2017 – April – Bedford Autodrome GT Track Day

Bedford GT, April 2017

Myself & Snidey drove up the night before the track day in the M4 and stayed in a pub near the Bedford Autodrome, Bobby came up in the Caterham to join us the next morning. Plan was for the three of us to share the Caterham for the day. After the first session, we noticed the rear diff. was weeping a tiny bit. Having consulted nearby Caterham owners who confirmed this is what they all do, we carried on driving.
Snidey had his first go in the Caterham and, true to form, he broke my car! The throttle pedal went 'floppy' so he came into the pits. Having borrowed some tools we took the pedal box apart and tried to fix the issue and carried on. Unfortunately it turned out the issue was at the other end of the cable and we were unable to fix it properly so with thoughts turned to getting the car home that evening, we left the Caterham in the pits and took the M4 on track for its first time.
It wanted to go sideways EVERYWHERE. 2nd gear, 3rd gear, even 4th gear. Found that the temps/pressures in the rear tyres (recently fitted Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rather than the factory Michelin Pilot Supersports) were getting way too high. Let a load of air out of the rear tyres before going out again which helped but the M4 remained extremely wayward. Fun, but causing lots of warning flags and eventually a black flag!!
When I watched back the videos later (see 'Videos' page) it turns out my fastest lap in each car was identical at 2m49s. I've not analysed it but I'm assuming the M4 was faster on the straights (just under 150mph on the main straight compared with around 120mph for the Caterham) and the 7 was quicker in the corners.
Anyway, it was another great day of driving, dampened a little shortly after we left the track when the throttle cable let go and we ended up having to call the AA which cost us a few hours and meant getting home much later than expected.
Bungle