323i and some "drifting" practice (pic included)

[astondg]

I went to a skid pad/pan thing yesterday to practice my car control. It is a concrete area with a few different corners and they spread some diesel and water on it. My goal for the day was to keep the car sideways around the whole circuit which I kind of managed a couple of times. By kind of I mean I couldn't keep it sideways for about 10m at the end of the back straight before the next corner, I needed a bit more power and skill for that, but the rest of the circuit was sideways. Anyway here is a picture:


That picture is from one of my good laps I think so I kept that one going and just after that picture the circuit goes left and I managed to flick the car back the other way. That was the hardest corner for me, I had to set the car up sideways on the entry and hold it all the way around until I was facing almost 180 degrees from where I started. I have a bigger version of that picture as my desktop picture at the moment (http://www.members.westnet.com.au/aston ... ys_big.jpg). I did have a few spins though and I ran over the black tyre on the inside of that corner (you can see it in the pic) a few times as well as scattering a few of the cones everywhere and one unintentional 360.

The diesel & water combination made it kind of tricky, it would pool in places and other places would dry out. Anyway it was a lot of fun and I think helped my car control quite a bit. I think they are a great way to learn if you have access to them and speeds are kept low so there isn't a big risk of damaging the car or someone.

Please notice the word drifitng in the title is in "", I know after the discussion on drifting last time that some people would not consider this drifting. I did end up in a few 4 wheel drifts though.

Aston

[eun]

looks fun aston

how much did this cost for the day etc if you dont mind me asking?

[astondg]

AUD $460 including an instructor (who is a friend of ours but I think that is the normal price). The session was from 7:30am to 11am and we had 4 people. I'm not sure if it costs more for more people, you probably just don't have as much time on the track.

Aston

[Demlotcrew]

Looks like fun!

All the drift days ive been to, have always been on very coarse sticky ground

Andrew

[aus325]

Good stuff Aston, I think a day like that would be worthwile if you come out of it with more confidence in your own car. I recall seeing one of the car shows on TV here recently where they tested the new 911 C4 on a diesel skidpan, and my first thought was 'AAAGH..they're driving a brand new 911 in diesel!!!' I think i'm too vain about my good Zinnober red paint and my incredibly hard-to-keep-clean Simmons V4's to do that.

[astondg]

All the drift days ive been to, have always been on very coarse sticky ground

That seems like it would be not so good for the car or tyres. Do you have anywhere like this place near you?

I recall seeing one of the car shows on TV here recently where they tested the new 911 C4 on a diesel skidpan, and my first thought was 'AAAGH..they're driving a brand new 911 in diesel!!!' I think i'm too vain about my good Zinnober red paint and my incredibly hard-to-keep-clean Simmons V4's to do that.

It seems to wash off ok, this is the second time I have been to that place and it doesn't seem to have had any negative effect. I know what you mean though, I was a bit like that too but I already autocross the car (dirt circuit racing) so it knows about being dirty.

I do autocross which helps with car control a bit but not this kind exactly. Atucross is racing so I am trying to go as fast as possible which means I don't get as sideways as that and I can't make mistakes, it's good to have some time to practice that too and without the pressure of racing. It definately helps with confidence.

If that is the wheel I am thinking of it seems a nice wheel but would be a pain to clean. I was looking at Simmons when I bought the wheels I have now but I heard they can be a bit soft and be damaged relatively easily?

Aston

[E30Mark]

I've done two skid pan courses, both with the Police......

I used to work with a Special constable (Hobby bobbie...) he could get the pan for a few hours at the weekend, plus the use of a Police instructor for 'a donation to the Police fund'. Damn cheap day out and soooooo much fun. I did my courses in my old 323i too!

If anyone here knows any Police drivers then maybe they should ask if the skid pans are open to the public? i went to the one in Chelmsford, back in about 1993 ish, damn I'm getting old !