Handling Day - North Weald Airfield, Essex - £38

[samwise]

Hi all

Having bought my Cobra 2nd Hand and owned it for a month (so far, so good) I'm still getting use to driving it. I've always consider myself a fairly slow driver (especially round bends) but I'm naturally curious as to how the car will behalf on the limit (on the grounds of safety). Will it just snap away? How well can a slid be controlled?

They do a handling day at North Weald Airfield in Essex (just off junction 7 M11 which is just off the M25) for £38 where you get to drive round high and slow speed corners marked out by cones. I've done some track days in other cars but they didn't like spins as it stops the action but as this is just one corner it's fine, it's here.

I've booked for Wednesday 28th May and there are 14 (out of twenty) spare places left and obviously I'd love to see some more Cobra's there. Either way, I'll report back what it was like.

More details here ...

Car Limits

Jason

[Naughty Magpie]

Hi, I've taken my Cobra to a few of these days, run by Andy Walsh. They are very good value for £38 - they were £30 + £35 last year. The high speed corner that you start with always has a long queue but by the afternoon where they open two coned circuits is a lot better. My favourite is the furthest away course as not many people use that one & it's good fun.
If you want to know a bit more on how to handle your Cobra, I'd probably recommend one of his 4 car driver days - they are about £180-190.

Have fun.

[chr15w]

Is that £38 per car or per person?

[samwise]

Originally Posted by chr15w

Is that £38 per car or per person?

Actually, it was £36, not £38 (my mistake) but not sure if you can have more than one driver. It's just me and maybe a spectator.

Thanks for the info Magpie,

Cheers

Jason

[chr15w]

Provided its not raining Im in

[samwise]

Originally Posted by chr15w

Provided its not raining Im in

I did think about taking my normal car if it rains just to get some use out of the £36. Having said that if it's wet it's the ideal time to test your handling and less strain on the car and tyres in the slippy conditions. Driving the car there in wet would be a pain mind but probably worth it. Cheers

Jason

[samwise]

Hi

There are still seven places if anyone isn't doing anything tomorrow and the weather looks like it will be "OK" i.e. not raining all the time! Cheers

Jason

[samwise]

Hi

So I went to the handling day on an overcast and drizzling day but it was fantastic. I've done several trackdays and a Palmer Motorsports day (driving different cars on courses) but this was the best yet. I can't believe I had so much fun for £36. The drizzle helped make the airfield surface even more slippery so spinning was easy.

It took a while for me to build up the confidence on the morning exercise of a high speed corner (taken around 60mph before I started to slide) but an increase in the wet stuff from the sky meant the track came to me and I slid the back end for a 2-3 seconds with opposite lock on feeling like a driving God! The next time round, with a bit more rain and I came out of it 30 mph backwards. In the words of Hand Solo, "Don't get cocky son"!

We all had a nice lunch at a local pub and then the afternoon was spent going round two courses of traffic cones with some long sections and some twisty bits with both courses being timed. I stayed on the twister course as it looked more fun. Your first run isn't timed while you get the hang of the course, first timed run was around 1 minute 20 seconds and with some instruction and several runs I peaked at 1 minute 6 seconds which I was very happy with. The fastest Elise was 1:05 (but some were in the 10+ seconds). I believe the fastest was an Evo FQ330 at 1:02.

I learnt a lot about my car. How it breaks from 40 mph to a stop (the end of the windy course) which is good on the grounds of safety. It gave me a much better idea of how it feels close the limit, that it may be possible to catch the back end when it break away but also it can still be a bit unpredictable to me (so don't try this on normal roads). Either way, if I did get caught out by a patch of oil, I'm less lightly to panic.

I would say the only issue for Cobra's was the queuing to get a run with the engine running. Also, although my car was fine, if you are very low, some of the undulations on the course could ground the front. On the that point though you can avoid them and probably still get a better run being able to use more power.

The instructors were very helpful and the whole set up (crash helmets not required but some did, the fact timing is allowed, different drivers allowed) was a very different experience to a track day.

My car was fine, I suspect a bit of tire wear but well worth it.

People had traveled quite a way to get there and I did inquire about a club day. The instructors said speak to the office for definitive answers but a Saturday day isn't possible because of the large market held there (unless booked many months in advance) but a Sunday was viable. We could have input as to the format and length of time of each exercise.

I doubt we could get 20 people from just the forum (if we could then I could inquire about a date in August) and I'm not sure of the deadlines for the magazine but I suspect we'd be looking at next year now (assuming we want it in a summer month and I have no idea how these things work with the club).

I think it would be such fun to see 20 Cobra's owners trying to out do each others times. Rover VS big US engine? Dax Vs GD Vs ??? I'm sure there are many people who would loose a pint or two in bets and many stories to be recited in the months that follow! I'm sure Mike in his GD will be looking for payback from me once he's got more familiar with his car (only his 2nd time of driving it!)

Cheers

Jason

[TINKA]

Sounds like you had a good day. It is always good to have a play to find the limits of your car. Sounds like a good Idea might be an idea to drop Mr Bling and Tony M a PM to see if they want to help in any way.

[Naughty Magpie]

I'd probably do another activity day if there were all Cobras there.