Good Morning all. No, fear not, I have not disappeared off the face of the earth or been abducted. The lack of activity on the site is because I have been out and about for the MSV trackday that I attended at Cadwell Park yesterday. Also, I write today from Norwich where I am preparing myself to visit Zenos cars to meet the team there.
This is the second trackway I have done in my Seat Ibiza FR and the plan is to do all the Motorsport Vision (MSV) tracks before taking on the goliath Nurburgring for my 30th birthday. So Snetterton was last year and if you want to read about that you can do so here.
The night before
I drove up to Lincolnshire from south London with my wife Patsy as she was coming for the ride and we arrived with just enough time to spare to put the tent up. It had been years since I had put a tent up and Patsy had never put one up so it took a while between us but after a bit of faffing - and some swearing - it was up.
The tent in Car Obsession colours, coincidence? Of course not!
Setting up
I didn't have the best of sleeps as the airbed wasn't that comfortable and I found myself waking up every hour from 02:30 onwards. Once the time came to actually get up I mounted my two GoPro cameras and attempted to fit the towing eye.
I knew this to be a troublesome operation since last year so as time was against us a little I continued with the GroPro position and Patsy offered to have a crack at it. Fair play to her, she did it although her hands bared plenty of evidence of the struggle she had to fit it.
Once we signed we had our briefing before I went to collect our helmets and to get ready for the first session which began at 9am. It felt like an eternity to get the helmets as we had very few minutes left before I needed to get the car ready to join the first session.
Getting on the tarmac
The first sighting session really highlighted what a technical track this was and how much the gradient changes throughout the course of the track. This definitely felt harder than Snetterton, that's for sure.
As part of the day I had paid for a tuition session which I booked in for my second session at 10am and was with a chap called Martin. These sessions are worthwhile and in my opinion are worth the £25 as they help you get the best out of the track which will only improve your experience of your day.
He said that I needed to be a bit more instant when I go from braking to throttle and to resist the urge to 'freewheel'. He also spoke about the right time to go into the corner and said that sometimes I turn in too early, which I believe was something I was told at Snetterton last year.
Car almost at its 'braking' point
Now. We get on the 11am session and this was the one that hit the car pretty hard. By now I was starting to get into a bit of a groove, even though my braking and turning points were still off. I'll be honest, at this point I was still getting overtaken a fair bit so towards the end of the 20 minute session I really gunned it to ensure I could keep up with the pack. I also got cut up by a BMW M3 who decided to overtake me just as I was about to enter a corner so I think that made me more determined to driver harder.
This came at a cost though, as I came back into the paddock I found the front brakes were absolutely steaming. This would explain the fading that came towards the session. I sat there fearing I had broken the car but the two chaps I had parked next to who were using a Mark II Toyota MR2 and a Mark I Audi TT Quattro said they'll be fine and just needed to cool down. The chap with the TT had boiled his brake fluid so he was out for the day unfortunately.
Back on track
The 12pm session came and I was really on the fence about going out. The brakes had cooled down but they still felt spongy so I was apprehensive. I joined the line to go into the session but I wasn't happy with the brakes so I parked away from the line. Simon, the track controller advised me to go out for a bit and the brakes may come back a little.
Spurred on by this advice I went back out and the result was better than I expected albeit not perfect. But as 1pm was lunchtime, it meant the car would get almost two hours rest so I though I may as well go out.
One of my favourite photos from the day
The afternoon sessions
I went out for all three afternoon sessions but the brakes never fully came back, they will were still fine but they had lost the 'bite' they had in the morning. Getting on towards the end of the day I was also weary of my nearside front tyre as the tread was getting low so I didn't want to throw the car in the corners as much as I would have liked.
Having said that, I did have a spare wheel so I did really go for it the last session and I kept good pace. Not only did I keep up with the pack but I was able to overtake as well. At least I wasn't the slowest car there, that accolade goes to the bog standard Mark II Fiat Punto that was riding out on track. An usual choice of trackway cay but each to their own I suppose.
The finish line
All in all I had a great day on what is the difficult, winding and technical track that is known as Cadwell Park. I would love to race this circuit again but next time I would to have the car more prepared so I really go at 100% for the majority of the day.
As always, the day was well organised and the staff were very welcoming and friendly, MSV are a great company and I fully recommend them. I look forward to next year where I think I'll choose Oulton Park as my next one.
If you have any questions about my day or there is something you would like to know please drop me a line. Videos from the day should be on YouTube by the end of the week.
*UPDATE* The video is now live on YouTube and can be found HERE.
