9 replies to this topic

[SteveA]

I maybe looking to go to Cadwell or Oulton on Friday. I've done Croft, Elvington and Teesside Autodrome before and am looking for something similar to Croft. Any advice? Cheers Steve

[rasputin]

both great curcuits but my fav is oulton,its abit longer than cadwell and its got a nice banked corner but both tracks are very unforgiving if you happen to run out of talent ian

[Dynamo]

I'm doing both with LOT in the near future; Cadwell on 30th Nov, Oulton on 21st Feb 09. Anyone else want to come along?

[SteveA]

I'm not a LOT member but wouldn't mine going to both.

[Mr_M]

I'm not a LOT member but wouldn't mine going to both.

Easy one first - Join LoT They're generally pretty cheap so you'll probably 'save' the £30 of membership on your first trackday, but the days are all very well run and the driving is usually of a very high standard

As for tracks - Cadwell and Oulton are both great tracks - but neither of them is anything like Croft. Both have significant elevation changes and very, very little room for error if you get it worng. Most people would probably say Cadwell is the more dangerous, but personally I'd say Oulton is worse - it can be very deceptive and if/when you do run out of talent you're likely to be moving very quickly.....

Having said that - you've got to start somewhere, so to speak, so give one of them a go. Get some tuition as early on in the day as you can, build up gently and treat them with repsect and you'll be fine.

And if you really want somewhere like Croft, then try Rockingham with the National circuit layout

[Retset]

See you Cadwell on the 30th. Reading the above, I've decided to invoke one of my 4 days a year track insurance

[Mike (Cliffie)]

For sheer excitement Cadwell is tough to match and I will always remember a wet weekend I spent tutoring and giving fast lap rides there. They call it the mini Nurburgring for a reason!

[Mr_M]

See you Cadwell on the 30th. Reading the above, I've decided to invoke one of my 4 days a year track insurance

Good plan that man (and say Hi to Steve for me when you book the insurance - assuming from the '4 days' that it's with who I think it is!)

edit to add...

And before this get's totally out of hand... yes - most people would agree that Cadwell and Oulton are potentially more hazardous than some other tracks - but any track can be dangerous if you drive it with the wrong attitude, or lets face it, if you're just plain unlucky.

People rate Cadwell and Oulton as "dangerous" and tracks like Croft and Silverstone (with all it's F1 run-off) as "safe" - personally the worst trackday smashes I've seen have been at Silverstone - and I know people who've had off track excursions at Croft that have proved extremely costly. When being asked, where is the safest track for a begginner, most people un-hesitatingly recommend Bedford, yet it's the only place where (in recent years) I've witnessed a car-on-car accident at a trackday.

Drive within your own and your car's limits and respect the track and 99.9% of the time you'll be fine anywhere (assuming those with you are doing likewise )

Edited by Mr_M, 22 October 2008 - 06:35 PM.

[barrybethel]

If you want something similar to Croft, why not try Snetterton? Thats an old airfield circuit as are Combe and Thruxton. Not heard of many track days at Thruxton though, and it has some stupidly, sh*t-your-pants fast corners. If you don't crash it is brilliant. ps I agree with the comments above re Cadwell and Oulton. Both great circuits but harder to drive quick than Croft and with less run off in places.

[SteveA]

Just to get things straight, I'm no beginner when it comes to tracking. When it comes to new circuits i always start slow and build up as the day goes on. I've never ran out of talent yet but to be honest I don't really push hard enough anyway. If you want a really unforgiving track try Teesside autodrome (where i am going this friday) The longest bit of run off is about 2 meters tops. Cheers for the info