Sandown

25^th August 2007

The guys from SouthernBM, Andrew and Jimmy, sponsored a track day with the BMWCCV today. It was a beautiful day, about 19C, Sunny, with a cool westerly breeze. We had 56 cars registered for the event, there were people and cars everywhere! It was nice to see some fellow Detail Addiction members there (Matt, Taylor (TMQ) and of course the guys from SouthernBM), as well as a few ECCA Members (Garry (GazM3), Adrian, Daniel (M535i), Shev (Shevz)).

A friend of mine, Bill, who drives an E34 M5, with an E39 M5 motor in it, also turned up, his car is like a rocketship!

We did 2 practice sessions in the morning, and then 2 timed sessions in the afternoon. We had 2 mishaps in the morning, one person ran into the armco at the exit of turn 4, and then a little later on, a guy in a 2002 rolled his har 3 times at turn 1, and was taken to hospital. His car was a mess, I don't know the drivers condition though.

I had a good day. My first 2 sessions were so-so, I found the car to be a lot softer than I remembered it (it's been a while since I had it on the track), and also very oversteery, which I don't mind, I prefer that to a car that won't turn in. I also got a very long brake pedal after about 3 laps, I think this is because the pads are about 5 years old. They still had plenty of material left on them, but I just don't put many miles on the car anymore, so, they are just old. On top of all that, I was just rusty from not having been to the track for a few years.

In the afternoon sessions though, I was driving really well, I was really pushing the car hard, and had it dancing all over the place, it's a very easy car to drive on the limit. I was deliberately drifting it out of the 3 really tight corners, just because I was having so much fun. The long brake pedal had come back, and it was just a little spongy, which was OK. Not perfect, but OK.

Here are some of the pictures that I took: