2003 Race at Donnington (National Circuit)

Just a reminder that good racing happens at all levels. I had a blast watching this.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...07406038254401

 

F1 is faster.

serious though that was a cool vid - that looks like a LOT of fun!

 

That was an awesome vid. Reminds me of last summer when I got to drive a Reynard F2000, which was an awesome experience. I like watching in car cockpit cams of races like that a lot. Good find.

 

^^ wow nice

 

Im guessing you mean about me driving the reynard,...... ya it was awesome. I hope to go back and do it again this summer if I have the money. I was thinking of maybe organizing a group thing with AZ members if ppl were interested and could come. Here is a pic of the car I got to drive. It was at the bridgestone racing academy if anyone cares. Sorry for hijacking.

 

no, I just watched the video again and said it was nice.

j/k yea I was talking about the Reynard.. can you describe what it was like? I mean I would imagine the g's were amazing and the car handled crazy but any otherwise-unknown details would be appreciated. Not entirely a threadjack, I mean its kinda related :P

 

Screw thread hijacking. We want details Mr. West!!!

Was this a full fledged racing school or some sort of one day "driving experience" sort of thing? Location? Cost? etc...

 

http://www.race2000.com/

Correct?

 

Haha, glad you guys are interested. Ummmmm where to begin. I guess the school is more of a one day type of thing, but there are tons of options you can do. Half day, full day, 2 day, 3 day, 4 day courses. The more advanced ones you do the more you learn and the more driving you get to do. I believe there is an actual racing series with these cars, and with some of the longer courses you can actually win a spot in the series I believe. When I bought my TSX the dealer had a promotion on and actually paid for me to go do this. It was only a half day course, and you are not allowed to pass the instructor infront of you (for the particular course I did,....others you race other ppl), but it was AWESOME. The faster you go, the faster the instructor would go,......so you can try to push as much as you want as long as the other student behind you can keep up (one instructor with 2 students following). We were broken into two groups,......a slow one, and a fast one,........of course I was in the fast one. They determine what group you are in based on some prelim laps you do to get used to the course etc. For longer courses you actually race against the other students etc,...after you learn how to passetc, but of course that all costs more money. The half day thing I did cost about 600 dollars a person. Full day things can be up at 1200, etc.

Here is the website
http://www.race2000.com/

Even though I only did a half day thing, it was still totally awesome. I had a perma smile for like a month after doing this. The cars handle insanely well, and getting to drive around really fast was such a rush. You can find the specs of the cars on the website I think,.....but if I remember correctly,........they are toyota race engines,....130hp,....0-60mph in about 5 seconds,.....carbon metalic brakes,......4 speed non syncrho gear box,..car weighs about 950lbs with no one inside the head instructor told me (says about 1000 on the site). I got used to having to heel toe downshift pretty quickly and flying around the track was totally awesome. I just wish it was a bigger track. The school is located at Mosport raceway up near bowmanville, not far from Toronto. The cars we were driving actually have their own track which is smaller than the Mosport track (where stuff like ALMS cars race) but was still a lot of fun. I just wish the straight was longer so I could have gotten to a higher speed. At redline in 3rd gear the car is doing 167kph. I dont know the top speed of the cars, but with more straight the cars could easily get over 200kph. The acceleration of the cars was sweet. Keeping the car in the powerband (3000 - 5500) meant immediate and tons of foward thrust. I know 170 kph does not sound like that fast,.....but it was pretty good, esp since you are in a low car and feel every part of the road etc. I can only imagine how awesome it would have been being on a bigger and longer track. I think now they actually have an option where you get to drive on the Mosport track itself, but I am not sure on the particulars of that cause its something new. I dunno how fast they let you go etc,...cause the Mosport track is big and those cars could FLY around it for sure. The brakes on the cars were amazing. I only went off the track once near the beginning because I took a 90 degree turn a little too fast LOL. The pedal set up was awesome for heel/toe shifting (really what I call toe/toe because the pedals are so close you basically just roll your foot to the right to get the gas,.......much better than actually having to use your heel,....I think all race cars/drivers do it this way). Ummmmm,.........car has a tach,...and a few other guages like oil pressure etc,.......but no speedo (not like you have time to look at that stuff anyway). If I get to go again,...and I will,..I hope I will be allowed to bring a special camera with me so I can get cockpit footage.

Thats about it I guess,.......any more questions I am happy to answer. I had such an awesome time I cant shut up about it as you can now tell. I will post up some more pics in a bit.

 

Correct

 

holy.... brb.. need some

 

OK, just a few quick pics.

The dealership that paid for this (Acura of Hamilton) had a photographer take pics of us while we were driving/group shot, so the first few are what I got from them. Its a little book thing that opens,........dont have a scanner, so I just took pics of it with my camera right now.




I am the guy beside the tall guy in the middle (to his left).


That is actually me driving. In the background is the pit area. They took our pics there (I would guess) because its after the straight when there are two tight turns so we are going slower. I had just finished braking and am going through turn 1 in the shot.

 

Here are some pics I took. I know, I am getting carried away. My dad would have taken lots of pics etc, but since some ppl didnt show up, he got to drive. I hope I dont get in trouble, cause I have posted some of these pics before,......no idea what thread it was though.

The parking lot.



My TSX beside the dealers GM's RL.


Cars


Inside the classroom before going out to drive. My dad is the bald guy with a white beard.


Inside the car,...I missed a few of the guages,...but you get the idea.

The slow group getting ready to go while the fast group (me) was in the pits out of our cars. The guy in the second pic standing up and pointing is the head instructor.

 

damn, you went above & beyond what I was lookin for.. thanks!

 

sweeeet

 

While we're on the subject, I have to admit that I've actually been wanting to do this one for years more so than a road racing school.

http://www.frankhawley.com/class_sc.htm

 

A dragster race school,....that would be awesome. Those things would be insane fast.