Darlington Park Track Day

Candellan

Candellan

Member
Tadpole
Joined
Nov 5, 2004
Messages
23
Location
Gold Coast
Hi all,

I'm a moderator of another forum (www.twincam.org) & we're organising a series of regular track days for next year at Darlington Park, located between Brisbane & the Gold Coast.

I raced in the QR Saturday Sprints in 2003, unfortunatly it became a victim of it's own popularity with 150+ cars turning up to race in an afternoon & that's never going to work as people were getting turned away. Our aim is to try a more challenging track (Darlington Park) with less people (max 30 per session).

The cost for our first event was $165ea for about 100km of racing, instructors on hand & lunch included, but we're working on ways to bring that down. That may seem steep but compared to QR's $150 ($95 + $55 Clubman licence) for 30km, it's great value.

For more information on the track see - http://www.totaldriver.com.au/car-clubs.htm

To read the tread on our first event see - http://www.twincam.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=8794

We have a choice of 4 days in Feb - 12, 19, 20 or 26 Feb 2005

If you are interested, sign up with twincam.org (free) & pick your preferred day - HERE.

Cheers,

Candellan.
 
I'm keen. I'm going to rebuild the engine on the MX5 very soon, so depending on how long I take, I'll be involved.

Cal.
 
Cal said:
I'm keen. I'm going to rebuild the engine on the MX5 very soon, so depending on how long I take, I'll be involved.

Cal.
Click to expand...

Will these events be running in 2008?
 
Very funny pansy boy. Haven't you got a new couch to go and buy. :approve:

Cal.
 
Hey Cal, i am off to Laos in a few weeks...any hints i should know about?? cheers JR
 
May as well chime in as well...

I have done the Total Driver course out at Darlington Park (can't speak highly enough of Gene, he does a great job out there) and I have to say it is well worth the money. It taught me alot more not only about driving on the track but also out on the road as well. They structured the day very well, working on parts of the track to teach components and then after the catered BBQ lunch (included in the package) they let you put all the lessons together out on the full track under guidance at first (instructor riding shotgun) and then let you go at it yourself. They don't only tell you to brake here, accelerate there, they teach you how to think and it's up to you to find your limits and boundaries. The day ended with a bit of a motorkhana on the skidpan.

A word of warning though, Darlington Park is a scary track, more so than Morgan Park with very little run off areas so you have to have your wits about you. Times on the track don't count for much, I was up against FPVs, turbo'd japs and a Lotus R340 but I still ended up taking out the driver of the day honours (the 180 owned the motorkhana circuit and tipped the scales :p ). Definitely recommend it to anyone.

Rich

p.s. welcome home, Cal!
 
Thanks for the interest guys. Zen, was that a club day or a driver instruction day?

If you do want to come along I ask that you join Twincam.org so I can track who is coming much easier than across the several forums I've invited.
 
It was a driver instruction day which qualified you for the track days. I've been slack and haven't been out for any of the track days yet.

Rich
 
How are those Silverstones going Richard?

Cal.
 
Cal said:
How are those Silverstones going Richard?

Cal.
Click to expand...

Going really well. I haven't run on them since October (last time I was out at QR) but are wearing nicely. I'm gonna cut down on QR sprint days, still probably go to a few, so the Silverstones should last me for this year. I'll have them on out at Darlington Park, the last time I was there I had the normal road tyres and rims on so it'll be interesting. Have to go have some drinks/game of pool and tell us how your trip was, Cal.

I've put my name in for the Twincam Darlington Park day (26th February), any other froggies coming or am I gonna be flying the french flag alone on this one? :D

Rich
 
Candellan said:
Are those Silverstones the S575 Tarmac Rally semi slicks - http://www.silverstone.com.my/ty-compe/s575.htm?

I used the hard compound on my Corolla. They are awesome in the dry & start of rain. Obviously in the wet they'd be a handfull.
Click to expand...

Them's the ones! :D I use the harder of the three compound as well (190/580/15 on 306 S16/XSi rims), with the grip levels I've experienced I'd love to try the softer compounds. I'd definitely get them again or even give the S585 Tarmac Rally's a go if available.

Rich
 
Warning: The soft compounds are far too soft. A friend tried them & they went off after 1 session. They didn't even last a whole track day as they turned to mush. I'll hopefully try the meduim compound but that won't be for quite a while.

Currently the S585's only come in 225/650-17, which wouldn't suit your currrent rolling diameter. I'm not sure what compounds they come in either.
 
My Sprinter destroyed a set in a day too.

Cal.
 
The softs are for hillclimbs where you are only going for 1 min or so. Even 5 laps of QR will cook them. I saw some other Silverstones on a Datto that looked more like A032Rs. The guy had used them in the rain at a motorkhana and was impressed. (Yes Cal, that yellow datto again) May be a new release. Talk to Alan Steen at the Z-car shop.
 
alan moore said:
I saw some other Silverstones on a Datto that looked more like A032Rs.
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He cut the wet grooves into them didn't he?

Heard a rumour the BM is finished? I'll be needing you to take me for a spin. :headbang:

Cal.
 
There's a couple of Froggies coming to the track day at Darlington Park. Any more want to come fly the French flag?
 
Enjoy

Hey

Gene from Total Driver used to be a member of my club (SPARC) and he ran a few driver training days for us and they were sensational. My partner has been to one of the track days at Darlington Park and he said it was fantastic. He was in the rally car (1293cc '76 Civic) and managed to "round up a few Loti (plural of Lotus apparently)" which puts pay to the fact that you don't need to have the biggest capacity car to have a little success at that track. Its also a nicer facility for spectators I feel.

Kitty
 
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