Oct '12 - Euro Trip ... Trackday Nirvana

[HYFR]

WTF?... Paul please pass on my sincere best wishes to Ian, glad he's on the mend!!

+ 1

my turbo blew up, but that didnt spoil a great trip

[Dom81]

The first clip is Harry lap timer pro for the iphone (costs £16)

That's unbelievable - does your clip rely on any external sensors, or is it just the phone?

[sonny]

The first clip is Harry lap timer pro for the iphone (costs £16)

That's unbelievable - does your clip rely on any external sensors, or is it just the phone?

No just the phone, its ok for what it is, gives you a rough idea of your lap times.

[sonny]

Ring and Spa report 2012

This year’s Ring and Spa trip was an interesting one, we most certainly had an amazing time however there was some bad moments too. Apologies in advance i’m writing this after Audi Driver international at Castle Combe so beware my eyes are playing up...

Day 1, Saturday

The little Clio packed with track wheels, tools, trolley jack, baggage and ear plugs









I met up with DK, Nige and Graeme all met up at the Euro tunnel terminal on Sat the morning nice and early and a good hour before our departure. Weapons of choice are DKs Seat Curpa, Nige and Graeme in the TTRS and Me in the Clio 172 Cup.

We were soon informed that one of the trains had broken down in one of the tunnel’s en-route to Folkstone. This caused a 3 hour delay in boarding the train; with a +1 hour time difference on the continent this meant that we would miss our TF session at the Ring.

Wating, waiting and more waiting



Finally on the train







TTRS Go pro set up finally adjusted on the train.



So we finally arrived in Calai and headed to the Ring.....about 10 miles from out Hotel we had our first car problem, the victim was the little Clio...one of the injectors failed and she lost power (at the time i did not know it was a injector), it was like driving in limp mode. So I managed to limp her to the hotel where I had a further inspection. Due to heavy rain I sacked it and checked into my room, dropped baggage and headed straight to the bar. Then we had the famous steak on a stone. Here we was greeted by Steve and Kev (Focus RS) and Paul and Lynn (B7 RS4).Full stomachs = everyone happy, apart from PaulRS4 who was not impressed with his Egg Omelette. That evening we hit the hay and set alarm clocks for a early start. DK and Nige had booked the RSR Clio for the day.





Day 2, Sunday

We were greeted with amazing weather, the sun was out and we had a dry track. Due to DN6 (Destination Nurburgring 6) trip on the Monday, the weekend was busy, however the track was relatively emprty with hardly no closures, so that was a good thing.
Nige and DK hit the track in the Megane and Cupra for lapped up the miles, while I was trying to figure out a way to fault find the Clios engine problem. I had popped into RSR for some help but was told I was better off heading to the nearest Renault Dealer in Ardenou. I decided to head back to the hotel to unload the car as I still had the tools and wheels in. While I was parked up I got chatting to another Clio 172 driver, who turned out to be a guy from ClioSport. As luck would have it, he knew what the problem was and identified it as a faulty injector. He called one of his friends, Chip and asked him to help out pin pointing the actual problem. We checked the plugs, leads, spray patterns of the injectors etc. It was confirmed to be just one injector on cylinder 1. Chip was carrying spare injectors on the trip and swapped it over. The car fired back into life and was purring away, I was totally stoked! I offered to pay Chip but he just asked for a pint at the bar later...happy days. It’s good that we all help each other out when we need it.

So I drove the car down and started to track, however when I checked my Ring card there was no laps on there, it should have had 6....old age is setting in and I must have chucked the wrong card away...doh! So I ordered 5 laps and got lapping.

The track had a low flow of traffic and was able to push the car, this was the first time I had driving the Clio 172 on the Ring, and I must say I was well chuffed. The new Mark Fish geometry set up was well worth it, the car handled very well. All was going well until late evening when DKs Seat decided to drop a turbo and spill smoke out of the exhaust. We think it might be a lose bolt in the turbo fan, hopefully the bolt is trapped in the intercooler and will be a cheap fix. DK got recovered off the Ring at a reasonable price of e249. The ring was not closed so lucky there.

Moral was down for the evening so we drowned our sorrows with Germans finest.

Here are a few track pics.









Day 3, Monday.

Not a lot to report, this was a admin day, so I swapped the track wheels back over from Advans to the Toyos on the Clio, DK sorted out recovery for the SEAT and Nige ordered a Clio 200 for the Spa phase of the trip.

We all went down to the spectator points to watch the guys taking part in DN6. Here we saw the Revolution Scooby doing its rounds, top work.

Here we were met by PhilT, RS246 mod in his 600bhp GTR. He stayed for the evening to catch 2 hours of TF.

After watching a few hours of DN6 we all set off to head out to Spa. Spa is about 70 miles from the Ring, and normally takes 2 hours.





Paul and Lynn making the brews



We arrived in Spa....as expected, we through our bags into out rooms and headed straight to the bar...

Cheers.....



Day 4, Tuesday.

Up nice and early, and got down to the circuit. It was very busy as expected and was greeted by Circuit days organisers directing us towards the Endurance pits. Last year we used the F1 pit garages but this time we was down using the others, these are the pits where they exit onto Radillion/Eua Rouge.

Weather for Spa was set to be sunny for the next 2 days...Things are looking good.

So once we signed on and sat our safety brief the cars were noise tested and we then did 3 sighting laps to get to know the circuit. It was good to be back at Spa as this is one of the greatest tracks to be privileged to drive on.

Once sighting laps was over, I headed straight to the tyre fitter service that was at Spa. I needed to get my track wheels balanced as they were making the Clio shake to bits. I popped them down to him where he did all 4, he said they was miles out (apart from one that had lost its weights). £20 later, all 4 wheels was done. This proved to be worth every penny as the car ran smoothly without any vibrations.





So I managed to get into track just before lunch and cracked out a few laps. The Clio and its new set up was amazing, the car handled very well and had no dramas keeping up with other bigger powered cars on the track. Only down side is the car runs out of puff on the long straights. However it claws back time in the bends as expected.

















I had a little off at Pouhon, I entered the corner a tad to early and clipped the left rumble strip. Making me fish tail and lost it on the apex...lesson learnt.

http://youtu.be/aLWHSQ5gK68

I met up with Porkie, BigAsh and Chip who was all running Clios. Bit of bad news as Ash,s TDF Clio blew a conrod, so that was the end of that, we helped the guys pushed the injured Clio back onto the trailer.

After a long day on track, we all headed out for an Italian meal, DK was not impressed with his Spagbol...the world’s smallest portion.

Highlight of the day was going out for a pax ride in Porkies 500bhp Cossie powered Caterham R500 with a sequential box. That thing is an animal, it’s the fastest thing I have been in, and Porky can drive too...it was funny over taking Radicals






..and after the third attempt Steve finally got what he wanted....steve you need to brush up on your Italianglish lol



I was happy with my Pizza as its fail proof



We waved good bye to DK and Nige who set off back to the UK and said hello to Dave (Dace) and James (TheAudiDoctor).

Day 5, Wed.

In breakfast, I was greeted with bad news that one of our group (Ian) had a heart attack in the Hotel (Rad). The ambulance and paramedics was called out and he was rushed to hospital where he remained over night. As you can imagine this put a massive downer on the day as we was all concerned about Ians health. Ian was conscious when the paramedics arrived so that was a good indication that he would be ok. Ian is a part of a syndicate with Paul and a few others who run a race prepped Mini. Paul and Gary out of respect to Ian, packed up the car and decided not to track that day. They then headed to the Hospital to see Ian. I was informed by Paul that Ian was ok and would be kept in over night, but would be discharged the next day, so that was a sigh of relieve.

Ian as I have been informed since is doing well. Paul is there any updates?

I headed down to Spa with PhilT in his GTR as I had kept the Clio in the pits over night, the weather was nice and sunny, however it was very cold, temp was down to 0 degrees.



We waited for the track to warm up and then hit the track for more track day action.



Sanjay and Ian fixing a downpipe on their 430bhp VW Corrado, quick fix lads, very impressed.






Again another fantastic day tracking at Spa, my laps time got faster and again I was amazed at how well the Clio handled.

My fastest lap of the 2 days http://youtu.be/8742OJCOjHU

Here are some random pics from the day.









































Big thanks to everyone who made it, was great to see some old faces and meet new ones.

Roll on Ring and Spa trip 2013, I think next year we might do DN7.

Cheers for reading.

[dace]

Excellent report fella, thoroughly enjoyed reading it.....roll on next year!

[sonny]

Excellent report fella, thoroughly enjoyed reading it.....roll on next year!

Cheers buddy.

The next big Ring trip will be in April. We are trying t head over as a fixed date every year in April and October, with the cheeky odd run in between.

Thinking I might get over before xmas...as I have 7 laps to use up.

[RIV]

That looks a right laugh!! Maybe one day for me when my life is not so hectic

[sonny]

Dace, here is that video "Flat Out"...bloody funny as fook""


http://youtu.be/b7iUKaPlBl8

[dace]

Ha ha ha nice one Sonny, sounds familiar especially in the bar at the Rad

[imolas4uk]

Great write up sonny, It was great to meet up with you and the all the other guys that were on the trip last year.
Next year I'll do the track day at the ring as well. I had a fantastic time and the yellow beastie was faultless and embarrassed some seriously expensive metal
I do now have some very worn out rear brakes and 4 melted goodyears but had a hoot ! 8 full tanks of fuel used in 2 days on the track and worth every penny
Plus the work done in the bar after is always a good laugh.
Hope to see you next year if not before, James. (audidoctor on the other site )

[stumpyrs4]

Just found this Dave/Nige:

[SKG_C63AMG]

Fantastic write up as ever Sonny and thanks to all that we're there that weekend for making it as good as it was, really pleased Ian is making a good recovery, was really pleased with how well the focus RS stood up and really enjoyed all the passenger runs too.
here's looking forward to next year already

[Timster]

Well done sonny. Good write-up.

I had to laugh at the one person to get a small portion of Spag Bol.... was Spag Bol Dave

[Dom81]

No just the phone, its ok for what it is, gives you a rough idea of your lap times.

Well it certainly impressed me - although not quite as much as your first Eau Rouge shot. I don't think I've ever seen a better angle & crop to show the severity of the climb...

Must say that I'm very jealous of the trip, and I'll either be selling up or coming next time!

[sonny]

Ha ha ha nice one Sonny, sounds familiar especially in the bar at the Rad

Slight variation "Flat out, through Eau Rouge, in the rain, in a Radical...at night, but im a bad passenger" love it lol

Great write up sonny, It was great to meet up with you and the all the other guys that were on the trip last year.
Next year I'll do the track day at the ring as well. I had a fantastic time and the yellow beastie was faultless and embarrassed some seriously expensive metal
I do now have some very worn out rear brakes and 4 melted goodyears but had a hoot ! 8 full tanks of fuel used in 2 days on the track and worth every penny
Plus the work done in the bar after is always a good laugh.
Hope to see you next year if not before, James. (audidoctor on the other site )

Hey James, glad to see you there too, I was to busy getting laps in on the Clio that I forgot to ask for a pax ride...Maybe next year 8 tanks is impressive....I think I did 5 tanks over the whole 6 days

Fantastic write up as ever Sonny and thanks to all that we're there that weekend for making it as good as it was, really pleased Ian is making a good recovery, was really pleased with how well the focus RS stood up and really enjoyed all the passenger runs too.
here's looking forward to next year already

Hey Steve was good catching up again, gutted you could not stay for the second Spa session...Your Focus does look good in the flesh, im not normally a fan, but was impressed. So when you getting a Clio

Well done sonny. Good write-up.

I had to laugh at the one person to get a small portion of Spag Bol.... was Spag Bol Dave

Thanks Timmy, haha I know how ironic, there was a lot of food envy going on over this trip...Paul and his Omelets and Steve and his inside out pizzas haha