Excellent day at Donnington yesterday with Gold Track Club. Quite a few Loti there actually, as apparently it was also one of the Lotus Driver's club days. 2 lovely Elans, approx 8 Elises, 2 Europas (one with a Banks chassis/engine) and at least 4 Esprits.

Got there early to ensure a garage as the weather was forecast as changeable with intermittent heavy showers and I didn't want to be faffing about taking the roof on and off, and got the other half of one being used by a 911 GT1 - nice! Signed on, complimentary bacon rolls & coffee, drivers briefing all very friendly.

I ran in intermediate, along with another three Elises and at least one Esprit. Most of the LDC drivers were in the novice class - apparently intermediate had been oversubscribed and some had been bumped down. First session at 9:30, and blue skies above - marvellous. Took it gently at first, and was delighted to discover that I could remember the circuit quite well from my previous visits, and that I wasn't the slowest thing around, even tho I was being v. polite and letting by anything that got even vaguely close. I spent this and the next session practicing brake and throttle control, using one side of the sole of my right foot on the brake, and the other side of the sole to give the throttle a blip and then slip smoothly from brake onto power. The car seems not to like any gap between brake and power - on the occasions when I fluffed it and didn't get the power on properly, the back seemed to want to lift and come round - a feeling that went away as soon as the power cut in.

Two sessions gone. Came back in and pinched a copy of the Autosport Circuit guide to confirm two things that I knew I was doing wrong - i.e. not being far enough over to the left approaching Mcleans and turning in too early at Coppice and hugging the right of the corner. Ok - out again, keep steady state turn exiting Starkeys bridge, hold it on the power and yes, offside of car is now pointing at turn it cone, on brakes, turn in and boot it, drift wide. Got it! Hmm, now to Coppice, looking for something that I can see to aim for over the brow, and trying just to go for a single brake and change before the turn in, let it go straight on for a bit and then long gentle turn. Lots of marbles before the kerb on the outside, and try as I may exit speed remains stubbornly at 80mph. Slight backing off caused by a little shower of rain, but not enough to dampen the track and it soon blows over. Oh well, 5 minutes of session left, time to have a quick play with braking later into Redgate and turning in a little bit past the marker for a squarer line. Car gets stable faster as less time in the turn, but doesn't go so wide on the exit so probably not faster. End of session.

Priority for session 4 was braking - I know I am soft on the brakes so try leaving it later and later before hitting them. Sigh, no good as even when I lost concentration while letting a faster car past approaching the end of Starkey's straight before the right/left and was going straight on for sure, it still pulled up nicely and we got through. Lots of scope for improvement here, but my brain is still associating hard braking with hard turn in as well, causing the occasional bit of oversteer and mid-corner correction. Also decided that Old Hairpin could be attacked as per karting, i.e. quick bash on brakes and power back on full well before the apex - seemed to give a good strong drag up the hill, and easily passed a TVR Cerbera and a slow 911 this way. Chased an caught another bright red Elise, although the two others passed me. One of them was a Motobuild 150, I didn't get a look at the other (Silver with red hood).

Session 5, last time out, so concentrate on consistency and keeping it tidy. I'm aided in this by an new shape MR2 turbo which pulls out of the pits just as I enter the straight, and yup, I'm gaining on it. It seems to have a little bit more top speed on the straights, but I'm pulling yards out of it at each bend. This goes on for several laps as we occasionally get obstructed by faster and slower cars, but eventually he concedes and lets me past, whereupon I draw away. V.satisfying. Pass the Cerbera again, a dark blue Esprit and a multi-coloured 911 and that's it for the day.

No dramas, no offs, no damage. Still lots to learn though.

1999 Update

Went back to Donninington for an evening session in June.

We used the GP circuit this time, which means turning left two thirds of the way down the back straight onto the Melbourne loop. This left-right chicane is approached very fast over a brow, so it took a few attempts to work out where and how much to slow. Initially I kept taking too much kerb on entry and ruining the exit line, but got the hang of it eventually. The Melbourne hairpin is like Ettores at Prescott only much bigger, so a late apex and not too much power too early to avoid running wide on exit. The last corner onto the straight is the same in reverse, but has quite a lot of adverse camber in the turn in area so you don't go in quite so deep.

Tried flat out down Craner curves once, and nearly came to grief - turned in a little early I think and ended up on the right hand side of the track approaching Old Hairpin, rather than tight to the left. Thought we were going grass cutting for a while but managed to collect it up in time. Also had a couple of lovely runs through McLeans, just a hint of understeer on turn in and a suggestion of oversteer on exit, real low flying stuff. Not as quick through Coppice as I remember though - might be track conditions or memory playing tricks.

Overall a pretty sucessful evening - I'm glad to say I have improved over the last year. I can heel-and-toe reasonably now, which means much less uncertainty on turn in and more confidence in the early part of the corner. I actually overtook some other Elises and didn't get caught by any it return, and only really got embarrased by "proper" race cars. Keep at it!

2000 Update

Back again - Donninington is still one of my favourite tracks.

This was more of a recreational day with friends' in MX5 & Westfield so I didn't take it too seriously. Crowded track but some good fun chasing Porsche 944s, modified Elises & an Exige. No big dramas except for a bit too much oversteer at Coppice one time. Still scrubbing too much speed mid-corner. I suppose I could just turn in slower but I'd rather get better at balancing the car which I hope will be faster in the end.