CHEAP Vauxhall VXR track day...

[BarryS]

Just visited the Brands Hatch location for the VXR day and enjoyed it like Bobby Dazzler earlier.

Met up with Wobbly, whose red 1989 Merc SL 500 looked very special amongst the wanabe hot hatches in the car park.

...And he was a real star on the slalom/manouvering course...here's a picture of his "Walk of shame"

The text would be something like "oops I broke the gearbox". We all heard the teeth disintigrating from a distance.

In fairness - I should say the gearbox broke WHEN Wobbly was driving it, not BECAUSE he was driving it, and it had suffered a lot of abuse in its short 77 mile life (I'm corrected)

Great day, although think I'll stick with the Merc to drive on the road.

Barry

 

[wobbly]

Thanks Barry,

That didnt take long to post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a great day even with the downpour. It was a well organised event, and great fun , pity the equipment wasnt up to the job.

The car in question only had 77 miles on it, and yes it was very sick when I left it after executing a stunning reversing J turn, into first gear accelerate away, and BANG, no gearbox.

Then I had to complete the " Walk of Shame " and collect another Astra, to complete my autotest.

Thanks for the kind comments about my car, it was the first time it has seen rain in two years, will have to clean it for MB World on Saturday.

Barry have a good trip to Paris at the weekend.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I had a go with Tom Chilton at the helm of a Vectra. To make it more fun he was very agressive and lairy in style which almost certainly slowed him right down. The ease with which he passed everything else was staggering though - especially impressive when passing other traffic. He was giving it muchos-beanos and remember there were 33 novices on the track throughout!!

Mrs D's out on the razzle, Baby D is snoring in my ear, and I'm watching the touring cars on Men & Motors - Tom Chilton on the very same - and even wetter - Donington circuit. :bannana:

 

[SEM]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooo says sold out!!!!!!! any more to be arranged?

 

[wobbly]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooo says sold out!!!!!!! any more to be arranged?

Not this year, they said it might happen again next year.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooo says sold out!!!!!!! any more to be arranged?

Your wish is my command.

But be quick this time:

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/microsite/vxrtrackday/vxr_trackday.html

 

[SEM]

Blimey going faster than hot cakes... Oulton parks gone already...

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Sorry, I've fuelled the fire by procuring a couple of said hot cakes.

 

[wobbly]

That must have been the best £95 I spent last year. Great fun

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Agreed. It's stunning value. We're going to the morning session this time, and so we get breakfast and lunch. Bargain. Early start though.

Not tempted to go again wobbly?

 

[Mark300SL]

Thanks for the heads up !!!!!!!!


Brands morning session on 20th May for Myself and Allison
This is the day before I am due to fly to the US for a fortnight.


Mark

 

[wobbly]

Agreed. It's stunning value. We're going to the morning session this time, and so we get breakfast and lunch. Bargain. Early start though.

Not tempted to go again wobbly?

I would be tempted, but have work commitments.

 

[vijilants]

Im booked in for Brands Hatch for May 21st 8am session......should be good fun, if not a bit early in the day

 

[Mark300SL]

I went with Allison and a couple of mates yesterday - and had a great time!

I had already had my moneys worth when I came off the track after the first session, but beating the other 2 on the slalom course was a very gratifying experience

Highly recommended as a morning out, I drove about 10 cars for 3 laps each and obviously got faster as the day went on and the instructors became more relaxed with our improving abilities.
My last 3 laps however were the worst, for some reason I got it all wrong and it was probably worse than my first lap!
I actually had most fun in the Vectra estate, but all the others seemed to think the Astra was best. No-one was overly impressed with the VXR8 however


Mark

 

[vijilants]

Came back from this morning's session at Brands Hatch - great fun and no sales pitch either !!!

Only thing is driving around cones for the first 1 1/2 hours can be a bit boring, but the track time was great, and thats what I was there for really.

It is far better value for money than the AMG experience at MB world, and much more fun, and they throw in breakfast ,lunch, any amount of soft drinks you want, ice cream, sweets......I didn't even get a toffee out of MB

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Off to Rockingham tomorrow. Early start - leaving home at 0600!!

 

[Mark300SL]

I think you will find about 8 of the CRX lads there for the morning session

And we all thank you

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

So, that's why it's sold out!!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Another great day out.

I thought they may have cut back on costs this year as there was no fancy pop-up cardboard invitation pack by post this year - just an email confirmation.

No such concern necessary though. The only other concession appeared to be that you don't get a VXR polo in the goody bag anymore. I can live with that!!

It was even better than last year - now three events on the infield rather than two, which meant that there was no waiting around during tihe 90 minutes you're not on the track.

Dazzler Snr and I were the last people to get into cars for the demonstration laps. Neither of us realised the chap he went with was Paul O'Neil (ex Vauxhall BTCC driver).

Paul was doing high-speed laps throughout the day - like last year. Dad only hopped joined the queue for it just before the end of the session, but because there was someone else waiting - rather than disappoint one of them, an instructor took Dad, and Paul took the other bloke, on the basis that they'd race!! :bannana:

They were too-ing and fro-ing, but halfway round the engine blew in the car Dad was in - oil all over the track. Oops. Had to walk back the pits. Driver asked Paul if he could take Dad out given his ride was cut short.

My Dad was shocked when Paul said "No problem, jump in Fred"*

It was only then Dad realised his demo laps and first tutor was the Paul O'Neil!! Makes it even more of a bargain!!

If that wasn't enough, Paul Swift even recognised my Dad from his exceptional performance in the parallel park last year!!

*Name changed to protect the innocent

 

[luckyfives]

Sounds like a brilliant day out, got any pics? Must admit the VXR8s are great value for money, but feedback seems to be interiors are still poor quality, and servicing and parts very expensive? Still wouldn't say no to a drive though! When's the next one?