Was another great day and like the others have already said a big thanks to everyone who helped organising it.
Epic.
Thanks Ben and the BaT/circuit team.
Is it wrong to fancy a ferret?
Thanks Ben and BAT and everyone else … great couple of days and the orange machine didn’t fail us this time.
Sunday was just perfect, Monday …er challenging - very careful throttle control needed !
Firstly, thanks Ben, and all of you for being a great bunch to enjoy sharing time with.
WELL THEN, my journey home. Left about 17:30, got home 280ish miles later at 08:00. That was under Exige power for about an hour, then AA incompetence for another 11, with the Lotus reaching me 5 hours after. To cut a long story short: 4 trucks, a taxi and at the end of it they locked my keys in the car. In fairness, all the AA people I met were pretty good, it was the organisation that let them down. Now I just need ANOTHER plan to keep my CVs from exploding.
Great day as always and huge thanks to Benja for organising.
Circuit in the wet was challenging but not as much as the drive home. Glad I wasn’t in the Exige on 888’s
Many thanks to the team for a great day out - I had a superb time along with my son on his first ever trackday- he’s now smitten.
Cheers guys and here’s looking forward to next year’s event.
Also personally- I do hope it’s at Anglesey and its at Easter again - it’s the perfect formula.
Thanks to Ben for organising and BaT for running the day… I’ve enjoyed lots of Exiges.com trackdays over the years and this one was no exception despite the weather.
The challenge of trying to complete the perfect drift on each corner of the circuit was certainly lots of fun! Loved it and love Anglesey as a circuit, there are not many circuits that can match Anglesey for scenery.
Despite having moved on from Lotus ownership it’s still great to catch up with everyone.
… I second that.
MADE IT BACK TO BUDAPEST BABY!!!
My ears are still ringing
lol
Anglesey 3am Tuesday start. Budapest 3:30am Thursday. Small detail of oil cooler pipe melting and rupturing on the exhaust at warp speed in the autobahn…
but we made it back 340R and Evora convoy!
Anglesey was brilliant. I had so much fun in the Evora in the wet. Everyone should try one, they are fantastic.
Hypo has become a Loti fan and was a bit shocked after his ride with Stan :lol
Thank you Ben and all the exiges gang. A great time as usual!
Brilliant day on Monday despite the weather and lack of Exige.
Great catching up with everyone.
Thanks Ben for organising, and BAT for a well run day especially considering the conditions.
Some laps pretending to be a ferret. Excuse the driving.
Best viewed on phone or iPad.
Thanks guys for the comments and for supporting the event.
It was not good in the run up to the event. Two sick kids and not even had the time to retrieve my Exige from Hofmanns where it’d been for a service/MOT. I was knackered too, having only got back from Spa on Tuesday evening (ooops my fault that one). Let’s just say my in-home popularity was not at an all time high at the point I rolled off the drive.
Given the forecast for Monday, Matt from PH wanted to try and get the factory car on circuit on the Sunday. I was running so late, it was looking like I’d miss the Telford rendezvous, so I got the hammer down and tried to head straight to the circuit on the A55 and meet him. After the briefest of pitstops near the island (bumping into the Edwards doing same) I rather unbelievably made it! After meeting Matt and checking he’d got signed on, I even got to jump in the Caterham for a a few laps of dry time on circuit.
On the day the weather was the worst I can recall for an exiges day. First session out was terrible as I couldn’t even see where I was going with the dark-smoke on my visor, low-light and torrential rain. I ran with the visor open which was also no good. Thankfully, I had a clear visor with me to install and once vision had been restored the needle dropped and I could start enjoying the conditions. Anglesey in a Caterham in the wet is a LOT of fun and I absolutely loved hover-crafting around like a lunatic. Lots of the Loti seemed to be going well too. Granted, they’re a different proposition in the wet and preferring dry conditions, but there’s a real challenge in feeling for grip and being smooth to make progress. Bit of a vid of some hoonery here :
Click for in-car vid for a couple of hooning laps
The event for me is always 50% about the circuit time and 50% about catching up with friends. As usual it was great to see everyone and some new faces. It’s also a moment of reflection for me whenever I have the chance to see W8CON and remember our mate Con and the fun we always had when he was around, thanks for coming John.
I really feel for the dozen or so that couldn’t make it due to the weather, also for IDG and his epic return-leg and Randy’s scooter fail. It seemed that the weather was not too much of a spoiler for those that made it. Yes we had a few stoppages (Sean), but nobody hit anything, so I’ll think we’ll call that a success.
Thanks to Hofmanns and Oakmere for pitching up, shame the 311 didn’t roll off the trailer and onto the circuit. Also to Matt from PH for making the long journey from Hethel in the factory car. I’m looking forwards to seeing his write-up. Congrats too to Martin for taking the Red-Caliper Award,…talk about keeping it in the family! Jokes aside, Martin is an absolute legend who has helped many of us with our cars and it felt absolutely right that the trophy passed to him.
Special thanks also to Bookatrack for hosting the event for the 10th year at Anglesey. The Caterham tasters seems to go down well, x7 exigers in Caterhams proves the point that exigers have an affinity with 7s. When the event runs as smoothly as that, it’s easy to forget that the BaT guys do a great job of making it all happen. Yes I know, we all paid our dues and they filled a day with punters, but nonetheless there’s a reason they’ve done it for us for ten years; they always run a great trackday.
I needed to get back to the homestead on Monday night, so after a shower and a bite I hit the road. As I ploughed through the dark and rain in my Merc I was thinking about how much the event has changed from when we had 30+ S1’s lined up on the approach to Rocket. The exiges.com craic is still alive but time has moved on. It was a struggle to get the event filled this year for a whole variety of reasons, and we need to think about that for future years. Being honest I’ve struggled to find the time to dedicate to the event amongst all my other paternal/professional commitments. We’ll have to try something different for next year,…either someone else take it on or go for a more group effort approach.
Anyways, I’ve waffled on enough. Thanks lads and lasses.
Is it wrong to fancy a ferret?
No, no it is not 
If the organising needs dividing up between a few of us next time I’ll happily put my hand up and help where I can. It’s too good of an event not to keep trying. Ben, you’ve done a brilliant job of keeping it going all this time.
The event is where my track driving began back in 2011 where I drove the 2-11 there and back from Wigan because I had no trailer at the time. I owe a lot to the event, the people and these brilliant cars we love. I need to mention MarcP who played a big part in my Lotus ownership and me trying track driving in the first place. I’m getting all sentimental but it would be a real shame if this was the last Exiges annual track day.
Ofcourse we need another one next year. I need to bring along another Double D nice girl. Can’t have it that I brought a dude along as a pax for the last event!!!
And I’m running out of excuses why I’m unable to make it!
2019 it is!
I’m afraid, Sir, your resignation is not accepted.
But , how can we help, oh mighty leader?
Good post Benja, and I’m with the others here, happy to assist in any way I can to keep it going. It’s just too good an event to let slip.
Great write up Benja.
Easter at Anglesey needs to continue and I am more than happy to help with organisation.
What wonderful support, awesome people
I agree, we can’t let this event expire. I never realised it has been running for so long. If I manage to get my work life under control I can do a bit to help. I would suggest we agree on the venue and date pdq. I understand some people are not keen on BaT but I’d also suggest that unless they have a better idea and are prepared to organise it we stick with an excellent formula. I like the peril of sun to monsoon in two days, that’s Wales at Easter. I know BaT are a tad pricey but it’s nothing compared with the other costs of track days.
Thanks again Ben.
Keith