A cracking day was had at Croft. It you can be as*ed then please read on, if not just look at the pix :lol:
As promised here's my view of the rather damp day at Croft. (just read it back and its a bit long:exclamation
As we had the week off work, we decided to head "oop north" early and see some friends and explore the North Yorkshire Moors and doo a bit of camping. Friday was glorious as this pic (taken at about 5.30pm) shows. I'd seen the weather reports for Saturday so new it would be wet at some point - I just forgot that they have proper rain north of Birmingham:wink2:
Shortly after arriving at the oh so quiet race circuit the rain started and just got progressively heavier as the day went on..
First off, sign on was a very relaxed process and passengers signing on for free:bigsmile: Great idea as Sophie was dying to get out on track but unsure if she'd like it so didn;t want to waste £10-20 for potentially 1 lap. So happy days so far.
Driver briefing by Helen (?) was just as relaxed with newbies staying back for a extra chat at the end. A basic over view of the circuit (how many corners:shocked2:!!), where to watch for standing water and surface changes, which flags would be used on the day but above all, the emphasis that we were there to enjoy ourselves and the Croft team would offer as much help as they possibly could. I thought this was a real difference from the guys at Donny (very direct and strict with the rule books - but still a good crowd), the guys at MSV (a little more friendly but incredibly safety minded - 45 min briefing, bus ride laps, safety car laps before being let loose on your own)
LoT (understandably) had the first 2 20 min sessions and then it was our turn. 2 laps behind the safety car (a 5 door maroon Clio???) and then we're off. I was last out and had the pleasure of watching Moz try some very different lines as the track got wetter and wetter with standing water appearing on the straights. Aquaplaning at 90-95 was too much fun so I started to "think" about easing off on part of the track. Eventually I passed Moz as I was starting to focus on him and not what I was doing..... and then all to soon the session ended.
As the morning progressed the track just got wetter and wetter, Sophie elected to sit the 2nd session out in the pits and took all of the following pix from the pit lane. We didn't snap any more after this as one soaking in the aid of forum photography was enough:shocked2::tumble:
By the 3rd session the standing water was nearly everywhere, my Bridgestone Pot's RE040's was starting to struggle big time and with only 3-4 mm tread they just were not clearing the water meaning that the hairpin was now a 3rd gear corner and worse still from the apex of Barcroft all the way to the braking point for Sunny In was a 65mph passenger ride....
By now the pitlane conversation was heading towards calling it a day so lunchtime was a welcome distraction.
After lunch the clerk and head instructor did a few laps and reported that the wind had picked up but the track was a little "dryer" (read as the depth of water had reduced to less than an inch in most places!!) So off we all went again!!
The puddles didn't seem any more shallow and the pit straight was just crying out for someone to throw it into the wall and then I had a cunning plan, the S2K in our group was on my tail and seemed to be clearing the water quite well and had nice big rear boots, so I let him past after Sunny Out and followed his tyre tracks down the pit straight - perfect!! Not too much aquaplanning, except for when it came to stopping -the ABS was working overtime all day but this time I think it just run out of options. Thankfully I pulled it up in time and made the turn through the river into Clervaux and decided not to try that again
After this session the Croft team decided an early ending was sensible and as a lot of the LoT drivers had left, we had a final mixed session. The Honda Gods must have been watching us as the rain all but stopped and the track drained really quickly, meaning that the last session was a chance to push the car again. For me it was the best session of the day and I felt like I was driving and not just tip toeing around. I think we had a couple of spinners but nothing major and no contact with anything solid :spin:
All in all a very wet but bloody fun day. Considering my worn tyres and standard suspension I was more than pleased with the cars performance but still a little bit jealous of the fettled machinery that I let passed on numerous occasions.
Well done for getting us the opportunity Steve and Sara and to the team at Croft for not ended our day too early.
Hero of the day award has to go to Mr Sara (Steve?) for attending to the resident race car all day and packing it up in the howling rain.
Stu
