Conor
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2019
- Messages
- 2,544
- Reaction score
- 1,637
- Location
- London, UK
- Your Mercedes
- 2010 S212 350 CGI // 2004 R230 500
So yesterday myself and a few mates had a day out in Brands Hatch.. great fun! It was "my first time"
There were a couple of veterans in our group but myself and two others took out the Track Obsession track spec Clio 197 for the day. The clio has various upgrades, mainly the brakes, wheels/tires, seats and roll cage. It was great fun to drive with the exhaust sounded extra throaty, which I think was enhanced by the removal of interior trims etc and an encouraged 6500RPM shift point
Conditions started out damp, with many off track excursions and some stern warning to many of the more eager participants. After by noon the sun was out and dried up the track, which when complemented with my growing confidence, made for a number of more spirited laps.
Personal highlight of the day: Just before things wrapped up for the day, I had the privilege of getting a few laps in the Clio as a passenger with Ashley Hand, who won the British GT Championship last year. Initially Ash gave a few spirited laps, which seemed pretty quick. After the few laps Ash turns to me and says, "Right, one fast one!"... i'm just thinking... okayyy then! Upon reflection, Ash was just warming up the tires.. the fast lap involved either full on acceleration on the straights or full on lateral force in bends etc.. when we got back to the pits, there was a nice odour of burnt rubber! Perfect finish to the day!
There were plenty of other cool cars about and varying levels of modification and complexity. Not many exotics really. There was a nice light blue Jaguar XKR and I would say the quickest of the day was a nice red Lotus Elise. That thing really just whizzed around the track.
I think we paid £210 each for the entire experience, which included a few little extras such as helmet and bits/bobs.
This is an experience I would recommend to anybody who has an interest in cars. Motorsports was never something that I would have given a second thought to.. but that has all changed and now I want to buy a track car. Currently "browsing" at the moment. Do MB make a suitable track car. I would like something super light. All I can think of is the SLK. I'd like something with a platform that would enable about 250/300 BHP in the longer term.
There were a couple of veterans in our group but myself and two others took out the Track Obsession track spec Clio 197 for the day. The clio has various upgrades, mainly the brakes, wheels/tires, seats and roll cage. It was great fun to drive with the exhaust sounded extra throaty, which I think was enhanced by the removal of interior trims etc and an encouraged 6500RPM shift point
Conditions started out damp, with many off track excursions and some stern warning to many of the more eager participants. After by noon the sun was out and dried up the track, which when complemented with my growing confidence, made for a number of more spirited laps.
Personal highlight of the day: Just before things wrapped up for the day, I had the privilege of getting a few laps in the Clio as a passenger with Ashley Hand, who won the British GT Championship last year. Initially Ash gave a few spirited laps, which seemed pretty quick. After the few laps Ash turns to me and says, "Right, one fast one!"... i'm just thinking... okayyy then! Upon reflection, Ash was just warming up the tires.. the fast lap involved either full on acceleration on the straights or full on lateral force in bends etc.. when we got back to the pits, there was a nice odour of burnt rubber! Perfect finish to the day!
There were plenty of other cool cars about and varying levels of modification and complexity. Not many exotics really. There was a nice light blue Jaguar XKR and I would say the quickest of the day was a nice red Lotus Elise. That thing really just whizzed around the track.
I think we paid £210 each for the entire experience, which included a few little extras such as helmet and bits/bobs.
This is an experience I would recommend to anybody who has an interest in cars. Motorsports was never something that I would have given a second thought to.. but that has all changed and now I want to buy a track car. Currently "browsing" at the moment. Do MB make a suitable track car. I would like something super light. All I can think of is the SLK. I'd like something with a platform that would enable about 250/300 BHP in the longer term.
