mnbrennan wrote:What are the usual costs for these and are there any requirements?
Please see the list below, the prices are for BMWCC members, non BMWCC members are welcome to any of the events but need to pay an extra £20.00 IIRC.
BMWCC Website wrote:
Here are the confirmed dates for 2014
These are BMWCC member prices and are correct as of December 2013
March 1st, Saturday
Snetterton 300 Circuit
£150
May 6th, Tuesday
Cadwell Park Circuit
£150
July 14th, Monday
Croft Circuit
£175
September 29th, Monday
Donington Park Circuit
£225
November 14th, Friday
Oulton Park Circuit
£150
Only real requirements I can think of will be your helmet, if you are going to drive top down you need a full face helmet. It pays to have your car serviced, oils fluids etc. Also a good check of your braking system would not do any harm.
Why a "full face helmet" for top down?
Have noted also the requirement for a sleeved shirt (Is this long sleeved) as a big Polo shirt fan especially when driving!
Had a fantastic day out today at Snetteron today at the BMWCC Trackday, another set of EBC yellow stuff pads bite the dust , the weather all day has been absolutely fantastic we even had sunshine. Also had my first ride in a ///M Coupe
Definitely swap before. You'll enjoy the day more pushing the car closer to the limit if you have more confidence in the tyres.
I did a track day at Silverstone on crappy tyres and it was ruined because I had no faith in the grip.
All track days since I have been using R888s and they make a world of difference as I can throw the car around knowing I have loads of grip.
Sat in my B&B after a great day at Cadwell Park, the rain threatened at a few points in the day but did not come to anything. Three Z3 roadsters on track today, a couple of ///M Coupes and a mixture of all things BMW.
Tried out my home made fog light brake ducts today, result they really do work, this as well as using EBC Blue Stuff pads all round give me brakes that inspired confidence.
Thought I would do a bit of aero testing whilst on track today .
Not really, this is what happens when a car goes pop in front of you BTW oil is a Bu**er to get off
I attended the BMWCCGB track day at Croft on Monday and had a great day out, Tim Harvey was at the track all day to help out with instruction (as long as you got your name down quick enough on the instructor list), he seemed like a real genuine down to earth guy. A good selection of cars, the Zeds were low on the ground but met C_W in his black ///M coupe.
This was my second visit to Croft so had an idea of the track layout and where I should be on the track, this did not always quite work out though.
I booked an instructor (supplied FOC) for 30 mins at 12:00, Gregory jumped in the car and proceeded to try and get me round the circuit in some sort of respectable fashion, after a lap on my own he began his instruction and things seemed to click in to place. It always surprises me how calm the instructors are, they are jumping into a car with a complete stranger and getting driven round a track by people that they have no previous knowledge of. At the end of my tuition Gregory commented how I had managed to tidy up my lap
We had a few spots of rain just about lunch time but that cleared up before the track opened up for the afternoon.
I stop blethering now, here are a few laps after lunch, the day at this point was overcast so apologies for the dark video at the start of the clip.
Enjoy
P.S. I also managed to pick up the DOTD award as voted for by the track marshals
Looks like a proper day out Brian, the video footage is great and must say you look pretty good at it, and bullying that 3 series out the way, shame on you!!! I'm just not sure I'd want to put my car through those paces, I know there built to be driven but I'd be a little sceptical of blowing it up or spinning off and that would make me cry in me tea!!!!
Cheers
Dave
"Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional!"
Davejue1 wrote:Looks like a proper day out Brian, the video footage is great and must say you look pretty good at it, and bullying that 3 series out the way, shame on you!!! I'm just not sure I'd want to put my car through those paces, I know there built to be driven but I'd be a little sceptical of blowing it up or spinning off and that would make me cry in me tea!!!!
Cheers
Dave
Ha Ha, No bullying from me Dave, I spend too much time getting out of everyone's way, that orange mini is proper fast.
Bowler wrote:Nice one Brian, managed to keep from the back end of 5 series estates this time!
It was a good day, great weather really as it wasn't too hot and the rain at midday didn't affect the track at all as it was warm enough to dry out quickly. Had a good few laps with some of the track-prepared M3s but unfortunately all my footage is corrupted due to a cheap memory car
You seemed to be going well! - didn't really you got Drive of the Day as I could get in to the breifing room and there were some jets flying overhead so couldn't really hear!
There will be people kicking about from 7ish, The track opens at 9.00am, this is usually with some sighting laps, from about 9:30 there it is open pit lane. Spectating is FOC, if you come along pop by and say hi.
Looks like you've been enjoying yourself on the track . 'The Park' is literally a stones throw from my office and I'm off shift on Monday, so I too will hopefully nip across and say hi. Do we come in through main entrance and park in the pit car park?
Cheers Pete
1997 Z3 2.8 (M52) Roadster Montreal blue
2013 330d (F31) M Sport Alpine White
Looks like you've been enjoying yourself on the track . 'The Park' is literally a stones throw from my office and I'm off shift on Monday, so I too will hopefully nip across and say hi. Do we come in through main entrance and park in the pit car park?
Cheers Pete
Hi Pete,
Yes through the main entrance and park in the pit car park, you can spectate from the pit wall.
What a cracking day! I meandered up to Donny Park at about 1000 as I said. There I met Brian H and his trusty Dakar Yellow 3.0 Z3, who had already been pounding the circuit before I arrived. There was a real mixture of Beamers, mainly M3's of different vintages, and a few other cherished motors! The icing on the cake was Brian handing me his spare helmet, next thing we were back on the track, I as passenger of course, for ten 'butt clenching' laps...........brilliant! Tell you what that little Z3 of his held its own no problem against some more powerful track mates. Of course it was very in good hands, but just goes to show how strong these cars are when pushed to their limits. If you are passing any of these 5 yearly BMWCC track days I'd highly recommend popping in, and its FREE! I'm going next year that's for sure and quite sure Brian would be pleased to see you.
Brian in action in front of the pits
Line up including Paul's (Topperz) Cosmos black 2.0
Ready to hit the track again!
A well earned rest after my ten laps
Thanks again Brian............Pete
1997 Z3 2.8 (M52) Roadster Montreal blue
2013 330d (F31) M Sport Alpine White
Well today has been a fantastic day, not only has it been a fantastic day on track it was great to see some few fellow zedding members too. Pete, Paul and Neutro (sorry I have forgotten you real name , it's been a long day.) turned up at various points in the day, as you can see from the pics above we had a mini meet .
Pete, glad you had a good time, the expression on your face after a few laps on track will stay with me for a while - Priceless.
Great trackday and I'm glad I could use my kumho semi slicks as the rain held off all day until the very end. The Grp5 1970s CSL was amazing to see in the paddock and out on tracking with it's huge flaming side exit exhaust!
The yellow 3.0 was going really well! When I was following you I couldn't help thinking it might benefit from some stiffening up of the rear, with stiff rear springs? Z3M rear ACS springs would fit, it should sit about right on those if you play around with the rubber spring perches, and they are a pretty good stiffness (I find them ok on my car).
c_w wrote:Great trackday and I'm glad I could use my kumho semi slicks as the rain held off all day until the very end. The Grp5 1970s CSL was amazing to see in the paddock and out on tracking with it's huge flaming side exit exhaust!
Agree with you on the 1970s CSL, the flames were pretty spectacular
c_w wrote:The yellow 3.0 was going really well! When I was following you I couldn't help thinking it might benefit from some stiffening up of the rear, with stiff rear springs? Z3M rear ACS springs would fit, it should sit about right on those if you play around with the rubber spring perches, and they are a pretty good stiffness (I find them ok on my car).
Thanks Chris, I do not disagree with you regarding stiffening up the rear, I currently have Eibach springs on front and rear, not sure if the ACS springs have a different spring rate? It was good to see you on track in your Z3M Coupe, really fast and looked good too
Cheers! Yes I would say the ACS rear spring is stiffer than the Eibach. I think Mike Fishwick fitted Eibachs and decided to refit just the stock rear spring as it sat too low and felt too soft. I must have gone through about 5 different rear springs before getting some ACS which have a thicker winding than most of the others. Most of the "lowering" springs seem to be a softer coiler to make it sit lower IMO. The z3m acs rear spring is different to the non-m rear acs spring for some reason and not as stiff.
That said I did look in to having some custom springs made to increase spring rates but never got round to making the measurements (there's a couple of places in Sheffield that make springs to order and are quite cheap too).