knockhill

Twas good to get back on track again, but was not sure what to expect. Glad to see that it was slippy for everyone, as I thought I had made a big mistake in going back to the Maxsports. There really was very little grip from the backend at the Hairpin and Clarks, though the fronts felt good. It was great fun though as everybody was in the same boat, no rain so tops were off, but the track was so slow in drying out due to the moist air. Uldis was concerned when he was following me, and the EVO driver said that he found it hard to concentrate, but I was in control most of the time, just had to accept that it was going to step out, but it felt progressive and correctable.

Had some good laps with Scotty, Uldis and 4mm, and it would seem that the simple measures of cleaning the air filter and changing the fuel filter had restored most of the lost power. Not something I neglect, but obviously needs doing more often. It was a good occasion to measure the straight line performance against them, I had the edge on Scotty, about equal with Uldis, and able to pull away from Neil. In the last hour a dry line developed apart from the Hairpin exit, and then the tyres really started to feel good and the enjoyment factor leapt. I was then able to take on the 500hp Evo, and the 280hp supercharged Honda Type-R. The Honda was one of the quickest pure road saloons that I had ever been on with, but surprisingly I was able to pass him on the straight and late into Duffus. I was also on with Jason in his YAHOO TVR, and again pulling away on the straights, though not sure if he could put down all his power. Had a minor spin at the Hairpin early on, but in the last 20 mins, the rain started just as Mark in the Ferrari 355 Challenge came out of the pits in front of me. I wanted to go round with him, but neglected to slow down for the rain going through the Chicane, and had the most vicious spin that I have ever had. Thought it was a 720, but it proved to be a 1080. Stayed on the tarmac and drove off, but straighter the neck a bit, and there was a nasty grouching noise from the front, so called it a day. Drove around the car park but could not get rid of it, it was not a stone in the disks but could have been brake related, so went for a coffee and to call the AA. Drove back down to the pits with Lawrence as pax to check it out, but it had gone, so was able to drive home.

We went the A 90 route as it looked like rain, a mistake for me as I was fighting to stay awake, the sun was out, and I needed to work the car. Dropped off near Brechin, but fortunately there was low kerbing on the left and it woke me up as I ran along it. Can not afford that again, so it has to be the back roads in future, though that will be next year and hopefully feeling stronger and fitter by then.

Was rather knackered in the evening, but the massage chair along with a couple of Laphroaig's got the blood circulating again, and it was such a great feeling doing something that I love again, which seemed impossible a couple of months ago.

Yep, superb trackday (although short).

Had such a good time when the dry line developed that when it started to rain again (and seeing that I was going at a fairly spirited pace) with 30 min to go I decided to call it a day and went to speak to Neill (who I met for the first time). We had a nice game going on out there ;)
Good to see Tut's horses were back but I was concerned he was all over the place., but the track was very slippery. Good to see he's doing trackdays after the surgery. Can only wish for a full recovery, all the feeling back on those feet.

Last but not least, it was good to finally be able to overpower Scoobies on the straight :D
The engine was sooo sweet! amazing what an exhaust system can do.

Hope we can get the full day on Oct.

Uldis

Had a superb time yesterday. although it was wet and phenomenally slippy at first, I still had a good time as the cars handling much more neutral in the wet, before it would just understeer, but now it can be driven from the rear. When it dried up, Uldis and I had a good race, his advantage up the main straight was too much for my meagre 160bhp, but I was able to keep up over about 15 laps due to better traction and nipping through the traffic better. Tuts car looked a handful, but how much of it was him and how much was the torque and slippy maxports, I don't know. looked like fun though. ;) Definitely made the decision of tuned K v's Honda conversion a bit tougher. I'm still leaning towards honda due to the ease of further mods once I get used to the extra power (ala supercharger). Uldis and the K seemed to make more of a gap through the extra revs available to him rather than actualy being massively quicker, whereas Tuts Honda seems to pull away all the time up the straight. This may just be a gear ratio issue, so a proper test drive over the winter is required. ;) 4mil

Lots of fun with the ever changing grip, never sure how late you could brake or how fast you could turn in, loads of over and understeer but managed to stay on the blackstuff, Clarks and the Hairpin were incredibly slippy.

I didn't really enjoy today. My driving talent + 48's = very slow driving, being overtaken by scoobies which I hated and exiting duffus dip backwards. My one and only spin. I actually was thinking, hey I haven't spun yet...must be a first, then ooops. Then the dry line appeared and I was pretty quick. Grip was amazing and managed to get past "my benchmark" that is Si with relative ease....sorry Si. Didn't last long, maybe 30 mins and it rained and I was back to being slow. Can't wait for the dry days! Have to agree with Uldis about the Ferrari guy not letting ANYONE past. While paxing with Uldis he was blue flagged but ignored it. Actually most of the time Uldis had to back off as this guy wasn't too hot in the corners with his unpredictable tail out and snaking! He should just stick to what he does best and that's revving the car in the pit lane! Oh, Duffus Dip, I hear it's being modified for next year?? G

Have to say that I had an absolute ball! Tyres gripped well whatever the track conditions, which surprised me a bit as I thought I'd be all over the place so I left the slithering about to everyone else ;-) Track etiquette was ok in the main, but there were a few imprezzas (in particular a black one with silver decals and no spoiler) and the odd Elise that wouldn't move over but blasted up the straights on every lap - really annoyed me, so I let Joe continue the fight with him as I cooled off for a few minutes! My only problem was a dodgy gearshift which left me with problems getting into 1st or 2nd, so I ground to a bit of a halt at the hairpin a few times, apologies to anyone who was following at the time! Was tempted to get back on track today as well, but unfortunately I have to work! Roll on next season. Brunty

Thoroughly enjoyed my second outing at KH yesterday.... especially when the dry line appeared and I could drive with a bit more confidence....Plus... wasn't the slowest thing on track this time.... even had to complain to the marshalls about a blue scooby who wouldnt get out my way even though I was practically in his boot for 4 laps... grrrr! and I was definitely faster than at least one other elise! Although after a few laps as a pax with Gordon, I think I still have a lot to learn!!! Also had my first spin..... coming through the chicane way too fast for my abilities...... good fun! Dave.

I also had a great day, until I tried to get my new tyres fitted. Turns out the front wheel nuts are jammed on tight and the useless adaptor tool that Lotus supply just sheared in two. So I'd gotten Lorraine to bring my tyres down from Carnoustie for nothing and lost the last hour of track time :-( So I'll have to try and find a tyre place nearby that can try and get them off, hopefully without drilling the nuts out. Once that's done, I think I'll switch to a standard non-locking set of nuts. Can anyone tell me where I can buy a new set from, what size they are (for an S2)and how much they'd be? I don't know why but the pit exit control seemed a bit of a shambles. I had 3/4 cars come out of the pits right in front of me and I did exactly the same to someone else (green light was on for me to go). On one occasion, I luckily saw the guy in the control tower leaning out gesturing to me to move over. Someone else said they'd had the same happen to them so it wasn't just me. The rest of the day was fine. Disappointed to see Gareth's now faster than me in the dry due to his '48s and LSS. Guess I'll have to start saving for new wheels, suspension, close ratio 'box etc. ;-) Si.

Unbelievable weather. Was ethused into fitting my track wheels, shod with Maxsports, but my heart sank as I crossed the Forth at Kincardine - through a fog bank - as I expected KH to be misty and damp. Not so! The nice cold air was probably worth a couple of bhp, albeit everyone got that so no real advantage to be had.

First few laps indicated terminal understeer. I have only just wound up the rear dampers by a further 4 clicks (out of 24) to cure "bounciness" reported by many who have followed me, so figured maybe the car was out of balance. So in the interests of engineering accuracy, I borrowed Ronnie the Tyre Man's jack and screwdriver, and whacked the fronts up by an arbitrary two clicks to compensate! I'm on Spax RSX, and for the record am now at 14 clicks front and 20 clicks rear.

This made minimal difference, TBH. Not sure what my tyre pressures were - whatever they were at when I fitted them earlier in the summer minus natural losses, I guess! Never had time to check on Saturday morning, unfortunately.

Got to the stage where, through practically every corner, I actually began to feel that I was driving beyond the car's overall level of grip. Eg into Duffus and Clark, I was getting oversteer, and even more excitingly at Clark it was switching between oversteer and understeer all before the apex =8-o

Couldn't hook the car up in the hairpin as well as I have done in the past either - felt like it was washing out a bit from apex to exit cone (though never actually ended up overshooting the exit kerb or collecting the exit cone, etc).

At KH earlier this year, I did have some fairly extensive instruction, though, and I do feel as though that has made me a bit quicker. Hard to judge for sure but I wasn't that far behind Mr Thomas in the 135R-mobile, although regular traffic made it hard to work out if I was truly keeping up or just getting lucky ;-) So as a result, perhaps I have some re-learning of corner entries to do. Maybe something which will make KH interesting for me again next season, as right now I am getting a wee bit bored of it and have already made a New Year Resolution to do at least as many trackdays *away* from KH next season as I do there.

Usual accolade to JohnS for top org, the sellout paddock said it all. Nice way to complete the year's action on track. Ta also to Fd and Simon for some nice photos for the album :-) Very high driving standards indeed, never really got held up though did end up in a 5-Elise queue behind something else, can't recall what, and for a moment I thought we were out on a Leaves Run ;-)

Thanks soooo much to everyone who gave me pax laps today. And special thanks to Mandy and Robin for the spins! LOL The weather was perfect, the laps were perfect and you guys were all as gorgeous as ever! *bounce* *bounce*. I guess it really *is* time for me to get that "I Love Lotus Drivers" t-shirt! So roll on the S_E next day out! *bounce* T.

Thank-you Robin, Stuart, Mac and Mandy for taking me out yesterday. Really enjoyable laps from all of you: Robin got a hooligan rating of 9/10 and applause from spectators at the hairpin (always a good sign!). Keep trying for that extra 5mph into Clarks! Stuart got a hooligan rating of 10/10 simply for managing to use opposite lock on every corner during the lap. Wonderful use of power over steer - sorry, I don't believe you when you say you don't normally drive like that! Mac and Mandy - your car feels great with the upgraded power, you just need some sticky tyres now! Mandy's driving of Clarks was excellent, nailing the apex and using the extra power to pull the car round the corner. I think that SE has definitely changed. Now it is the norm to have 150+ bhp, rather than the exception and the driving standard has improved to match. It was also good fun to go back to Airth Castle afterwards. I arrived to see the lawn containing gleaming Lotus cars of every description - and there was a real sense of tranquillity - then the Elises turned up, destroying the tranquillity, filthy and lining up in front of the everything. There was a definite sense that the yobbo's had arrived! Here's to being a yobbo! It doesn't get much better than yesterday. Jonathan

My rear maxi's took a real beating, left rear, no tread left whatsoever, and very little left of the right, 70 mph down the dualler for me on the way home, tut peeled off at Perth and took the back road, I would have come but didn't want to chance coming across any snow with my slick on...

I started the day off really slow as my confidence had been destroyed by my last outing at Knock hill and lucky escape with the tyre wall but picked up pace and by the end of the session was doing err...reasonably well for my third track day. Had a dice with tut which was fun but I'm sure he was just toying with me. Loadsa elises on track, all going for it and the standard of SE driving was noticeably high.

No dramas, spins or offs so so all in all a great day for me and can't wait until my next outing.

Steve.

FUN! FUN! FUN! FUN! Ahhh, I needed that, too long no play. Can only echo Ali's (and everybody's) comments Better than being the only male at a girl's-only topless party. Well maybe not that much, but you get the point ;) Amazing weather and I forgot I had a cold. Sadly I can feel it today, as I feel like sh!t. But hey, I'll be ok in a few days. But overall perfect day, bring in the next one! Uldis

Just wanted to say a HUGE thanks for all the pax laps i got on Sunday.... I think it was fairly obvious that it was the first trackday of the season judging by the driving on the day...... lots of pent up frustration being released methinks!

Excellent day today, with plenty of track time, after the initial rush by everyone to get on track things soon quietened down, by the end of the evening Iain and myself were the only ones on track. Driving standards were generally very good, only saw two off's all day, one a Scooby and the other was Iain who out broke himself getting past a back marker and put his car into the NCP kitty litter at the hairpin.

Now where did I put that copy of Max Power.

Yes, was a great day. I arrived just before 2pm and after a few minutes watching I decided that I would have a bash. When Dave saw that I survived unscathed then he also joined me on track. Only 40 cars turned up so they were split into two sessions. Rarely more than 15 cars on at a time. There were a few more offs than Dave saw but he rested while it was wet. Some great spectating from behind some of the hatchbacks as they threw themselves into damp corners and were power sliding all over the place. Saw a few offs around the chicane. Plenty cars sliding in my rear view mirror as they tried to catch the Elise. A blue Nova that I was following went sliding into Duffus and I don't think I saw his wheels grip once until he was well out of Clarks. Haven't a clue how he made it through everything at the speed he was going. He collected plenty mud on his way. Needless to say at the straight I decided it would be safer to get in front of him.

Driving standards and abilities were very good, though there was no moving over or slowing down to let faster cars past. Hence how I ran out of braking distance when funnelled into the hairpin by cones and a hatchback that just wasn't giving way!!. Was out of the kittly litter within seconds and back in the action. Some fast cars on track and it was nice to have some different competition around. A few Scoobs and Evos also ventured out.

When it turned wet quite a few cars left so by the time the rain had died down then it wasn't long to it became an open pit lane. Got a few passenger laps in Hot Hatches and was well impressed by their abilities. If some of them had Elises I think they would be very serious competition for our fastest S_E drivers.

Was good practice today and managed to get some lines a bit better. Out of interest I checked my speed on the straight just as I was about to start braking well inside the braking area and was always around 95-97. This was even with good exits from the hairpin. Definitely ended up with the most time on track today as Dave and I got waved off the track right at the end.

SCOTTISH ELISES AT KNOCKHILL

PICTURES AND VIDEOS

SCOTTISH ELISES AT KNOCKHILL