Bill Gwynne Rally School

[Big 'D']

Hi all

I am off to Bill Gwynne's Rally School near Silverstone tomorrow to throw a scoob about for the day I really hope it is as good as it looks

I will post pics etc when I get back.

Cheers Iain

[HairyDJ]

Have fun & get a price for the Oxon crew to go play for a day (or just a half)

[stum450n]

Yep, have fun mate! Don't scare them too much will you!

OSC prices for a day/half day would be cool!

[Big 'D']

Well what a day

If you ever fancy a go at rally driving this is certainly the place to go, the day started out with introductions and briefings but we were quicky sized up for helmets and taken out for 2 introduction laps as passengers. The vocal feedback from the instructors is incredible every input it talked about in advance so you get an idea of what he was doing just before he did it if that makes sense.

After the introduction laps were out the way it was my turn to take the wheel in what appeared to be a ver 1 or 2 RA fully rally prepared with roughly 260bhp, the first session was for me anyway a chance to learn the layout of the track and try to follow the barrage of commands coming from the instructor for example the hairpin turns at each end of the stage were approached in 3rd at speed then 2nd was selected to allow for a little scandi' flick followed by a little handbrake action and the selection of 1st gear to pull away and this all happens in about 2 seconds LOL and the whole time you are trying to listen to the instructor, drive and plan the exit, there is so much going on.

After about 6 laps you start to get a feel for the car and get a bit of weight transfer going on ie lift of oversteer etc and the steering inputs become noticeably smaller and smoother resulting in a smoother faster run.

At the end of your day you have a marked run without instruction, the instructor is still in the car with you but keeps his mouth shut , basically if he speaks at this point it was to either praise you or tell you off, as you can imagine I was very nervous at this point but I was amazed to find that by the second corner my nerves had completely gone and I was attacking the course harder and faster than what I was with instruction, I put this down to being able to concentrate 100% on the driving and apply what I had been instructed on during the day without having to think about what he was telling me anymore, the end results were outstanding

Pics and vids to follow

I will do a full writeup later once I have calmed down a little.

Cheers Iain

[myles]

Sounds like a bonzer day, cant wait for the video!

[Big 'D']

I will be discussing the OSC day/ half day with them very soon

Cheers Iain

[Big 'D']

If you can excuse the voices of my fan club here is a vid my better half caught on her camera phone

Rally Day vid

Just edited to add that these laps were the uninstructed ones and by far the best runs of the day from me

Cheers Iain

Edited September 30, 2009 by Big 'D'

[little vodka goblin]

Glad you had a great time Iain, Nige had an absolute blast when he went there last year - he had the most MASSIVE smile on his face all day