Caterham Snetterton Track Day March 2004
Mar 10th, 2004 by Tim Skipper
My first visit to Snetterton, my local circuit just 20 mins from home, was yesterday. Our first academy race is at Snetterton so I was very keen to get a track day or two in here before then.
As usual book-a-track.com provided the opportunity and yet another excellent well-run and safe day. The contrast between this and the at-times frightening TrackZone event at Donington a couple of weeks ago, in similar weather conditions, couldn’t be greater.
My good friend and fellow Academy competitor Peter Earnshaw came along as well and by getting there early we managed to bag a pit garage for ourselves to keep out of the rain.
It was very wet first thing, but being in the advanced session I was hoping that the previous two sessions before our first stint on the track would dry things up a bit. I don’t think it made a whole lot of difference though. We did two laps behind a pace car and then were let loose at racing speed.
Well, I say racing speed, more like walking pace on some of the corners it was that slippery, I certainly spent a lot of the time rapidly winding on opposite lock as the Caterham broke traction with barely a hint of throttle, especially exiting Sear onto the Revett straight. All good fun!
After a few laps the skies cleared and with the help of a brisk wind the track started to dry out and I could push a bit harder. In trying to find the best lines I was crashing the kerbs a bit, and on lap 9 hit one a little too hard on the second part of The Esses, which upset the back and sent me spinning off into the mud. Oops! No harm done though, apart from being covered in mud. The next lap also saw a big sideways moment through Sear that I miraculously caught and carried on as if I had meant to do it.
With a drying track I could also attack The Bomb Hole (almost flat out, camber change in your favor mid-bend) and the scary fast Coram (just off the limiter in 3rd, a tad under 100mph) with more gusto!
The red flag came out a few laps later, but we must have only been a few minutes off the end of the session anyway so it was back to the pits for a debrief with Peter and some tyre pressure fiddling. A chap running a Radical Clubsport 1100 also now joined us in our pit garage.
The next couple of sessions were more fun as the track was practically dry and I could concentrate on trying to find the fastest lines around the circuit. Sadly I didn’t manage to get into the same track space as Peter so we had yet to do battle. No further incidents to report, I managed to keep it on the black bits and pointing in the right direction!
After lunch it looked like it was going to rain again, but we managed most of the first session before the heavens opened. At one point it was hailing quite hard, and the track was treacherous to say the least. Lots of oversteer and tippy-toeing around Coram. Despite going out together Peter and I got separated by traffic so we still hadn’t managed any nose-to-tail running. I had one huge moment at Sear when I committed the ultimate sin of not coming fully off the brake before turning in (was going too fast basically) and taking the whole corner on almost full opposite lock! Not great for lap times but it was a very cool slide, especially since I managed to collect it up and carry on up Revett straight without fishtailing into the Armco.
This session also saw the one and only example of discourteous driving all day - a Caterham R500 pushed his way past uninvited at the end of Revett Straight (110 mph) and into the braking zone, causing me to have a bit of a moment. That could have been a very nasty accident and was totally uncalled for.
For the last two sessions of the day, Peter and I finally managed to get out on the track together, and what a fun couple of sessions they were! Slipstreaming (and weaving to try and break the tow), out-braking, swapping places, nose to tail running was about the best track fun I’ve ever had. I can’t wait for the proper racing to start so I can dispense with the “discretion better part of valor” attitude.
Towards the end of one session we rapidly caught up with a Mk1 MR2 going into the Bomb Hole - by Coram we were right with him and waiting for the indicator to come on but he was fully committed… overly so in fact as he slowly went too wide, got a wheel on the grass and went into a high speed spin with Peter right behind. Luckily he was able to duck to the inside and sail past but since the MR2 was by now heading back onto the track totally out of control I had no choice but to slam on and spin out. Luckily another Seven coming up behind us saw what happened and managed to slow and get out of the way. That was a bit of a bottom clincher!
Our last couple of laps saw the rain come down again, but mostly at The Esses/Bomb Hole/Coram end, which turned incredibly slippery very quickly - another excuse for some sideways action, some provoked some not.
In all, it was a very enjoyable track day, made all the better for having Peter around and the interesting changes in weather made for a wide range of track conditions. I’m hoping to get at least one more Snetterton track day or test session in before our first race there in August.
Video clip of the spin here (2.3mb MPG4 format. Requires latest QuickTime to view).
Clip 1 shows the complete lap of Snetterton including a slipstreaming move on Peter up the Revett straight. It’s 8mb and in MPEG4 format, requires QuickTime to view.
Clip 2 is much smaller and shows just the spin. It’s 1.3mb and in MPEG4 format, requires QuickTime to view.
Here (1.2mb MPEG4, requires QuickTime) is me getting it very sideways around Sear - must finish braking a bit sooner!
