Well, I had a fantastic day yesterday! It was great to meet Bruce01, and to see Flea and puntoturbo again.
It was my first ever track day, and I had a heady mix of nerves, adrenaline and excitement from the moment I woke up. I of course placed myself in the novice category, and had 2 excellent sessions in the morning. I couldn't have been happier with car, and in all honesty the performance was cartoon like compared with the rest of the field
Llandow is a very small circuit at just under a mile, is oval in its overall shape, with a series of quite tight corners thrown in for good measure. I spent the sessions in 2nd and 3rd and gave the brakes a fair amount of abuse at the end of the 2 "straights", so much so that I boiled my brake fluid at the end of the second session. Fortunately, Bruce was in the paddock and was able to manhandle my car to a standstill.....cheers Bruce
The track surface is quite bumpy in places causing the car to loose traction at high speed, particularly on the pit straight. So (explanation to girlfriend!!) the track was bumpy, and all of the low gear acceleration put significant strain on the car, which ultimately meant that 3rd gear is now somewhere in the outfield......darling
I managed to limp the 35 miles home, missing 3rd of course, but was delighted not to have had to phone for recovery.
All in all the driving experience was fantastic and I can't wait to do it again, but this time on a track where I can experience more of the cars performance, and one that is more conducive to the coupes setup.
As for the gearbox, well this may be the opportunity to move away from the Tilton (earthmover) clutch I have been waiting for.