Castle combe 17th sept

[vr4000]

Well after going on the Nth experience I have bit the bullet and booked up Castle Combe for september. Going to order a new set of wheels and tyres for the day but other than that the car will be stock.

 

[Richard Balmford]

Nice one! I'm actually booked in for this Friday 24th August, I'll be running the stock wheels and tyres, I was very impressed with what they could do at the Millbrook day I went to. I'll may well be up for another one soon though.........

What wheels and tyres are you going for?

 

[vr4000]

I will be interested to hear how you get on, the standard tyres are awesome both at Millbrook and on the road and I was very tempted to run them on the track but dont want to risk wearing them out and not being able to get home.

 

[Richard Balmford]

Sure, will let you know. I've never worn out a whole set of tyres in a single trackday before! I'll keep an eye on these as I go along

 

[Richard Balmford]

Had a great day at Castle Combe yesterday. Did 8 x 15min sessions on track, all dry except one with a bit of a downpour.

Some notes from the day:

- Engine: only had 1900 miles on the clock beforehand, so was intending to be a bit sympathetic to the engine. Was briefly taking 4th gear inbetween Quarry and the Esses, and fifth through Hammerdown. Kept 4th all the way up to the heavy braking into Camp. Was pretty impressed how it pulled. Approx 10mpg on track
- Brakes: they're good, took a 15-minute session no problem, was able to modulate the braking up to the point of locking in all places. They've given it some pretty good pads as standard
- Gearbox: felt very slick and easy, and coupled with the crisp engine response could easily heel-and-toe
- Tyres: I was on barely worn standard P-Zero's. Upped the front pressures a touch to counteract what felt like a bit of rolling of the fronts. Pretty stable and controllable, quite a bit of squirm in higher-speed bends, maybe due to the full tread depth
- Suspension: I started of on normal as that is what I was used to on the road. Then went to sport, which added a bit more body control. Tried sport+, found that too jiggly still in places, so will be using sport in the future (unless the track is *really* smooth)
- Steering: stayed on normal, felt there was enough feel still. Wheel worked well with my Sparco gloves, some wheels have felt a bit slippery with these
- Exhaust: what do you think, sport+! Brought a grin to my face, my passengers, and anyone nearby!

Now to plan the next one.......

 

[paul-h]

Good review!

 

[vr4000]

Thanks for that how badly are your tyres worn now? Really looking forward to getting up there and having a blast around.

 

[Richard Balmford]

Thanks for that how badly are your tyres worn now? Really looking forward to getting up there and having a blast around.

Just a quick update after a second trackday at Castle Combe last Friday. It started off a bit damp, but the majority of the day was dry and cool. Looking at the tyres now, there's about 4.5 to 5.5mm left all round (2 trackdays + <3000 miles), so wear not too bad, and the pads have plenty left still. I'm very impressed with the standard pads, the brakes took a good pasting as twice I was out with a Focus RS (350bhp with coil-overs), it was incredibly close, so the i30N gave a good showing . The noise marshal said I was the only i30N they'd seen at their days so far

 

[vr4000]

I only had brake fade once when I was there, my tyres also didnt wear too much.
Who did you book with?

 

[Richard Balmford]

I only had brake fade once when I was there, my tyres also didnt wear too much.
Who did you book with?

Both mine have been run by Castle Combe circuit themselves