The early morning mist hung in patches over the low-lying fields as the late summer sun rose into the sky as I made my way along the A413 out of Aylesbury towards Buckingham to my destination – Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire.
We had booked the venue several weeks ago and with an expected party of 17-cars I was determined that we were going to have some fun. We were not to be the only group there as this was a full-on track day run by Big Thunder with other interested parties form other groups joining in with the track time. However, we had something that none of the others had, a handling skills circuit that would be separate to the main activity, and all to ourselves, with our own paddock area as well.
After arriving there at 8.30am it wasn’t long before members of the party started to arrive. There was Sammy Ashton, the leader of Honda Revolutions, a car club that appeal to those with Honda cars and who wish to promote the concept of having fun with a car, but being responsible and safe at the same time. She was there with her red Honda CRX and raring to go. Hers would be one of ten cars driven by members from her club that included three Honda S2000’s, a silver NSX and a selection of Type ‘R’ Integra’s and one early CRX of which there will be more said later.
Aside form the Honda Revolutions crowd there were independent representations of a Toyota MR2 Turbo, bought for a song by its owner Dave Oldroyd purely for a track day car, a Ford Fiesta XR2, a bright yellow Westfield/Caterham 7 look-alike kit car and three TVR’s comprising of two Chimaera’s and a Griffith. Coincidentally these three Blackpool beasts were all of an identical bright red colour, which made them easy to spot, even from a distance, but not so easy to determine which was which when flying by on the track.
I was there with two more of my guys, Mohammed Khan and Steve George, and the idea was that where required we would sit in with any members of our party to help them to get the best out of the day and their cars. It was all part of the service to make the day go as well as possible.
After signing in and getting our colour coded wrist bands, taking a large coffee in one hand and a bacon roll in the other we attended the pre-drive briefing held in front of the Big Thunder office. I was impressed with the safety instructions. This told me that these guys were going to police this event thoroughly and therefore the level of safety would be high for all. After briefing it was a parade lap behind the pace car so that we could all familiarise ourselves with the course. Mo threw me the keys to his BMW Mini Cooper with the John Cooper supercharger conversion fitted, and the three of us jumped in together. There was to be no speed involved here. This was a slow procession only and any messing around was not to be tolerated.
The course was superb with a circuit of just over 2-miles in length. Leaving the pit lane, which emerged about 2/3 of the way down the start/finish straight, there was a sweeping open left-hander followed by a short straight of around 750 metres before a sharp right-hander of about 110 degrees. A straight of around 1000 metres with a right, right, left, sweeping right with severe adverse camber onto the main runway that ran nearly the whole length of the back of the field. However, with lines of cones placed out on the tarmac, the course actually followed a big open slalom course with a left from the far right of the track width, followed by right, left and then a 800 metre straight before a sharp right, sharp left, very short straight, into a sharp right, very short straight and into an over-right-angle sharp right onto the beginning of the start finish straight. There would certainly be enough to get well over 100mph out of those capable of it on this one.
After returning to pits and our paddock I took Mo’s Mini onto our exclusive handling circuit. After placing the car in the start-box marked out with four cones it was a dash forward with a flick right, right again, left and right before a short straight where the angle of the surface changed sharply on a ridge just where you wanted to put a bit of left-hand steering in. This would be tricky at full chat. Then there was a 180 degree tight right-hand curve, short straight with a left towards some cones that made you go sharp right, left, right, left and then finish up in the box at the end. This was a complete second gear course, but those that thought it would be a breeze actually found it to be anything but! We had a few spinners that’s for sure.
My first ride out was in a Paras’s Honda Integra Type R and after about half a lap it was immediately obvious that this young man had a lot of natural ability and feel for a car. This was reinforced when he went into turn-2 too shallow and carrying too much speed. Coming out wide on the exit he got the two nearside tyres on the grass that was shaded under a row of fir trees and still damp with the dew. This was going to end in tears I thought, but to give him credit he did not panic. He remained very smooth with the controls, didn’t brake or accelerate, but kept a nice balanced throttle easing the car back onto the tarmac with very slight and smooth steering. Phew! It was a good recovery.
After a few laps he was making better progress with better entry lines and technique. The car ran really sweet, which belied its age. I was to go out with him again later and he see that he was getting better all the time.
My next ride was to be an interesting one. “Can you have a ride out with me,” asked Will Jones. He was the guy with the Caterham 7 look alike. I never got to ask what it was called, but he had built it himself at home. The engine was the twin-cam Ford unit from a 2-litre Sierra mated to a Sierra gearbox with an Escort 1600 flywheel and clutch assembly. The rear end was also Sierra making the while thing into a neat little package, especially as it weighed a total of about 6 ounces!
Will wanted the handling circuit first, so applying crash helmet I squeezed in beside him and tried to get the hang of his full race harness safety belt arrangement. We went around the handling circuit a couple of laps and it was here that I realised the first main problem – communication. With a full-face helmet, an almost straight through exhaust at my side and our upper bodies open to the world there was no chance of issuing any verbal instructions. I asked if I could demonstrate how to get around the small course more effectively by taking him round in his car.
Now I reckon that Will weighs around 9-stone and is the best part of 5’ 9” tall in his bear feet, which themselves looked about a size 8. I, on the other hand, am 6’ 0” and weigh around the 14-stone mark, have size 11 double E feet and Will built this car to fit him! With no adjustment on the seat, and no height under the dash in which to bend my knees I could not get my foot off the gas enough to reach idle speed with the engine.
None the less I think I managed to demonstrate the most suitable line through the course over two laps. He did it very well after that anyway. When finished there Will took me around the main circuit, but this time I relied upon sign language alone. That little car was quick enough.
My most satisfying moment came with Kerry Giddings in his TVR Griffith 500 when, after a few laps, he took turn one, the sweeping left-hander at the end of the start/finish straight, absolutely flat out without lifting at all. The car went around there as sweet as sugar, and to stand in the paddock and watch him out there doing it all by him self was very rewarding. Well done Kerry, he had only owned the car 2-weeks. A run out with Ashley Powell in his lovely red Chimaera produced similar results.
I mentioned I would tell you about the little silver Honda CRX. The car was prepared for the track, although Mark Ely did drive it to and from the venue. It was completely stripped out inside and every non-essential item removed, without making it illegal, so as to get the weight down. The engine was basically made up of the bottom end of a 2.0 litre from a Honda CRV or HRV mated with a VTEC head off a B16 1.6 litre engine. The result was about 230bhp in a car weighing very little. Talk about a jet-propelled skateboard!
Well the sun shone all day, the air temperature remained mildly warm and comfortable, and all had a great time. There were no mishaps and no tears, except for Honda Revolutions organiser, Sammy Ashton that it. Having canvassed the Honda Revolutions guys to come along and organised them all to get there, her CRX decided to give up a CV joint before she even got near to the circuit. That was so cruel and unfair. We’ll make sure she gets two days worth out of one next time.
Julian Smith. |
