VMAX III - Worth a go after the Brunty weekend?

[Morebeans]

Hi All
After getting bitten by the "speed bug" this weekend, I was looking to take part in VMAX III this September. It's a pricey affair at £395 for the day, (Hoyin - not sure you'll be able to nurse your bank account back in to health by then) and you will get about 10-15 runs in before your brakes go - apparently? Anybody else tried this before? What are your thoughts?

 

[Contigo]

It used to be free until they made it into a commercial business. Not for me I'm afraid.

 

[drewf]

Why would you? Straight down a runway will always look slow in a Maserati, especially after 10-15 times.

Take it to a track day, and you will enjoy it a great deal more. You could get roughly 3 track days at most places for the same money, 2 at Silverstone.
Try Donington Park say - lovely track in a Maser, with fast flowing sections and some interesting corners. Have a look at something like http://www.motorsportdays.com/

I'd strongly recommend you buy a £20/20minute tuition session with an instructor. Really, really good investment.

 

[Contigo]

We do a track day twice a year in Vauxhalls VXR and for £30/35 you cannot get better value. Thruxton is such a fast and exhilarating track, easily one of the best you can experience. Included is private tuition from a Pro.

 

[Contigo]

I'm looking forward to the next track day event organised from here. As good as Brunty was, it's not a proper track and to get any momentum up you need laps, once you get that momentum it becomes so much faster and more involving.

 

[drewf]

We do a track day twice a year in Vauxhalls VXR and for £30/35 you cannot get better value. Thruxton is such a fast and exhilarating track, easily one of the best you can experience. Included is private tuition from a Pro.

I'm looking forward to the next track day event organised from here. As good as Brunty was, it's not a proper track and to get any momentum up you need laps, once you get that momentum it becomes so much faster and more involving.

That £30/35 deal is just stunning value - I remember you mentioning it last year. It's not possible to take your own car on a track day for anything close to that...

Biggest issue with Thruxton is getting a day when the noise limits are high enough to allow Maseratis to run. I really wanted to do a day there as part of the Goodwood Revival weekend, but they can't put on a noisy event around that time. The people at the track I spoke to were really helpful, but wouldn't take the booking, as even my QP would almost certainly fail the test, and any modified cars were out of the question. Great track though.

How about doing an evening session somewhere? Silverstone is central, but too expensive - what about Mallory/Donington/Bedford?

 

[Contigo]

I did Silverstone as well and that's great fun.

Mallory is a good shout as is Donington.

The problem as you say Drew is that most of our cars would fail even 105dB!

 

[hoyin]

Hi All
After getting bitten by the "speed bug" this weekend, I was looking to take part in VMAX III this September. It's a pricey affair at £395 for the day, (Hoyin - not sure you'll be able to nurse your bank account back in to health by then) and you will get about 10-15 runs in before your brakes go - apparently? Anybody else tried this before? What are your thoughts?

That is a lot of money! For going in a straight line.

Actually I have a friend and her dad owns an airfield in Scotland. She has said if we did a highland run we could use it.

I think they rent it out to run what ya brung or something for vmax similar events.

I would prefer to do some track days. Need to improve my skills.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drewf]

To put that fee in perspective, we can rent a track like Blyton Park (noise limit we can pass...) for the whole day 9-5 for £3k. That's fully staffed, just us using it. Personally, I think it's just as easy to pay a commercial outfit per driver when they are running a track day anyway. I've been approached in the past by the Aston Martin Club and one of the Porsche Clubs to join with them in a 50:50 split on renting a track for exclusive use - the idea being that they didn't want to share the track with all-comers in stripped out £500 Clios, but would be happy to have the gentlemen Maserati drivers there with cars similarly valuable to their own.

I've told them that when we find some gentlemen, I'll get back to them

Thinking hats on then - if people are serious and want to do a track day, I will organise one. There wasn't much interest though earlier in the year when I suggested it.

 

[Contigo]

I'm certainly up for it providing that you can sort the track out (noise regs ticked) and it is with a group of like minded individuals like ourselves and not a million miles from me!

 

[drewf]

I'll buy you a map...

Sometimes the places that are "IN THE NORTH" aren't anywhere near as far as you southern-dwellers imagine. Usually because we have to choose places that are actually in the midlands to entice you to travel at all. Odd then that all the southerners have no issue with sitting in London traffic for 2 hours to travel 5 miles

Noise regs are the trickiest, then comes getting you lot to part with any money, followed by location.

I know we can get Donington, Cadwell (million miles from you) and Mallory on a 98dB drive-by, or 105 static. Blyton will do 105 drive-by The Masers should pass any of those, since my race-car does and it's considerably louder than any of the road cars. Against those, Thruxton were offering 90dB static at 1m. As we say in the field - NFC...

 

[Contigo]

Thruxton and Combe are very strict. 90dB static is a laugh!

 

[BenzDriver]

For me personally id love to do a Vmax event. Yes it may seem boring driving up and down a runway. But its just drag racing, no harm in that...but I agree would probably rent a track and just 10-15 people and you could probably pay the same figure or less

 

[D Walker]

Croft???
Now that's up North!!

 

[drewf]

There are places like Knockhill if you want to go north... I doubt we will do Croft, as it's not a great track, and it really is a long way from most of the members.

 

[D Walker]

There are places like Knockhill if you want to go north... I doubt we will do Croft, as it's not a great track, and it really is a long way from most of the members.

I suspected as much, obviously its 20 miles from me!!!

 

[BenzDriver]

Always brands for down south, Donnington? Always wanted to go around Anglesey too.

 

[drewf]

Location isn't a real biggie for me, as half the time I'll need to fly in to the UK, collect a car and go to the track - in that event they are all the best part of 1000 miles away, so +/- 100 miles doesn't really matter. I don't like Croft, so I'm not personally keen on going, but if a load of people wanted to go there, I'm sure I'd manage

It used to be a great Group B rallycross track though, and I have fond memories of taking the chap who was my best man, sadly no longer with us, to Croft when he was really ill, and parking the Audi Ur-quattro I had at the time literally 15' from the edge of the track. With some other mates, we had a disposable BBQ and cooked sausages and steak sandwiches while watching 700+bhp cars on mud. Can't do that anymore at pretty much any track

 

[D Walker]

It's fine Drew, just chucked it in there, was hard enough to get 5 of us in the same county in the North never mind a track.
I fear if I am going to make it to other non northern SM meets I will have to get a trailer for the car...........
That is a joke by the way!!

 

[Morebeans]

I'm up for both, track day and vmax, and I especially liked the idea of partnering with other car clubs - that could work surely.
On the subject of cost, I agree it is a hefty price to pay, but on the other hand I won't be shagging 1000 pounds worth of tyres on a track day, plus I'll be able to see what speed I can get out of the car and how it fares against the other marques - possibly top 170mph using the whole two miles?? Who knows, but I'll enjoy trying - that's for sure.
Drew - How many takers would we need to get the partnering scenario off the ground?