Croc

2023 – The Best of British Tour Last week, I joined the Lotus On Track “Best of British” Tour. This was three track days in quick succession – Anglesey, Donington and Oulton Park. All have very different characters and offer very different track experiences. The Lotus On Track Group is a club for owners of Lotus cars. It is intended for lightweight, good handling cars to participate in a safe setting on track. They will allow other lightweight cars in, plus the odd Porsche, but they exclude bigger and heavier performance cars. Caterhams are acceptable. No drivers with race licenses allowed. Caterhams need a cage. The keener readers of this article will notice a few Caterhams do not have this, operating with just the standard track day roll bar. This is because those owners were grandfathered an extra year to upgrade their Caterham’s to the new roll cage format. None of these circuits are new to me. I have substantial seat time in Caterhams around all of the circuits. Anglesey This circuit located way out on the north west corner of Wales on the Irish Sea, is famous for its unforgiving weather. True to form, the weather forecast was for fair skies and modest sun. Instead it was windy with alternate periods of sun and rain coming in off the back shoulder of the circuit. The location may be unforgiving for weather but the views are the most stupendous of any circuit you will visit. You come around Peel corner to be confronted with a huge view ocean and the mountains of Snowdonia in the distance. The circuit is fairly new by UK standards. Plenty of run off for safety. A nice mix of fast and slow to give your upper body a good workout. I was driving my 2018 Caterham 420R. Standard spec 210hp Duratec with the 5 speed Miata MX5 gearbox and 3.9 rear end. Plenty of oomph to have fun with on the tighter UK style circuit. It’s a 2-3-4 gear tyle of circuit with second used in two spots. Fifth gear is never used as it is an overdrive in this gearbox. In 2019 I was able to hang onto the back of a 620R around the circuit for quite a few laps. While the higher horsepower Caterham could get away down the long back straight, it could not use that power on the tighter sections and it had a longer braking distance because of its higher top speeds. A 420R is the sweet spot of the range in my view. The pits was fairly sparse this circuit as most people were hunkered down in the garage to avoid the inclement weather. No track photographer here so only one on track photo taken of me on the very short pit straight. In the amusement stakes, a Lotus Elise managed to do a major spin on the exit of the first hairpin. He was so far off track and the grass was so wet he was bogged to the belly pan and it took a 4wd pick up with a winch to get him out. Subsequently, in future laps that afternoon you could spot the guilty car as it was carrying dingleberries of turf and sod hanging off its rear valence. A black flag was issued for the owner to come in and clean his claggy rear end! Donington GT Race Weekend As there was a one day gap between the Anglesey event and the Donington event, I took the opportunity to watch the British GT final championship race on the Sunday. The pits were excellent for checking out the talent. The racing was pretty good too! Donington The Donington circuit is located about two hours drive north of Heathrow in the Midlands region of the UK. Beautifully sited in a valley, it makes great use of elevation to produce a wonderfully flowing circuit that while short, suits a Caterham brilliantly. You only use two gears – 3rd and 4th. We were running the National circuit configuration which deletes the hairpin addition that was introduced for the time when GP races were briefly held here. Usual support from the TFL Racing folks. They had 6 cars attending - 5 Caterhams and 1 Atom. Being a Lotus On Track event, the back of the pits had some very tasty Lotus cars present. Track images Some of the Caterhams which were allowed to participate despite being race cars, were a little bad, allegedly diving down the inside of cars under braking. While this did not include me nor a number of the other Caterham drivers, to address the driving standards issue, all Caterhams were called in and their drivers given a strong bollocking about the correct on track behavior that should be followed. May seem harsh but I was in favor as if you do not stop it early, the driving standards deteriorate quickly. The following photo begins to illustrate how Donington is laid out in a valley and the circuit winds its way down and then back out again. Brilliant drive and really suits a lightweight car. I gave the day away around 3pm when I blew out the right rear on my car on the main straight at about 105mph. It was a wild ride to bring the car back down to crawl it back into the pits. I had had a half spin early in the morning and lost all the air from the tire. Puzzled we filled it back up - it was holding normally and then went out to try some gentle laps before deciding it was good. Five hours later it blew out rather catastrophically. My guess is the bead was partially damaged in some way in the morning incident but the tire held on for hours more before finally letting go later in the day? Quite strange.... I called it a day and got on the road to do the drive 2 hours north to Oulton Park ahead of the next day on track. Oulton Park This circuit is defiantly old school. Narrow, bumpy, sinuous, it has zero run off room if you make an error. Barriers are tight up to the edges of the circuit. But I love it. It’s a wonderful drive and suits a seven, or any Lotus for that matter, brilliantly. Weather had rained heavily overnight but was easing up in the morning. By 1pm, the dry line had formed and laps were getting quicker. Great clean driving by everyone. Only a Lotus Exige spun in the second chicane ahead of me which earned him an annoyed wave from me as he rejoined the circuit without looking first to see who might be coming – myself and the Porsche GT3 behind me! Oulton Park is sited on the grounds of an old manor house. The following photo is the classic image of this circuit, old gatehouse in background as you round the corner, heading for pit straight. A great three day event with fun had by all, despite the old wet day. Off to Goodwood next week. Links TFL Racing https://www.tflracing.co.uk/ Lotus On Track https://www.lotus-on-track.com/