Cadwell Park

Often known as the mini-Nürburgring for its many ups and downs and twists and turns, this has to be my favourite circuit and I enjoy it more every time I go. Each time I have been, I have stayed at Keddington House, a really friendly B&B approx. 15 minutes from the circuit, which caters well for all those who use Cadwell.

April 2007

This year the L7C Cadwell Park Trackday was held in April, rather than early May. The morning session remained dry although fairly warm and cloudy, but the threat of rain was never far away. During the lunch break it steadily rained and this was the first rain we had seen for a few weeks and as a result of that and the previous day's Historical Car Club racing the circuit was going to be very greasy for the afternoon session. In order to avoid too many visits to the scenery the instructors decided to abandon all instruction for the afternoon and instead they would lead each session round the track at reduced speeds so that everyone could experience the poor conditions at sensible speeds. This paid off handsomely as there was only one 'spinner' after lunch. This was my first experience of track driving in the wet and as long as you are sensible, it can still be enjoyable. Thanks to Xtreme Sports Photography for the last nine action shots.

Tango Tart being noise tested	Red Group queueing for the first session
Steve looking rather confused as Symmo says "you should have gone left while Tango Tart says "you should have gone right!""	Changing your tyres for a trackday is one thing, but changing your bonnet!!?
Standing around hoping the rain will stop	Coppice and approach to The Mountain in the background
Approaching Hall Bends
	The Hairpin
Mansfield	Hall Bends
Hall Bends	Take-off at The Mountain

July 2006

I took the opportunity of doing another trackday at Cadwell Park which was run by EasyTRACK. The trackday was run on an open pit-lane basis, which means there is plenty of track time available and you are able to spend some time on track with a greater variety of 'machinery'.

The following photos show a small sample of the various cars participating on the day...

Here are a couple of ways to enjoy your lunchtime break!

Looking out over Paddock exit towards Coppice	Hall Bends with Coppice in the background

I had some great fun "duelling" with this Mk II Golf which had been track-prepared. Unfortunately for the Golf, when following me towards Coppice, the windscreen was shattered apparently by a stone thrown up by C7CAT. Autoglass were unable to supply a windscreen for a 25 year old car and so after quite some time spent removing the remnants of the windscreen from inside the car and taking out the perspex rear window, the Golf managed some more track time and finding out what it's like to run with aeroscreens!

May 2006

This year, I'm pleased to say, the weather was better. As before, Geoff Pickin had arranged back-to-back trackdays for the Club and I, together with the usual suspects, took part in the session on Tuesday. For the first time since 2002, I decided to take some instruction from one of the ARDS instructors to see whether or not my track driving was improving. Overall, I'm pleased to say that my technique and positioning was favourably commented upon. However, it nearly got off to a bad start when I managed to drift the seven round The Hairpin unintentionally on the first lap due to cold tyres and the fact that I didn't take into account the additional ballast of the instructor! Normally, I tend to run with Yokohama A021Rs in 185/70/13 profile but this time I tried out the Yokohama A032Rs in 185/60/13 profile and I just couldn't believe the difference in the amount of grip offered!

Here's a random selection of photos from the day including, unfortunately, a 'bent' seven which just goes to prove that sometimes it does go horribly wrong. Fortunately the driver was OK.