Having just returned from a glorious day on the Ring, my experience pretty much mirrors 007muel's, (except we just took the MX5 in case the worst happened!)
It is the most spectacular place to drive around and you have to be at full concentration the whole time. I think we must have been around the 13 mins mark on the first lap but were in the early 10s by the end of the day. I don't know how much faster we could have gone but with larger testicles it would be a fair bit!
I had practised a few laps on the Playstation before going and for me, it was an utter waste of time. The constant gradient, camber and direction changes are just incredible. I have never spent so much time looking in my mirrors on a track, mainly due to some insanely quick and madly driven GT3 RS's.
I think that after say 4 laps, I had learnt about 70% of the lap but even by the end of the day, I still only have about 85% sussed. That is to say I know where the corners go, it will take 2 more days to have got most corners sorted I think.
I can't remember being so scared on my first lap of a track, but I think that was healthy considering the scale, speed and complexities of the place. That said, don't let it put you off going, it is an experience that I would not swap for the world and it is more thrilling to drive than my favourite track, Spa, which is conveniently only just over an hour away!
The Ring taxi was not operating so I blagged some passenger rides in the afternoon with some experienced veterans, 2 runs in BMW Z3 M's which were great as the drivers really knew the place like the back of their hands and I got some great tips for making some corners work better for me. After these runs, you stop thinking of some of the corners individually and string them together as a package. This makes it much easier to take them all in but would totally screw you if you forgot where you were on the track. The last section of the track still confuses me a little and when you are arriving over a blind crest, it can be helpful to remember if the next hairpin is on the right or left (sorry about that Karl, I thought it went left honest
)
The carousel is just fabulous and I can't imagine it existing anywhere else. If you get the line right (all 4 wheels on the concrete) it holds you in then flings you out at the end. It is as bumpy as hell and it feels like you are oversteering through the whole thing but it was hysterical to drive. Your car may not like you much afterwards though.
My final blagged run of the day was one that I don't think I'll ever forget, it was in David Yu's (auto-journals.com & evo magazine) modified Nissan GT-R. 620 Bhp upgrade and uprated brakes coupled with a man who can drive very well indeed and knows the Ring like the back of his hand. I first came across David a couple of years ago at Bedford when he first got the car and even then he was hanging the back out at every opportunity. Whilst I don't profess to be on his level, it was hard work to keep up with him in the Atom and I think it was probably out of sympathy that he finally let me by.
I can honestly say it's the first time I have ever felt my neck muscles being pulled in a tin top car, especially over one lap (although 20km's is pretty long.) We hit speeds in excess of 160 mph and the car was quite amazing. I really could be very tempted indeed. David turned off the traction control which puts 98% of the power to the rear wheels and I could not see how the car could handle it but at 1700 kgs it simply defied physics. Even when traffic caused a slight detour from the black stuff David collected it very quickly and the 4WD kicked in. Every other car I have driven would have been in the wall but the GT-r just pushed on to the next corner.
Thanks for the ride, it was a game changer in what a car can do for me.
We arrived back in the pits just as they were closing for the day which meant I could not go out for the final run I was hoping for. That was probably very fortunate as I know I would probably have pushed too hard. I will be returning as soon as possible and will be praying for no rain!
Honestly guys, I can't recommend it enough. Don't do the tourist sessions when all sorts of sh1t can go on the track, choose a closed day so you don't have the insurance liability headache and you will have the time of your lives. It is simply that good
Cheers,
Stu
Having just returned from a glorious day on the Ring, my experience pretty much mirrors 007muel's, (except we just took the MX5 in case the worst happened!)
It is the most spectacular place to drive around and you have to be at full concentration the whole time. I think we must have been around the 13 mins mark on the first lap but were in the early 10s by the end of the day. I don't know how much faster we could have gone but with larger testicles it would be a fair bit!
I had practised a few laps on the Playstation before going and for me, it was an utter waste of time. The constant gradient, camber and direction changes are just incredible. I have never spent so much time looking in my mirrors on a track, mainly due to some insanely quick and madly driven GT3 RS's.
I think that after say 4 laps, I had learnt about 70% of the lap but even by the end of the day, I still only have about 85% sussed. That is to say I know where the corners go, it will take 2 more days to have got most corners sorted I think.
I can't remember being so scared on my first lap of a track, but I think that was healthy considering the scale, speed and complexities of the place. That said, don't let it put you off going, it is an experience that I would not swap for the world and it is more thrilling to drive than my favourite track, Spa, which is conveniently only just over an hour away!
The Ring taxi was not operating so I blagged some passenger rides in the afternoon with some experienced veterans, 2 runs in BMW Z3 M's which were great as the drivers really knew the place like the back of their hands and I got some great tips for making some corners work better for me. After these runs, you stop thinking of some of the corners individually and string them together as a package. This makes it much easier to take them all in but would totally screw you if you forgot where you were on the track. The last section of the track still confuses me a little and when you are arriving over a blind crest, it can be helpful to remember if the next hairpin is on the right or left (sorry about that Karl, I thought it went left honest ;D)
The carousel is just fabulous and I can't imagine it existing anywhere else. If you get the line right (all 4 wheels on the concrete) it holds you in then flings you out at the end. It is as bumpy as hell and it feels like you are oversteering through the whole thing but it was hysterical to drive. Your car may not like you much afterwards though.
My final blagged run of the day was one that I don't think I'll ever forget, it was in David Yu's (auto-journals.com & evo magazine) modified Nissan GT-R. 620 Bhp upgrade and uprated brakes coupled with a man who can drive very well indeed and knows the Ring like the back of his hand. I first came across David a couple of years ago at Bedford when he first got the car and even then he was hanging the back out at every opportunity. Whilst I don't profess to be on his level, it was hard work to keep up with him in the Atom and I think it was probably out of sympathy that he finally let me by.
I can honestly say it's the first time I have ever felt my neck muscles being pulled in a tin top car, especially over one lap (although 20km's is pretty long.) We hit speeds in excess of 160 mph and the car was quite amazing. I really could be very tempted indeed. David turned off the traction control which puts 98% of the power to the rear wheels and I could not see how the car could handle it but at 1700 kgs it simply defied physics. Even when traffic caused a slight detour from the black stuff David collected it very quickly and the 4WD kicked in. Every other car I have driven would have been in the wall but the GT-r just pushed on to the next corner.
Thanks for the ride, it was a game changer in what a car can do for me.
We arrived back in the pits just as they were closing for the day which meant I could not go out for the final run I was hoping for. That was probably very fortunate as I know I would probably have pushed too hard. I will be returning as soon as possible and will be praying for no rain!
Honestly guys, I can't recommend it enough. Don't do the tourist sessions when all sorts of sh1t can go on the track, choose a closed day so you don't have the insurance liability headache and you will have the time of your lives. It is simply that good :wize:
Cheers,
Stu