Marlin Track Day – Llandow Circuit 3rd June 2006

Background
As we all know Track Days are the new way to rediscover driving pleasure away from speed cameras. But what about those that have never done it before? I mean if you have spent hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds building your pride and joy, you are hardly going to risk bending it are you? That is why Marlin Sports Cars laid on their very first customer track day at the Llandow circuit earlier this month. With years of racing experience behind company director Mark Matthews and cars designed for the track, it was time to share the thrills of high speed and superb handling of Marlin cars with their customers. The Marlin Sports Car Club was established in 2004 with full support from Marlin Sports Cars to provide customers with the chance to get on the track and use their cars to the full.

Terry Matthews had ordered the weather which was spot on - nice and warm, no rain or moisture and plenty of grip available from the tyres due to the conditions. Of the 19 Marlins booked to go on the circuit, 10 had never done a track day before. Many of the track day virgins reported a lack of sleep the night before, a mixture of excitement and fear. They need not have worried as full support was on hand from the Marlin factory with driving tuition from Mark Matthews. The cars were a good mixture of Marlin Cabrio’s, Sportsters and 5EXi’s some of which would not have looked out of place in a Bentley showroom – they looked that good.

Track Action
As with all track days all of the drivers had to attend the drivers briefing which was delivered very professionally by the staff at Llandow. Much to everyone’s amusement, one thing they stressed was not to have an accident as the paramedic on duty was very fond of giving an injection for the smallest thing! The track time was divided into 3 classes; experienced, intermediate and beginners. Each had 2 sessions before the lunchtime break with an open pit lane in the afternoon. Mark Matthews was kept busy giving driving instruction to all of the novices to ease them in gently. The experienced drivers went out first so that the novices could watch and hopefully observe the proper racing line.

Yes we all know it had to happen - a father and son combination, who shall remain nameless, took their Sportster for a spin. 360 degrees of spin actually and ended up pointing the right way and carried on with their session! They came in for a typical father and son debate on the experience and sought some urgently needed instruction.

All was going well until John Byrne’s 5EXi 2.0 Turbo came up the main straight in a cloud of oil smoke. In his hurry to get the car ready for the track day he had used ordinary piping to carry the oil attached to the engine with a standard jubilee clip. The engine had been set to run additional turbo boost and the pipe did not want to play any more and came off. Apart from a complete mess no damage was done but the oil on the circuit did mean that an hour of track time was lost before lunch. It also proves the point on how vital it is to prepare your car properly when going on the track. Terry decided to do the decent thing and start the BBQ early with Kevin from the factory as head chef on the sausages and burgers.

With everyone suitably refreshed and the track cleared of the oil the remaining classes completed their sessions before going to an open pit lane format. By then everyone was getting into the groove and putting into practice the instruction from Mark. There were no more incidents and lap times started to come down for all of the drivers and the width of the grins on their faces continued to grow. Simon from the factory took potential customers around in the factory in a 5EXi-R, powered by the potent 2 litre Honda Type R engine. This was very impressive, so much so that 2 of the potential customers became customers and placed their orders a few days later.

Bitten by the Bug
The quickest car/driver combination on the day was the race prepared 5EXi of Dylan Popovic. Dylan has taken the Marlin Factory Race Package where the car is built to race specification and taken to the races in the 750 Motor Club calendar with full factory support. With lap times around the Llandow circuit consistently around 48 seconds Dylan was untouchable. As a result of this Jonathon Coombes and Nick Milnes are going to share a race car in 2007 also taking the Factory Race Package. Simon Culiffe also expressed that he intends to buy a 5EXi to race next year.

Result
All too quickly the chequered flag fell to signal the end of the day. Without exception everyone expressed that they had enjoyed the day immensely. Below are quotes received by the Marlin Sports Car Club a few days later that sum up the experience that so many enjoyed.

Andrew Curtis
“Congratulations for taking the plunge, I must say again it was a brilliant day all round”

Mike Jeans
“I really enjoyed the Marlin Track Day at Llandow. As it was my first, I was a little apprehensive, but we had a very helpful introduction to the track and the flag system. I went out with my son Tim at first, who was in the intermediate group, and was surprised how he was able to throw it in to the bends. His comment was that the Cabrio “handled like a go-kart” which was high praise from him. I was in the novice’s group and it was an easy introduction as Mark took me round and showed me the racing line. I had watched Tim and was able to “go for it” a little as well when the yellow flag went in. Most of the bends were negotiated in third gear, which meant 4-6000 revs, but that’s when my V8 gives me a bit of oomph!

A really satisfying day, our thanks to all at Marlin and Llandow who organised a super day.”