Went to the trackday at Llandow yesterday. The day was organised by www.motorsport-events.com who are very friendly and professional.
There weren't all that many cars there (well it is February after all, and although it was dry it was pretty darn chilly) but there were about five Elises, about 7 Westfields (megablades and megabusas), a few caterfield-alike kit cars, plus some more mainstream road cars including a Puma, MX-5, New Accord
, Latest ITR (import, with trick seats and brakes), a tuned Mini and a stripped out Toyota Supra with a rollcage, slicks and 350bhp - but sadly precious little driver skill because they had two massive spins and weren't very quick
The upside was there was plenty of room and no real crowding.
After about three familiarisation laps in formation, for the first hour we were divided into three groups and each group had a 20 min session. After that, it was open pitlane.
The circuit is flat and only 1450 metres long, but it's got a good mix of corners and you're concentrating on something at every point. That said, you learn it in about 4 laps and then spend time perfecting your lines and playing about with alternative options.
It would be a good place for a meet because not only is it quite close to Cardiff (possible night out options I imagine), there's also an outdoor karting circuit right next to the race circuit. Hiring both for the day could be a lot of fun!
The car circuit is IMO an ideal environment for VX trackday newbies to learn the ropes. Easy to learn, you'd have to get it spectacularly wrong (in the dry at least) to go off causing damage, and not a power circuit so it's relatively gentle on brakes.
In my standard VXT I was using 2nd and 3rd for the corners, taking 4th on the two straights with a maximum speed of about 95mph on each straight. I got two sessions of instruction from Ed Moore (Formula Ford race-winner) who said some very nice things about my driving
. Ed also drove about 4 laps in my car and enjoyed it, although he commented that it had quite a bit more understeer than he was expecting - which meant that in a couple of places you had to compromise on your entry speed to maximise your speed through the corner and out onto the next straight.
It was good to meet Woody too - glad you survived the passengering experience! I was quite a bit quicker in the afternoon so that might have been more entertaining...
All in all, I'd very much recommend a visit to Llandow and would certainly be up for a return myself.
Oh yeah - I also have two good pics of the car from the day (one featuring me and Woody in the car) on CD-Rom, taken by a photographer whose work is often published in Autosport and Autocar - but like Woody I have no idea how to load 'em up since I have no web page etc - so if anyone wants to host 'em, send me a PM...
Stunters
) and she mentioned the were a couple of very friendly VXers at Llandow. Glad Ed got the chance to try your VXT in the dry - He had a play in mine in October but it was wet. Did he mention he's seriously thinking about buying a VX? Tasha's definitely wants one so I'll try and pursuade him when I see him next month. Be great to have him as a member here.
