The Ultimate Track Day

whippet

I eventually got to do the Palmer Sport Track day last weekend.

http://www.palmersport.com

It really was one of the best days of my life. Everything about the day was fantastic. The cars, the set up, the tracks, the staff even the food !!

To summarise:

Start the day off in the corporate suite where you are treated to a top notch full english breakfast and you are introduced to your 'team' for the day. I was in a team of 15 others who ranged in experience from expert track dayers to total novices who had no idea what a triptronic gearbox was.

After the safety brief we were taken to our first track and first car the Jag XKR, 4.2 Supercharged 420bhp with 6-speed paddle shift. These cars are awsome looking and to see 7 lined up in the pits revving and waiting for you is a spine tingling sight. This car was a great car to start with, getting up to speeds in the region of 135mph on the back straight assisted with ABS and traction control, although depending on how you are getting on the instuctor may turn this off to give you a feel for how much it helps!! You get to do about 10 laps before heading on to your next session.

Next up was the Caterham superlights, on a tight twisty track these were immense fun, burning rubber and revving like mad. Spins and off-track excursions were common place but the instructors encouraged us to give it your all to try and get a decent lap time. The handling on these machines is so different to anything else I have been in.

Following that it was on to my favourite car of the day, the Formula Palmer Audi Single seater.
After a fairy intense briefing off the car, safety features and the track we were let out on our own. These cars are in no way restricted or washed down from the actual racing cars that are used in the FP Audi racing series. It took me about 3 laps before I was brave enough to trust the advised braking points, especially on the back straight where you had to brake from 125mph to 30mph to get around a very tight hairpin.

The biggest suprise I got was the level of aerodynamic braking, let your foot off the throttle and you can feel the car slowing down with the drag. After this session you get a full telemtry of your best lap, which includes an overlay of a pro racing drivers lap. You can see where you missed braking points and even how hard you depressed each pedal.

The next car up was the Palmer Jaguar JP1, which I would describe as a cut down LeMans racer. This is a two seater racer with a 5 speed sequential gearbox and a 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds. You race this on the same track as the Audi single seater, but this time you have an instuctor giving you great advise as to exact braking points, gear changes and turning points. Although with a sequential box it can tricky getting set for the tight series of corners at the end. I did have my fair share of spins in this car, but that was only due to the instructor pushing me to my limits.

Next was a well deserved lunch and hour off to compare lap times and recover your bruised body.

First up after lunch was the most dissappointing car of the day, the Porsche 911 Triptronic. I have loved porsche's since I was a kid and to finally get one on a track was such an anti climax. It felt cumbersome, slow and that flappy paddle gearbox was a pig. Even the instuctor told me it wasn't a great example of a porsche especially since it lacked a turbo !

However we then got to drive the little Clio Cup racers on the same track, these were nothing short of brilliant. 2L pocket rockets that everyone seemed to lap 3-4 seconds quicker around the track than the 911's. The sequential gear box was rough and ready and the grip levels were that of a locomotive !

The day then ended with a tame drive in a landrover defender over a tricky off road course followed by a head to head session in the Catherams, doing doughnuts and powerslides ..... pure tyre shredding action !

After evening tea, prizes were given out for the best drivers of each car and a prize for the best driver of the day (who happened to be driving an M3 CSL .. a veteran of track days).

That night I was barely able to drink a pint I was so exhasted, but I can't wait to get over again to see if I can beat my current times.

It might sound like an advert for the day out, but I was so impressed with the whole day I had to let you know about it.

Check out the link for the full specs of the cars involved. It's a little pricey but well worth it.

rowanh

I remember you mentioning you were planning on doing it some time ago, sounds brilliant id love to do it though i think price wise its a while away. Does sound a bit like the order of the cars is not the best, maybe starting in the clios and porshes and moving on to the faster racing cars might have been better. Pity there is not more things liek this available to do in ireland.

Captain Slow IRL

looks mental! - how much is pricey?

bananarepublic

any idea of the cost cant find it on the website. might be good to do a boards.ie day get about 20-40 of going over??

whippet

the order of the cars is random, depending on which team you are on. That day there was three teams.

It was a birthday pressie, but I believe it cost about stg£700 plus about stg£150 for insurance.

confuzed

lucky u..i m dying 2 go there..i have noted down in my wish list..that i will fulfill when i wl have money..