Sorry for causing a stink

You are man enough to appologise so i hope we are man enough to accept.


We all love speed or else we would not buy a jag. But seriously, if you want to find out how well you car goes, take a track day out.

When I was in my 40s, I thought I knew everything about driving but had the oppertunity to do two things.

The first was a 2 day off road Land Rover course. After 15 years in the army, I thought I knew how to drive a Land Rover. Wrong.....

The next one was a weekend at Goodwood. Wow, is all I can say. I knew nothing about driving at speed. The highlight was a lesson with Stirling Moss. That guy is just about the greatest I have ever seen. Even after his accident and years later, he has forgotten more about driving at speed than I will ever know.

Now when I want a bit of fun, it's off for a track day at our local airfield.

Thanks, and sorry again. I will take note of all your advice and learn from it. As a sufferer from a major accident back in my younger teens, with a friend driving, he over took a car doing silly speeds on a silly road and ended up sideways into a taxi. I ended up having to be cut from the car, in an old n reg punto, having fractured my spine in 4 places. I fully recovered, just, luckily, but still suffer from lower back pains and i guess i always will as a result of it.

I guess i was trying to play big man in my jag and was not thinking of the consequences at the time. I just took advantage of the moment and went for it. I'll be removing the heavy right foot from my profile, only me being immature anyway.

Talking about trackdays - i had an eventful day today at oulton park. The british touring cars was on and got speaking to a few about the track day events. Seems good what they have to offer and will definately be looking into it. I think my car has felt it today tho, got home and now the fuel pumps have given up. The fuel guage has been playing up for the past week, so only my own fault i guess and boy have i learnt it.

Back when my gramps was here, he had an old range rover defender on a E reg i think. We used to take it up north wales and had many hours of fun driving up and down the mountains! Although it was not proper off roading, compared to some, it sure scared the bejesus out of me a few times!

You are very lucky to have had a lesson of sir Stirling Moss, a legend in himself and one of my favorite all time racing drivers. Memories are for life, and i'm sure that will remain with you forever. I've been privileged to meet Quenton Wilson and Tiff Needel while filming for fifth gear many years ago, but they're nothing on Moss.

Heres to future happy motoring (just),

Ryan

At the track days I have been to, no one was allowed on the track until their car had been inspected, they had had several laps with a qualified instructor (first timers), they had to wear a crash helmet and satisfied the organisers that they met the minimum standards. Any deviation from this or any dangerous driving and you are out; it is as simple as that. If you do not want to risk your own car, there are specially prepared cars that you can hire and take instruction in. I would also advise taking further courses in driving skills such as the advanced motorists or IAMs/RoSPA for bikers.

They main point of recommending track days is to take excessive speed off the road and put it in a controlled environment. Then if someone wants to push their car beyond its limits and damage it, it’s their lookout. Also, you are given expert knowledge on driving, preparing your car, observation and positioning. As a keen motorcyclist as well as a driver I feel that this applies more to bikers as they are very vulnerable in the event of an accident and do tend to take more risks on the public roads.

Fatalities at track days do happen but are rare and if you listen to the instructors, it can only improve your handling capabilities. I would rather anyone wanting to drive their car at high speeds do it at a track day where it can be controlled to a certain degree and the general driving/riding public are not put at risk.

Of course, there are always those who prefer to terrorise the public and these people will never learn until they have killed themselves and others with them. Thankfully, people do listen to good advice and the numbers at track days are increasing each year.