Oulton Park

[griffalo]

I've booked myself a track day at Oulton Park for 17/2.  It's my first track day any advice would be greatly appreciated. It's a novice day which I thought would be better for me.

If anyone is interested I booked it through MSVT and was £89 for the day (I think it's 7 x 20mins).

thanks 

Matt

[carlostheoptimistic]

I've only done 2 track days up to now and I was sh**ting myself on the first one, up until I'd done the first stint!
People that do track days are all cars people and all the ones I've met are friendly and happy to talk all day about their car, your car and any car really!
Also, I was worried about being 'bullied' on the track i.e. people cutting me up or getting annoyed with me cause I was a bit slower or took the wrong line. But as long as you stick to the rules for overtaking etc. then most people are forgiving. As the day goes on you'll learn what cars are quick and which ones to watch in your mirrors for.
Just remember to drive within your abilities, start at 60% to 70% of what you think is as fast as you could go and then increase it in small steps. Also look out to see if they put out cones for turning in points and apexes, if they are doing tutoring sessions they often put these out.
You'll love it, enjoy

[mscott]

Hi,

track days are nothing to worry about, as "CarlosTheOtimistic" said start off slow and within your ability or you WILL go off..

You'll most likely be grouped by ability/experience, but again this is nothing to worry about, you can always back off from a car in front and give yourself some more room.

You shouldn't get bullied, if you do report them to the organisers and the bullies come off worse for it !

Track Day rules are simple if a little boring for a Racer but there for your's and others benefits, after all most people want to be driving their Prized Possession home.
Typical Rules:

You can ONLY Overtake on the Straights, NEVER on the BENDS.

You can ONLY Overtake on the Left Hand Side, so keep an eye in your mirrors (common novice mistake not doing this) and simply move over if safe to the right, Indicate you've
seen them either mirrors of hand signal (no I didn't say Hand Gesture ).
Stay off the Grass, it's never a good place to be, it's definitely slower and they don't appreciate you chewing it up. Plus the cleaning up afterwards.
Keep an Eye out for Yellow or Red flags, failing to do this you'll see a Black one and get a telling off, plus it's usually for a good reason.

If you can follow another car at a safe distance it might be worth watching how they approach corners, this shouldn't be taken as Gospel but it will give you an idea, if you can get some tuition from someone who knows how to drive on the track you'll be better for it.. 

Watch out for the top section at Oulton around "Lodge", it can get slippery with the trees, I know !

Regards Micky

[griffalo]

I had a brilliant time at Oulton Park yesterday in the Rocket and my first track day (a few thought I was nutty with it being my first track day and only done 150 miles in it).  One of my main concerns was the reliability, thankfully nothing happened (didn't even need to get a tool out), it has given me all the confidence I need to go further than the 2 miles from my house (will be driving to SL in it 😊).

I took my time in the first few sessions and gradually built my speed up and harder braking as I got more comfortable with it.  I didn't break any lap records.  It was well worth going on the track day to get a good feel and understanding of its capabilities.  A couple of photos attached.

Matt