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Bedford yesterday 17/11


Kev T

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Went to Bedford Autodrome yesterday in the pouring rain, 5 am start to beat the M25 traffic but got there at 7.15 so no complaints there. It was my first time at this particular venue so didn't quite know what to expect but have to say it is very well set up and also pleasantly surprised that tea, coffee and cakes etc. all provided FOC plus if it is pre booked a half hour of tuition bloddy brilliant.

The full track is nearly 4 miles long so fairly demanding in terms of stamina and bit hairy in the wet, by the afternoon everything was drying out so speeds started to rise which is when i broke their very low drive by limit of 87.5 Db by less than one DB ( 88.4 ) so was politely asked to come off track for the rest of the day !

So that was that. i would like to go back but the low noise limit has put me off, it's the first time it has ever happened to me and to say i was disappointed is an understatement.

 

My exhaust setup for those interested is : Motordyne XYZ pipe with CAT and ART de cat pipes mted to HKS SuperSoumd Master exhaust so nothing to OTT.

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glad you managed to get some decent running in - we go there fairly frequently in our BMW and it can be very hairy in the wet, just seem to have no traction at all out of the hairpins!

 

yes unfortunately Bedford are fairly draconian when it comes to noise limits... if you breach the drive by, you're done for the day, no questions. What did you do the static test at?

 

Still, at least now you know how loud your car is, you can sort the silencing before attempting another trackday ;) - if you want to use a car on track, it needs to be under the noise limits, simples :)

Edited by brillomaster
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Indeed: With the days on the NIMBYs well and truly ahead of us, it's vital that we all make a hugely concerted effort to reduce all our exhaust noises when on track as much as possible. No point having a nice sounding car when a helmet drowns out the noise anyway, and no point chasing every last bhp when it's not a race :)

 

Always sucks to see someone get booted from a track, but I would suggest that your setup is louder than you think if it breached the limits: I ran there with a K1 with bungs in and had no issues, and even with the bungs it's not particularly quiet...! 95dB is really quite loud fella, you should be looking to reduce that significantly. I'd be looking to replace the backbox with an OEM one for track use, as that would be the easiest thing to swap out on a driveway.

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Sounds like you used opentrack if there were free cakes and tuition, I did my first track day with them at Cadwell.

 

Bedford do seem to be very strict with the drive by limit, I think most places give you a warning so you can try and sort it out at least.

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bloody hell..... 88.4 on the drive by ;) I hit 106.6 in the GTR on the drive by at Silverstone.... They even showed me a nice little print out and kindly asked that I short shift at certain points of the track. By the afternoon, they didnt care anymore.

 

I suppose at lost depends on what gear, speed, etc.... kind of puts me off Bedford in the GTR and I dont have a loud exhaust system compared to many others!

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bloody hell..... 88.4 on the drive by ;) I hit 106.6 in the GTR on the drive by at Silverstone.... They even showed me a nice little print out and kindly asked that I short shift at certain points of the track. By the afternoon, they didnt care anymore.

 

I suppose at lost depends on what gear, speed, etc.... kind of puts me off Bedford in the GTR and I dont have a loud exhaust system compared to many others!

 

Bedford is generally a third and fourth gear circuit .

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bloody hell..... 88.4 on the drive by ;) I hit 106.6 in the GTR on the drive by at Silverstone.... They even showed me a nice little print out and kindly asked that I short shift at certain points of the track. By the afternoon, they didnt care anymore.

 

I suppose at lost depends on what gear, speed, etc.... kind of puts me off Bedford in the GTR and I dont have a loud exhaust system compared to many others!

 

Bedford is generally a third and fourth gear circuit .

 

Makes sense then, I am pretty sure I was in 5th (or changing up to 5th) where the noise monitors were on Silverstone

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