at how little real wear 50
laps made on the car and certainly my tyres could have had another 100 laps
added to their 15,000 road miles before showing any distress at all. The 20-minute format allows you enough time
to get a rhythm but not too much time to get tired. If you can afford an instructor get one you
will get far more out of the day. Good
fun and good value.
Garry Heath
47¾ - mid-life
crisis imminent