So we set off to Castle Combe the rain rolling in for the early morning drive to the track. Visibility was rubbish and we began wondering what we were letting ourselves in for.
We made it to the track in half light and once registered we settled in for the wait as the rain rattled on the cars roof. The boredom was relieved by a trip to the scrutineering bay for the sound check.
We passed with ease. The scrutineer told us that MX-5’s rarely fail the noise test and probably only when someone decided to fit a straight through exhaust with no silencers.
The rain eased off a bit and we stood in the paddock for the drivers briefing then queued up for the sighting laps behind the pace car. Once those were completed we were on our own.
Impressions of the Car
On the drive in all seemed to be working well so I had no concerns.
As the morning progressed and we began to drive harder I began to realise that the LSD wasn’t working properly as I had some wheel spin especially on the slipper paint of the chicanes at Castle Combe.
We also had some problems (user error) with video so the session was recorded mostly as data with little video or gaps which we’d need to sort out.
Finally Castle Combe in the wet was good fun but we were not pushing it at all. In the restart after lunch one car spun off and we bailed out and went home through flooded villages.
The car had told us what we needed to know and we could develop a plan from there
Here’s a video of my first very slow track day laps in the rain.
