Burble
25-06-2008, 17:45
For the last couple of years Vauxhall have organised track days around the country. I was at the Rockingham session this morning and had a great time.
I shall now shameless copy and paste the post I made on one of the car forums I frequent:
The day started with registration, breakfast then an introduction. We were then split into 2 groups (I think about 30 in each group). One group was taken off to the track first, the other went for the 'driving experience' stuff.
My first session was on the track and it began with a briefing where the layout of the track was discussed then a discussion on how to take the racing line, overtaking and what not. Next up was 3 laps in a car being driven by an instructor where he talked you through the track and gave you some pointers. Once that was out of the way we put on crash hats and the real fun began.
When you wanted a drive you just queued up at a sort of bus stop - 1 stop per car, then when a car pulled up you got in and drove off for 3 laps around the track. First up I went in the Vectra VXR which was quick in a straight line but cornering was understeer, more understeer followed by a bit more understeer.
Next I went for the VXR8 and as I was leaving the pits the heavens opened. Rockingham is a slippery track even in the dry but when it's raining it was a bit of a handful. The power delivery of the VXR8 was very nice but the electronics got int eh way a bit to much for my liking. The brakes were quite lacking in feel though so I tended to brake too much. Good fun though and a very nice V8 burble.
As well as the cars you could drive in, there were a couple of Astra VXR Nurbergring Editions there being driven by professionals so I went for a passenger ride in that. Fook me! The guy really knew how to drive and I was astonished at how late he could brake. Great fun.
After a coffee break I went out in the Corsa VXR and was very surprised at how nice it was to drive. It picked up speed well, lost speed well and had very predictable handling. The seats were very supportive and the exhaust note was quite nice too.
Next was the Astra VXR which bar the VXR8 was the best overall package. The Astra wasn't as fast in a straight line as the Vectra and not as chuckable as the Corsa but it was a very good mixture of straight line speed & handling.
There was also a couple of Zafira and Meriva VXR's there but I didn't bother with them, instead I had another go in the Corsa and VXR8.
Some of the instructors were better than others. The guy who took me around to show me the track was also the guy who was sitting in the passenger seat when I was driving the Astra. He gave a lot of encouragement and explained where you needed to improve. On the other hand, the guy in the first VXR8 was a complete tosser - he seemed to gloat when you didn't do everything to perfection.
Once the driving was out of the way we went over to do the driving experience stuff which was run by Paul Swift and his guys. There were 3 parts to it.
First was an autotest where you had to slalom around soem cones, park in a box, reverse out, go back around the cones then do a 360 around a single cone before parking with just your front wheels over the finish line. You got two goes, one to learn the layout and the second was against the clock. I got a time of 28.9 seconds which put me somewhere in the top 10.
Then there was a slalolm which just involved driving around some cones which were quite close together. I've no idea what time I got because the stopwatch packed up!
Finally, Paul Swift was doing 2 wheel passenger rides. That was great fun, it's a very strange feeling to be in a car on 2 wheels.
Once that was all done Paul Swift and the guys did some showing off with Paul doing J turns, reverse parking, parallel parking and what he called a dance routine where he basically drove around 3 parked cars doing all sorts of stunts. Great stuff.
Then it was back to the Reception area for a spot of lunch and collect your photo (which was taken in the first car you went out in, so mine is of a Vectra estate).
All in all it was a great morning. Well worth £95 and I'll definately be doing one again next year.
I shall now shameless copy and paste the post I made on one of the car forums I frequent:
The day started with registration, breakfast then an introduction. We were then split into 2 groups (I think about 30 in each group). One group was taken off to the track first, the other went for the 'driving experience' stuff.
My first session was on the track and it began with a briefing where the layout of the track was discussed then a discussion on how to take the racing line, overtaking and what not. Next up was 3 laps in a car being driven by an instructor where he talked you through the track and gave you some pointers. Once that was out of the way we put on crash hats and the real fun began.
When you wanted a drive you just queued up at a sort of bus stop - 1 stop per car, then when a car pulled up you got in and drove off for 3 laps around the track. First up I went in the Vectra VXR which was quick in a straight line but cornering was understeer, more understeer followed by a bit more understeer.
Next I went for the VXR8 and as I was leaving the pits the heavens opened. Rockingham is a slippery track even in the dry but when it's raining it was a bit of a handful. The power delivery of the VXR8 was very nice but the electronics got int eh way a bit to much for my liking. The brakes were quite lacking in feel though so I tended to brake too much. Good fun though and a very nice V8 burble.
As well as the cars you could drive in, there were a couple of Astra VXR Nurbergring Editions there being driven by professionals so I went for a passenger ride in that. Fook me! The guy really knew how to drive and I was astonished at how late he could brake. Great fun.
After a coffee break I went out in the Corsa VXR and was very surprised at how nice it was to drive. It picked up speed well, lost speed well and had very predictable handling. The seats were very supportive and the exhaust note was quite nice too.
Next was the Astra VXR which bar the VXR8 was the best overall package. The Astra wasn't as fast in a straight line as the Vectra and not as chuckable as the Corsa but it was a very good mixture of straight line speed & handling.
There was also a couple of Zafira and Meriva VXR's there but I didn't bother with them, instead I had another go in the Corsa and VXR8.
Some of the instructors were better than others. The guy who took me around to show me the track was also the guy who was sitting in the passenger seat when I was driving the Astra. He gave a lot of encouragement and explained where you needed to improve. On the other hand, the guy in the first VXR8 was a complete tosser - he seemed to gloat when you didn't do everything to perfection.
Once the driving was out of the way we went over to do the driving experience stuff which was run by Paul Swift and his guys. There were 3 parts to it.
First was an autotest where you had to slalom around soem cones, park in a box, reverse out, go back around the cones then do a 360 around a single cone before parking with just your front wheels over the finish line. You got two goes, one to learn the layout and the second was against the clock. I got a time of 28.9 seconds which put me somewhere in the top 10.
Then there was a slalolm which just involved driving around some cones which were quite close together. I've no idea what time I got because the stopwatch packed up!
Finally, Paul Swift was doing 2 wheel passenger rides. That was great fun, it's a very strange feeling to be in a car on 2 wheels.
Once that was all done Paul Swift and the guys did some showing off with Paul doing J turns, reverse parking, parallel parking and what he called a dance routine where he basically drove around 3 parked cars doing all sorts of stunts. Great stuff.
Then it was back to the Reception area for a spot of lunch and collect your photo (which was taken in the first car you went out in, so mine is of a Vectra estate).
All in all it was a great morning. Well worth £95 and I'll definately be doing one again next year.