SteveW Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Well had a great day at Cadwell park yesterday. However, did have 3 very scary moments! 1) Going into the park curve way too fast, some one in front of me had dropped oil, the back end caught the oil sending the car sliding I caught it at about 75 degrees to the track pointing towards the inside of the corner, over corrected and the ended up the other way. But again caught it and carried on, a small 'twitchy' moment. Didn't spin it though 2) Coming out of charlies onto the park straight, I really have no idea what happened........car was gripping no problem slowly fed the power in exiting the corner and i got eaten! Full on tank slapper, sideways about 5 times, at one stage I thought I'm going on the grass but managed to wrestle it back then got it in a straight line again. Said my thank you prayers and carried on. My mate who was following me said at 3 or 4 points he thought I was too far round to pull it back. 3) Again entering park curve too quickly with a BMW 328 right behind me. Over shot the corner and ended up on the grass on the outside (luckily the BMW driver had done a few trackdays and knew anything can happen when a car gets on the grass so backed off completely and kept his distance). Good job, as the car went on to the grass the back end spun round. I then decided the inside of the corner was safer due to no barriers and I was still going about 50mph. So I went back across the track to the inside of the corner but didn't see the large grass mound . . . . hit the mound and flew through the air. The Marshall and BMW driver said I was about 3 - 3.5 feet off the floor. Imagine Petrov from Sunday's GP! Very scary moment, but very lucky, landed on a down slope and the impact wasn't too great. The front bumper got bent under the car but was split anyway and ripped off a wheel arch liner. Managed to pull the bumper out with some brute force but a new wheel arch liner is needed! All in all a fantastic day, even with the scary moments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Sounds like you were very lucky there. You might want to get that inspected to make sure you haven't caught anything else underneath. What tyres were you on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Mcgoo Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seech Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Lucky whilst also being massively unlucky! Out of interest, how long were you on the circuit before your off - and how much fuel did you go through? I struggle to get reasonable mpg on cruise @ 70mph! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Yes I was very lucky, it could have ended up much worse if I had had someone inexperienced following or I had hit some nasties hidden off the circuit. I checked the front end all seems OK. I'm planning on checking the rear suspesnion this weekend a brief review seems to suggest no issues. I checked all the front end and drive line at Cadwell after going airborn. The drop links have got noisier but that is probably due to the track day in general. They were creaky and had play in them before I went and really do need replacing. I'd been out about 5 minutes on the second and third offs and about 2 minutes on the first off. After the first off they closed the circuit to clean the oil up. It was everywhere! I'm running Falken FK452's I really want to get a second set of wheels and either some slicks or R888's but I just don't have the cash at the moment. The whole trip to cadwell, on the circuit and home was about 290 miles, in total I put in £110 (£80 to start tank was very empty then £30 from the track) of fuel and have just over a quarter of a tank left. The mpg gauge said for the whole journey I averaged 19mpg. The way there was 32.2mpg and the way back similar on track its usually about 10 - 12mpg. I probably did 8 sessions of 5-7 laps each. Cruising at 70 I get approx 35 - 37 mpg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seech Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Well good luck with the repairs - I hope it doesn't cost you too much! As for the fuel, I am averaging 19.8mpg. And I am driving very slow and carefully, even though I have just bought the car. Another one to add to the list for Mr. Nissan, although if I say that my 3.5 litre is drinking too much fuel then I am sure I will get laughed out of the dealers! R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keviswatt Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Funny how fuel consumption varies ...£150 got me 510 miles, I got between 20-25 mpg on the roadtrip with some very sprited driving along the way, some of the journey (through the twisty single track roads) i was driving 4th only! I have never seen better than 26mpg on any journey so far K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seech Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Maybe my fuel is not so far off then?! SteveW > Why are you not crying and suicidal? I would be uber upset in your position... unless you had trackday insurance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 Maybe my fuel is not so far off then?! SteveW > Why are you not crying and suicidal? I would be uber upset in your position... unless you had trackday insurance? It just depends on the length and speed of you rdrives mate. I find that if I go to work at normal time and leave at normal time I average in the region of 22mpg, all to do with being sat in queues. So I go to work early and leave late (there is a gym at work) so I miss all the queues and generally get 26.5mpg on that run. A tank average with a bit ofeverything driving work run, spirirted and cruising about I see 25 - 26 mpg. I have been UpRev'd which did help. Before I used to see 22.5 23.5. I'm not suicidal because thats the risk you take going on track. I bought a sports car to drive it the way it was designed and supposed to be driven. You just can't do that on the road well you can but licenses don't last very long. Obviously on track the danger element goes up a fair bit but I enjoy it and accept the potential damage as part of the track day. My parents and GF think I'm mental taking "such a lovely car on a track" its not like I'm rich if I wrote the car off on track I would have no car and still have 2.5 years of my loan to pay off but I love it One of teh unfortunate attendees: It may only be a saxo but it may well have been his pride and joy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 The thing with track driving is that you should never push outwith your own ability. Your talent will run out long before the 350z's will. Too many try and blame their car for things that happen, ie brakes are crap, suspensions crap. At the end of the day it's on the driver, always. Trackday insurance is pretty cheap. Around 70-100 quid a day. Alot of them will only pay out on total loss though and do not cover you for spinning off etc. They also have excess' around 1k mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 I'm running Falken FK452's I really want to get a second set of wheels and either some slicks or R888's but I just don't have the cash at the moment. Cadwell is an awesome track but takes few prisoners I have some part worn R888`s to fit the Rays if your interested? they have only done a couple of hundred road miles & no track milage Any videos? Heres a clip from when I went with Greekman in the two Zeds on a cold damp day running 452`s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 How did the falkens do on track? How much you looking for, for the r888's? I'm running Falken FK452's I really want to get a second set of wheels and either some slicks or R888's but I just don't have the cash at the moment. Cadwell is an awesome track but takes few prisoners I have some part worn R888`s to fit the Rays if your interested? they have only done a couple of hundred road miles & no track milage Any videos? Heres a clip from when I went with Greekman in the two Zeds on a cold damp day running 452`s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 How did the falkens do on track?How much you looking for, for the r888's? Falkens are ok on track, overheat fairly quickly, but what you need to bare in mind is that there still budget tyres so are not as good as bridgestone 050`s or MPS`s £450 plus any postage (within the UK) will see the tyres The R888`s are the Medium Compound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 Thanks for the offer of the tyres mate but I'm flat broke at the moment so I will have to decline. Yeah the Falkens do go off after about 10 mins on track but thats all I spend out on track anyway then come in then to let the car cool down. The RE050's are much better on track but worse on the road having no grip until you get some heat in them. With everything its swings and roundabouts and tradeoffs. Would really love a second set of wheels and some slicks! Now that would be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 I have some Gloss black Rays with the tyres on, imagine how good they would look on your kuro zed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Very nice mate! They look good. I've been considering refurbing my Rays gun metal grey or black and then get the track wheels done slime green! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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