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Marlin Track Day - Llandow Circuit - 22nd September 2007 The weather, we Brits are obsessed with it, and for good reason too if you were driving at the Marlin Track day being held at the Llandow Circuit. The forecast predicted rain the week before and lots of rain the day after on the Sunday but a dry day for the event itself. Terry must have organised this with some higher power! The journey to the circuit did not prove this to be the case. On the way there we hit a good shower around Newport and an even better one around Cardiff. You should see some of the looks you get from other people when driving in the rain with the roof down in a 5EXi. The amazing thing is that you don’t get wet at all due to the air being funnelled around the cockpit due to the curved screen. Once at the circuit it seemed as if the clouds had parted just above and we were greeted with sunshine and a rapidly drying track. Just as well because some people had track tyres or slicks only and if it had rained this would not have been fun. The format of the day was sessions all morning according to ability divided into 3 groups, Beginners, Intermediates and Experienced. There were 3 instructors on hand to provide suitable instruction to those who had not driven on a circuit before of which there were quite a few. As well as the usual collection of 5EXi’s and Sportsters, there were also some road going cars you would not normally associate with track days. A Fiesta, a 206, an MX5 and Fabia RS to add to the 2 Lotus Elises. The sessions allowed the less experienced out on the track first with Mark leading the session for the first few laps. There were also instructors to guide them through essential skills such as the correct racing line, braking points, gear changing, clipping the apex and carrying the speed smoothly through the corner. Everyone made good progress and soon people were visibly getting quicker as their technique and confidence improved. There was however one Sportster owner who unfortunately came to grief through Devils Elbow by locking the rear wheels which resulted in going off line and kissing the barrier. He admitted afterwards that he really just did not give himself, or the car come to that, enough time to warm up. The result was 2 bent wishbones on the offside front corner which meant the end of the day for the driver but it is an easy repair and I am sure he will be back again soon. The 15 minute sessions continued all morning to allow everyone enough track time with drivers of similar ability so that they were not tripping over each other. All too soon it was time for the lunch break from 1-2pm and Kevin who normally welds the chassis’s at the factory became head chef with the BBQ assisted by Sarah cooking the onions and preparing the salad. I suppose for Kevin who is used to working with heat all day long it must have been a bit of a Busman’s Holiday. Everyone then took suitable refreshments enjoying the low calorie, highly nutritious burgers and hot dogs whilst swapping stories of their experiences in the morning session. In the afternoon it was an open pit lane format which is when the lap times really started to tumble. Dylan in his race car recorded the days best time of 45 seconds but a number of cars were only 2-3 seconds off this pace which shows just how good the road going 5EXi’s really are. One driver in his 280BHP Integra was very quick with a best lap time of 49 seconds but he still had to give second best to the 5EXi’s in the corners and braking even thought the two cars had a very similar power to weight ratio. The Integra was always quicker down the straights but on overall lap time the 5EXi was a second quicker. As Colin Chapman famously once said “If you want to go quicker – add lightness”. A number of potential customers for the “Race Package” in 2008 turned up to see what the Race 5EXi had to offer. For those of you who have not been keeping up with the progress of Marlin 5EXi Race Cars in the Castle Combe Special GT Championship this year or who have not been on the website for a while, this is impressive. Marlin started the year towards the back of the field in Class D with a lap time of around 1min 22secs. Continual development of the car has seen lap times come down by a staggering 7 seconds to1min 15secs and they are now racing head to head with the Ferrari 360 Challenge cars at the front of the class which cost over 10 times more. In fact in the last race on September 15th Dylan came 3rd in Class picking up his first trophy. He was directly behind 2 Ferraris with less than a second between him and first place, with a number of other Ferraris further back – a great achievement by Dylan and Marlin. On the back of this success and with further developments still to come Marlin are offering value for money Race Packages for 2008 where, if required, a driver can just turn up and drive and Marlin will do the rest. Full details can be found on the Marlin website and with packages starting from £4000 (inc race entries) for a full year, competitive racing has never been cheaper! Anyway back to the track day. It seemed that everyone just grew in confidence and stature throughout the day. Smiles seemed to get wider as drivers got more out of their cars and enjoyed them for what they were designed to do. A few had to do some minor running repairs whilst the majority found their cars to be 100% reliable and easily capable of some serious track action. All too soon the finish time of 4.30pm came, the chequered flag was waved to signify the end of the day and time to pack up. Since the day the following comments have been received which sum up the day rather nicely. Hi All at Marlincars Great big thanks for Sat, it was fantastic. Parents have not stopped going on about it and how good it was. Please could you thank those involved, we all really enjoyed it and the atmosphere was great, as you said. Liz |
