Well I drove my first proper race car.

Nice dry track. Great instructor.
Clio Renaultsport 197 bhp wow, was beautiful to drive. So much grip and torque. Didn't realise you could drive around a corner so fast without sliding or rolling over.
5 laps and couldn't stop grinning.
Got 81 out of 100 marks which I think is very average.
Formula Renault single seater was well worth the money.
No paddle shift. H gears, Acc, brake and clutch. Gears are hard to engage sometimes. I asked ( cos I'm a bit thick) if there was a clutch or pas earlier and everyone burst out laughing, which set me up to be the jester of the day.
Starting off in an F3 car is different to what you are used to in your normal car. Keep the revs at 2000 and slowly let the clutch out, but DON'T let it right out as soon as you feel it bite. Very gradual.
I know because i managed to stall it 3 times in the pits along with 4 other newbies.
Coming out the pits, I stepped on the gas in 2nd gear and the car shot up the straight. Struggled to get it in 3rd then 4th and then changed down to 3rd twice a lap for the sharper corners.
I wasn't that bad out on the track and I got a couple of quick laps in but for safety reasons there is a rev limiter and I heard it a bit on the straights and longer bends. I think this is a good thing as you can only get quicker by improving on corners etc.

I love LFS and Rfactor but I think it's easier to drive for real as you can feel the whole car and get a better sense of speed and available grip, and there's tons of grip. I think LFS needs more of a feel of speed before you start sliding, especially in the Fox. (I can't drive the bloody thing :-)
Rfactor seemed closer to the speed and grip combination.
I don't mean to slag LFS as I think it's a brilliant sim. Just my opinion.

In the middle of it all I just kept wondering why someone would be so foolish to let me loose in one of these cars.
It's amazing that anyone can just turn up and drive a Formul 3 car.
Oulton Park has got to be one of the best tracks and so interesting to drive.
If any of you live live nearby and don't mind spending the cash, I don't think you would regret it.


PS When in the Clio, I got overtaken by someone called something like M'grath or similar. He was also in a Clio.
The instructor said he is, or was a champion driver. He expected me to know him but I didn't. Any ideas who he is?

Cheers

Quote from TonyP23 :

Well I drove my first proper race car.

Nice dry track. Great instructor.
Clio Renaultsport 197 bhp wow, was beautiful to drive. So much grip and torque. Didn't realise you could drive around a corner so fast without sliding or rolling over.
5 laps and couldn't stop grinning.
Got 81 out of 100 marks which I think is very average.
Formula Renault single seater was well worth the money.
No paddle shift. H gears, Acc, brake and clutch. Gears are hard to engage sometimes. I asked ( cos I'm a bit thick) if there was a clutch or pas earlier and everyone burst out laughing, which set me up to be the jester of the day.
Starting off in an F3 car is different to what you are used to in your normal car. Keep the revs at 2000 and slowly let the clutch out, but DON'T let it right out as soon as you feel it bite. Very gradual.
I know because i managed to stall it 3 times in the pits along with 4 other newbies.
Coming out the pits, I stepped on the gas in 2nd gear and the car shot up the straight. Struggled to get it in 3rd then 4th and then changed down to 3rd twice a lap for the sharper corners.
I wasn't that bad out on the track and I got a couple of quick laps in but for safety reasons there is a rev limiter and I heard it a bit on the straights and longer bends. I think this is a good thing as you can only get quicker by improving on corners etc.

I love LFS and Rfactor but I think it's easier to drive for real as you can feel the whole car and get a better sense of speed and available grip, and there's tons of grip. I think LFS needs more of a feel of speed before you start sliding, especially in the Fox. (I can't drive the bloody thing :-)
Rfactor seemed closer to the speed and grip combination.
I don't mean to slag LFS as I think it's a brilliant sim. Just my opinion.

In the middle of it all I just kept wondering why someone would be so foolish to let me loose in one of these cars.
It's amazing that anyone can just turn up and drive a Formul 3 car.
Oulton Park has got to be one of the best tracks and so interesting to drive.
If any of you live live nearby and don't mind spending the cash, I don't think you would regret it.


PS When in the Clio, I got overtaken by someone called something like M'grath or similar. He was also in a Clio.
The instructor said he is, or was a champion driver. He expected me to know him but I didn't. Any ideas who he is?

Cheers

Racing clutches are very harsh, and it's very very easy to stall. I still do now and again (although probably once in 30 times).

Were you told to use the clutch for upshifts? I find it difficult to use the clutch. But on downshifts, I nearly always do, as it makes it easier (but still difficult).

I knew the car would be heavily rev limited, but as long as it wasn't too intrusive then that's not so bad.

The FOX in LFS is the easiest car in LFS. It's got too much grip now. But I admit that the sense of speed is still lacking, but that's a lack of peripheral vision more than anything. rFactor does seem to do the sense of speed quite well, but I've never really figured out why it's better - more trackside details perhaps?

You're right about the tons of grip though - it's almost impossible to mentally process how fast you can go and how late you can brake the first time you drive something like that. But it's also difficult to grasp just how quickly they break away when you exceed the tyres capabilites, so it's probably a good thing, and that's why they don't give you more laps to explore the limits too much.

Quote from tristancliffe :

rFactor does seem to do the sense of speed quite well, but I've never really figured out why it's better - more trackside details perhaps?

Different FOV settings and maybe that (ver annoying unless toned down IMO) shaking effect as well - maybe the audio feedback (those rattling noises) adds to it.

Hi Tristan,

Finding a gear was a bit of a lottery so I really had to concentrate.
We were told to use the clutch but I doubt everyone did. Your method makes sense.
I said to the steward afterwards that I was just getting into it, on the last lap and he said like you, that's the reason they only do 5 laps:-)

Yes, maybe a peripheral vision thing is what makes Rfactor seem faster.

Once I was in the car, I felt very safe. But like you say, I suppose if you did step over the limit, or make a mistake you could lose the back end quite quickly.

I'm so glad it was dry as I really can't stand to drive in the rain.

I'd like to try the rally session next and maybe it would be good to do it in wet weather as I'm a bit wary and need to find out what kind of grip you can get on the road.

for what its worth:

from my track day its more a case of experincing the cars and track rarther than setting a fast lap.

you will have such fun, if you dont enjoy it, check your pulse....if its not racing you may have passed on to the other side! just kidding............
you will get out the car beaming from ear to ear

i really hope you have a great time, drive safe, drive well, hit those apex's right.

Regarding driving in the rain, in many ways it's better. Assuming you have a clear track ahead, you know people aren't right behind you, and the rain isn't really hard.

It's because speeds and loads are lower - you can get pretty big slides in the wet fairly safely. The cars react a lot slower, because of lower speeds and less weight transfer.

The downside is you'll never experience how direct and brilliant a single seater is in the dry if you only do it in the wet.

Nice way of seeing things mate.
Many Thanks

Glad you enjoyed it.

Now, start saving up for something. Not much money will buy you a slicks and wings car in reliable, raceable condition. Then you just need some racewear (a one off, pretty much), and some entry fees. Job done

If only it was as easy as that. It isn't that expensive though, all things considered.

Don't tempt me. I'm likely to get obsessed. I nearly bought a microlight once.

Hey Tony, how was the track? Did i give a good enough description for you?

I'm Jealous mind, but those Formula's look UGLY

Hi B,

You were very close to what I remember of the track, but in the faster corners, they made a chicane out of cones to slow us down and that threw me off a bit.
I took me 2 laps to realise where I was in relation to a certain upcoming corner.
The cars drive much better than they look. In fact, that picture flatters them. My car reminded me of a go-kart but bigger. Great grip and brilliant acceleration. They fit like a glove and the steering wheel is nice and small. Just perfect.

I think it's £125 for the same thing in the Three Sisters circuit, Wigan.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Glad you enjoyed it.

Now, start saving up for something. Not much money will buy you a slicks and wings car in reliable, raceable condition. Then you just need some racewear (a one off, pretty much), and some entry fees. Job done

& an ARDS licence & some race fuel & a trailer to get it there. Its all spend, spend, spend, also the reason why I only go sprinting & karting.

Well, yeah. ARDS isn't cheap, but relatively one-off.

I already had a trailer, and I always forget that most people don't

Race fuel? Shell Optimax is more than enough for most cars. And 15l will do a whole race day for me...

Quote from TonyP23 :

I said to the steward afterwards that I was just getting into it, on the last lap and he said like you, that's the reason they only do 5 laps:-)

I would have been disappointed to only get 5 laps in each car after you had been told you would get 20mins sessions. Also they told you it was paddle shift which was a lie & the formula car was on Road Tyres!

It sounds like you really enjoyed it so good for you.

I was considering doing the same experience myself but their little white lies & false advertising have put me off.

Quote from TonyP23 :

PS When in the Clio, I got overtaken by someone called something like M'grath or similar. He was also in a Clio.
The instructor said he is, or was a champion driver. He expected me to know him but I didn't. Any ideas who he is?

Cheers

Maybe http://www.brdc.co.uk/brdcarchive.cfm/flag/2/member_id/14?

That could be him Mike. That name seems to ring a bell.
Very fast. A lot faster than the 2 girls who overtook me...oops....
......It just gets worse.
I think a lot of drivers are regulars at these experience days.
These 2 girls overtook nearly all the drivers.... Honest!
One bloke who had driven a course in Bedford came up just to drive at Oulton Park and he told me he done a lot of trackdays, oh yeah, he overtook me as well....
I think I'd like a race with some real crap drivers, just to feel a sense of victory. I could always pay for my wife to have a go.

I'm signing up for a karting race soon. £35 and a lot of time on track.