Thinking of doing Cadwell on the 19th Feb with Easytrack, Has anyone used them? Are they any good?
The LoT day at Silverstone I did a few months ago was actually an Easytrack day. Can’t say I was too impressed.
Too many over eager Scooby/EVOs and no real evidence of the organisers trying to prevent the accidents that occured every few minutes (it was very wet) or get the stupidly slow traffic out of the way (learners in Caterhams on an Open pitlane with Group Cs out too! At least the sportcars drivers knew what they were doing).
I couldn’t truely enjoy the day as I didn’t trust the others I was out on track with (although that isn’t true of the other LoT mob).
Ian
Soggy
All I would say is that out of choice, I’d use Tracksport or Bookatrack anytime, although have done a couple with Easytrack without any problems. Perhaps as Ian says, keep an eye on the list of attendees, before deciding
open pitlane or sessioned?
Thinking of doing Cadwell on the 19th Feb with Easytrack, Has anyone used them? Are they any good?
At Cadwell on the 19th there will be at least 12 Lotus On Track cars on the day (I’ll be there, hopefully), very similar to the date in November where we sent as many cars along and everyone had an excellent day with no issues.
Easytrack are one of the best organisers around and run loads of days on BHL circuits and although there were a few problems on the Silverstone day that Ian attended most of the issues were down to Silverstone Circuit (not Easytrack) stopping and starting the sessions due to the weather causing bunching and long queues in the pitlane. Like all organisers Easytrack will sort out any issues you have on the day if you speak to them about it.
I guess that is fair to say Mark, I am blaming Easytrack for no real reason. The weather was appalling so it would have been difficult for anybody.
Although having spent most of the day at the end of the pitlane I would have felt more comfortable seeing Easytrack people trying working with the circuit staff.
Ian
As you can imagine I had a few conversations with the Easytrack guys that day and to be fair many of the issues were out of their control. The one that amazed me the most was the rule about no running headlights but this was a circuit rule and Easytrack had no power to change it even though they were in complete agreement with me.
The one that amazed me the most was the rule about no running headlights but this was a circuit rule and Easytrack had no power to change it even though they were in complete agreement with me.
Good grief!
The Easytrack day I attended:
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The day started late.
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Though fully booked, they allowed more people to join as the day progressed making it too busy.
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They stopped me and lectured me for getting the car sideways, stating “The tyres can come off the rim you know…”
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I won’t use them again.
they have lots of experience and are not too far from other TDO’s in terms of how their days go (i’ve done 2) but the things that stick in my mind are
the safety briefing was too long - which wouldn’t be bad except that it just dragged on and on over some points without real value and in fact made many people switch off after a while.
i had an off and was made to take an instructor out with me - good idea i agree , but also told to apologise to ‘all’ the marshalls ‘for wasting their time’ before i was allowed back on… i really didn’t like that and it p155ed me off big time… i’t also not really possible or practical…that was BS.
Apologise to the marshalls ? Why should you need to do that ? They get paid… unless you’re apologising for making them work… I can understand you’d feel a bit sorry towards your fellow trackdayers for stopping their fun, but marshalls ? I’d have told Easytrack to get to f…
I have done loads of Easytrack days with no serious problems at all. I would highly recomend them.
Marcus, who runs Easytrack, does seem to enjoy humiliating people who have had an off or who have commited other offences, mostly just best not to take it seriously and then ignore his more stupid outbursts.
Marcus, who runs Easytrack, does seem to enjoy humiliating people who have had an off
As these people are presumably his paying customers, I would have thought that it made for a very poor company policy
Frankly I have seen some atrocious driving standards at trackdays across the board and if nothing is said then the standards won’t improve. Unfortunately poor driving standards often come hand in hand with sensitive egos as displayed on this thread. If an experienced instructor points something out to you it’s worth considering that maybe he has a point.
I have done several trackdays with quite a few of the leading trackday organisers. I have even had a few non-tarmac related incidents, although never needing a recovery or leading to a red flag. I was once black flagged for “over-enthiusiastic” driving - or as you put it in anther post commitment getting ahead of track conditions (I paraphrase, and probably badly!). This led to a conversation in the pitlane with a memeber of the company which was both civilised and respectful.
I can remember on a briefing at Silverstone being told that if anyone span then that would be it and they would be going straight home afterwards. Made me drive like a wuss for the whole of the morning - can’t explain why I drove like one in the afternoon though
So there is a balance to be struck. Another track day organiser asked everyone to consider that if each driver only had one off that day which required a 5 min red flag then theoretically nobody would get any time on track at all!
Chris
I don’t think anyone is complaining about taking advice, it’s the way that the advice is delivered, that is in question.
Perhaps some attitudes towards the track day contributors should be addressed first though… Comments like this
Apologise to the marshalls ? Why should you need to do that ? They get paid… unless you’re apologising for making them work…
are way off the mark. Those same marshals who do track days also do race days for the pure enjoyment of the sport. They are the most fundamentally important people on a track or race day and should be treated with the utmost respect. Whats more I have never met a marshal who isn’t a complete enthusiast and thoroughly nice person. Sorry to get elevated but it’s something I feel strongly about…
The one that amazed me the most was the rule about no running headlights but this was a circuit rule and Easytrack had no power to change it even though they were in complete agreement with me.
Randy - was any explanation given for this? Is it a different rule to that on a race day?
Chris
I may be wrong here, but I always thought that the marshalls on trackdays were paid as “employees” of the circuit operators, whilst the marshalls on race days are, on the other hand the enthusiastic, volunteers without whom no race would start, & whom you quite correctly laud above.
In practice, I appreciate that the same human being may well be a marshall at trackdays, as well as racedays.
Either way, you are 100% correct that all marshalls should be treated with respect, & politeness - perhaps the same can’t be said for some trackday operators though, who alledgely take pleasure in publically humiliating their customers
Look forward to seeing you at Autosport next week
The one that amazed me the most was the rule about no running headlights but this was a circuit rule and Easytrack had no power to change it even though they were in complete agreement with me.
Randy - was any explanation given for this? Is it a different rule to that on a race day?
The one thing that does annoy me about track days is their insistence on making up rules as they go along. In a race of course you are allowed to use your headlights, especially if it is dark, foggy, raining and you are approaching slower cars with massive closing speeds. Race day and test day etiquette has been developed over many many years and works very well, can’t see why we shouldn’t stick to it. Now don’t start me on overtaking on the left and only by consent