Invite to a SLOC track day

[MPx]

I'm still in regular contact with the Sunbeam Lotus Owners Club and they are trying to organise a track day at LLandow Circuit about 20miles west of Cardiff. It will be on Saturday 26th October - and for non members will be

[Advantage]

Nice little circuit, Llandow. Good old back to basics stuff, especially when they reverse the direction after lunch. We took my 340R there a few years ago and had one of the best trackdays I've ever enjoyed* - it simply seemed to suit the car.

*Up until late afternoon when the clutch slave cylinder expired!

[MPx]

I've not been there before so good to hear you liked it Graham. The circuit diagram looks like there might be some micky mouse bits (like the hairpin + bus stop at Mallory) that the MPx/Esprit package wont cope with very well....but also some nice sweeps and curves. Looking fwd to it!

[Advantage]

There was guy with a 360 Fezza there when we went - lots of tyresmoke! It's quite a compact place so something that's larger than an Elise etc will be out of its comfort zone, but still worth a blast.

[MPx]

Well as you suggested Graham I did indeed have a great blast round the circuit ... but not entirely without incident!

Very friendly place. Only 15 of us turned up so they just ran 2 sessions for each of the three groups then went to open pit lane. In practice there were never more than half a doz of us on the track at any one time.

First session I was black flagged for smoke pouring out of the louvres during in the bus stop section on lap 3. No idea why and it didnt happen again throughout the day. Second session was better tho I nearly lost it in the devils elbow and then my new upgraded HiSpec brakes failed to stop me at the end of the straight so I had to abort the bus stop entry and run straight on - then similarly at the end of the back straight into the chicane - which taught me how to take it faster than my comfort zone .....so I came in again to change underwear. The rest of the day I got quicker and quicker without further incident, but the battery on the video had gone flat by then.

So... this is some of the second session... (click on)

[Bibs]

2.13 looked hairy, good catch and the shortcut later on looked opportune! What was the problem with the brakes? Cooked fluid?

[Advantage]

You shortcutted (made up word) exactly where I parked the 340R when the clutch cylinder failed! It wouldn't let me downshift, so it was time to go home.

Looks like a good day out was had by all.

[MPx]

What was the problem with the brakes? Cooked fluid?

No....had a firm pedal....the car just wouldn't slow down. I can tell you I was pushing pretty hard by the time I aborted -and I'm not the 16 stone weakling I look.....

Peter M suggested that it may have been that the pads/rotors hadn't bedded in properly until they received some abuse. Was certainly the case that the brakes worked fine throughout the later sessions.

Would like to hear about the 340R sometime Graham. We had a similar scene played out there again. The best driver that I saw on the day was in a 944. Fantastically smooth and much quicker than the rest of us despite his car being std. Sadly he sprung a steering fluid leak in his first session and decided to go home. A great shame cos its always good to watch it done so well.....

[Dave Eds]

Glad it wasn'y my fault this time Mike!

Hope you had a good time.

[mayevora]

Not been there but that looks like an incredably tight circuit Mike.

[Tipper]

Llandow is a nice little circuit (just about 1 mile length). I should imagine it feels pretty tight in an Esprit: great fun in an Elise though with quicker cars getting round in about 47 seconds.

There's another Lotus day in December (29th, cost