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I've been holding off writing this post as I have been in discussion with ADI about the over-subscription of track users and also John Gaisford about getting some photos.

I have managed to get virtually nowhere with either.

I have been attending this event for many years.

I had 6 track passes for 2 cars (12 in all) and I managed to use 3. It was damp for the first hour and I elected to only go out once. Then once the track had dried the wait to get on was pretty long but acceptable.

There were several exclusive track sessions for people with specific cars (like TTs or RS3s) and this meant that when they had finished the queue to get on increased dramatically. During my final session in the early afternoon there was a break down and some oil went down right in front of me and this naturally needed clearing up. When the circuit re-opened the queue to get on was ridiculous. At one point the marshalls were suggesting 90 minutes wait and this pretty much took us to the end of the day so we didn't bother and went home.

Having attended a few ADIs and hundreds of track days and so it was obvious to me that the reason for this was a huge oversubscription for the track. I took my brother and a friend and they were both hugely unimpressed. Each only managed one session on circuit as drivers.

I have to be honest and say that I would need strong persuasion to pay the expensive track fees (2 x £170 I think) next year and am more likely to simply attend as a spectator.

The photographer for the day (and previous years) John Gaisford. I contacted him after the event (he put Stickers on my 2 cars with the contact details) and he dug out 10 pictures of 'me' and sent them to me (only 9 were actually of my RS2). It transpired that he sent me higher resolution version of the pictures in error. However I asked him for the pictures of my UR Quattro and he is basically blackmailing me to buy the RS2 pictures before he looks any more for the Quattro ones. This is a pretty poor way to conduct yourself and a first for me having bought many hundreds of track day pictures over the years. I would have been happy to pay him for all pictures of both of my cars.

I contacted Autometrix and got a response from their MD - James Tipping as below:

"Hi Damian

I apologise for my late reply - I have been away for some days due to the half term, also I must apologise for your dissatisfaction at this year’s event, much of what you observed is already in my notes about elements of the event to improve for next year and I can only hope that you will be there to see those improvements come to fruition in 2017.

I have a meeting coming up with Castle Combe on pitlane management for next year as there were obviously some aspects which could have been much better controlled, even with the increase in on the day visitors this year there was more that could have been done to improve the situation for drivers & spectators.

I have been on track in various forms for twenty odd years so I know what the frustration feels like when the day doesn’t go as planned and I will do everything that I can to make sure that 2017 is better for all.

I’m not certain that I can help much with John Gaisford as he is completely independent of both Autometrix and Castle Combe, but I will certainly contact him on your behalf and see if there’s anything that I can do there. I must say that this does seem rather out of character for him and I do wonder if sending you the hi-res by mistake (effectively gifting them to you for free), made him react the way that he did.

If there’s anything else that I can do for you please do not hesitate to ask - you have my details in this email.


Best Wishes
James

Regards
James Tipping
Managing Director
Autometrix Publications Ltd"

All in all it was pretty unsatisfactory and much as James was pretty apologetic, some compensatory gesture would have been welcome and I think was probably justified. Unfortunately his response is not enough to allow me to commit to going again this year as a track participant and so I will attend as a spectator and see if there are any improvements with a view to coming back in 2018.

The behaviour of the photographer was abominable IMHO and I will NEVER buy pictures from this man again (I have bought many over previous years).

I am only putting this on here to see if anyone else reflected our experience and to give people the heads up as to what to expect this year if the promised improvements are not implemented.

TOTALY agree to what you have said!!! I said it as well during and right after the event! TRACK time well overbooked!!! This was greedy and unfair to all that have booked. Myself only managed 2 sessions out of 3 booked. And even than I had no time to walk around and take pictures myself or chat to anyone for more than 15min as most of the time was spent queuing up...

I don't think I will be booking track time this year either. Partly because I think castle Combe is not a great venue. Surface is poor. No run offs. Very narrow... not worth the risk.

As for the photographers issue.. well, beeing a photographer myself, I would never attempt such tricks. Sent high res files to clients before by mistake and know how it feels but it's your own fault and you cant blame the customer. More so to blackmail them.
Maybe it's worth saying to him that, if he looks for Other pictures and sends them to you in small res for consideration, you are willing to pay for all of them if you like them. If he doesn't do it you already have pictures that you not going to pay for and will spread the word around forums regarding his unfair practice... he has much to loose, you don't. So he can either get paid for all the pictures. Or not get paid for just the 10 he sent by mistake and risking damping his reputation..
good luck man!
And Happy new year!!

pule333 wrote:TOTALY agree to what you have said!!! I said it as well during and right after the event! TRACK time well overbooked!!! This was greedy and unfair to all that have booked. Myself only managed 2 sessions out of 3 booked. And even than I had no time to walk around and take pictures myself or chat to anyone for more than 15min as most of the time was spent queuing up...

I don't think I will be booking track time this year either. Partly because I think castle Combe is not a great venue. Surface is poor. No run offs. Very narrow... not worth the risk.

As for the photographers issue.. well, beeing a photographer myself, I would never attempt such tricks. Sent high res files to clients before by mistake and know how it feels but it's your own fault and you cant blame the customer. More so to blackmail them.
Maybe it's worth saying to him that, if he looks for Other pictures and sends them to you in small res for consideration, you are willing to pay for all of them if you like them. If he doesn't do it you already have pictures that you not going to pay for and will spread the word around forums regarding his unfair practice... he has much to loose, you don't. So he can either get paid for all the pictures. Or not get paid for just the 10 he sent by mistake and risking damping his reputation..
good luck man!
And Happy new year!!

Thanks for your reply. I'm glad it wasn't just me! I will be taking up your advice regarding the photographer. HNY to you also.

I think there are a number of factors which have to the track time at ADI becoming more and more frustrating in recent years

For a number of attendees, this is the only time a year they go on track. Sometimes the track etiquette at ADI is questionable!

For a number of cars attending and going on track, they are older vehicles that are not track prepared, which has caused oil / coolant pipes etc to let go

There are an increasing number of £1000 home brew track cars, these seem to be driven with absolute gay abandon! Mk2 Golfs, SEAT Ibizas etc. I've seen a few of these end up in the barriers. I'm not tarring all with one brush. But as David T summed it up - "They have nothing to lose"

I don't think the organisers can be held to blame for the above.

One possible suggestion - and I appreciate I might get flamed for saying this - would be to make the track time Audis only. This would reduce the home brew stripped out track cars. Possibly provide an exemption if you had a trade stand / tuner pass: I went with one of the trade stands in 2016, their fee isn't cheap, and if their fee pays for the event to happen in the first place, and they have Audis and VWs for example, maybe their non-Audis should be allowed on track? Part of the reason they attend is to demo their cars, take potential customers out etc

Im kind of thinking out loud here. But as per the opening poster, I agree that something simply is going to HAVE to change

I think from going several years ago they had to open it up to non Audi to make it pay , may be wrong

It was my first year at ADI in 2016 and I had no intention of going on the track so none of this actually bothers me, but I was surprised how many non-Audis were going on the track. VW and Seats I get but there were Renaults and all sort of non VAG cars there too. I assumed it would be an Audi only track day.
But I am concerened about people not attending in future due to over corwding etc as I really enjoyed the day and look forward to attending again; but it won't be the same if too many Audi fans don't turn up at all.

I've been to both this and vw driver day in the summer for last 5years. I can never understand why they allow non vag stuff to run?
It's a good day, plenty of trade stands and tuners there, but surely it's got to be kept vag cars only, especially when there's such a demand to get track passes