29th november. NSPCC charity day

Today we ran our annual charity trackday at castle combe circuit.

As ever katie has put a lot of work into planning and organising the day. A big thank you to everybody who attended and to castle combe circuit for giving us a good deal.

A damp start meant it was a bit slippery but the track dried out from midday to the end.

We raised £4000 for the NSPCC which is absolutely brilliant considering the current economic climate!


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24th november - week 5 of ADI training

My ADI course is coming along nicely. My instructor is very happy with the driving. My scores on the theory test are nearly at the level needed to enter me for the exam.

Hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer for my CRB certificate and then I can start the exams.
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Sat 22nd nov - goodwood

A lovely sunny day shared by regular customers richard + pascal green and also ryan ratcliffe who was getting his first taste of a track after last saturdays airfield day at alconbury.

Richard and pascal found that goodwood is flat out when you're brave for a good portion of the track in a 150 bhp caterham. Both thoroughly enjoyed their first run on this circuit.

Ryan built up steadily and was going very well by the end of the day. We were in a rented car for this run but he gets his saxmax race car next week. Planned next is a training day at llandow in the race car and to send ryan to have his race licence test at either castle combe or thruxton.
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Brands hatch 20th nov

Today I was working for www.track-club.com on one of their corporate events.

This is a tough job as an instructor as you have to strike a balance between bringing people up to speed in a few laps and not encouraging them to go too fast and out of control. Most of the drivers were total novices.

Everybody had a good day and the weather stayed dry all day which is always pleasent.

Next up is goodwood on saturday.
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Silverstone 19th november

At silverstone yesterday I was coaching in a porsche gt3 with regular customer Kevin and in a audi tt powered elise with Mathew.

The picture was taken whilst Kevins car was having its rear pads changed.

I worked with Kevin mainly focussing on vision and brake pressure modulatiion on approach to the corner.

Mathew has recently done an alconbury day with me and this was his first time at silverstone. It takes a while to learn the gp track so his confidence increased in the afternoon.

We worked on the general approach to track driving plus dealing with putting over 300 bhp down in a car weighing 800 kg. To say this car is fast is a bit of an understatement!

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Another ADI lesson and off to france

I've been a bit quiet this week after having to take a few days off because of a stiff neck.

Maneuvering was a little difficult as I still can't turn ny head fully!

I'm now waiting at the eurotunnel. I'm at abbeville circuit tomorrow and then staying in calais until saturday for the 'old farts' racing driver agm (an annual meeting involving copious amounts of beer!)
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6th nov - brands hatch

Today I was coaching John Lamaster who is racing in the elise trophy this weekend at Brands Hatch.

A wet start to the day but it dried out. Perfect as we got to work on lines for wet and dry.

John managed to qualify in the top half of the class A field in his first race weekend at silverstone which was very good. He lost a few places during the races as we have some racecraft to work on!

John is still recovering from an injury sustained in his 2nd race meeting (also at silverstone). He was tapped in the side at copse and the sterring wheel wrenched itself out of his hand - dislocating his right thumb in the process. Ouch!

Johns car stood up better than he did with only a couple of small scratches on the front right wheel arch.

I used the video footage to demonstrate the difference in the way that John and I hold the wheel.

We spent most of the day working on vision and reading the road. This meant that Johns good pace became more and more consistant.

Good luck this weekend John!




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Ben goes back to school!

Today was my 2nd lesson in becoming an ADI (road driving instructor).

Gaining this qualification will enable me to work for various car manufacturers on their product launches (when they start selling cars again!).

It's very different (and slow!) But it's still teaching people who want to learn which is what I really enjoy.

2009 should see me teaching new drivers on the road in between the track work. Hopefully I can put a programme together that combines the best of both for road driving as well.

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31st oct - llandow

A day at llandow circuit with Josh in his saxmax race car- with a great paint job!

Josh has raced a mini around short ovals but has never needed to get above 2nd gear before.

By the end of the day he was heel + toeing and lapping very quickly and consistantly. One of the fastest learning youngsters that I've taught.

We now want to get him out on the circuits that he'll race on in 2009.