I'd like to echo the praise from everyone else about Sunday.
Chris
Thanks for the original idea for suggesting it and getting it going.
Jo
The organisation before and during the day, responding so promptly to all questions be it on the forum, phone or in person. Given how cold it was your contribution of keeping the hot tea/coffee flowing was a vital part of the day (well done remembering what everyone took). The food was great and seeing you perched on the tail of the boxster with the tea urn and nibbles shows Range Rover don't have the monopoly on dispensing picnics from their boots!
Guys
Thanks for making the day fun and educational. I picked up all sorts of Porsche info and got to see some lovely cars. I have to say I liked the interiors of the 997s and the white GTS looked good. Witnessing the ceramic brakes in action was useful. Hearing Steve's car from the other end of the mile straight was a pretty good sound (for me one of the best sounding cars of the day) and explains why a certain other participant had been pulled by the police for 'hearing (but not seeing) him breaking the speed limit"!
What I did find interesting was how different everyone's cars were and in part did reflect the characters of the owners (e.g. Big Fud's subtle and discrete wheels and decals!). :thumb:
Colin / Paul
The greatest praise goes to you for your patience, knowledge and perseverance trying to get the best out of some ham fisted (at least in my case) driving. The diversity of the circuits used allowed you bring out a range of techniques but also to personalise the content to individual participants needs. The structure of the day was excellent but you were flexible enough to go with the group and amend as required, giving gentle correction rather than jumping down on indiscretions (like me maxing the Caterham rev limiter – sorry – what do you mean it's not a tiptronic?).
Paul, how you managed to coach me to win the end of day gymkhana is miraculous. There were clearly better and more experienced drivers but your instruction (when I managed to put it into operation) was superb. The disadvantage of going out first turned to my advantage when the rain came (as Big Fud might agree!) and Matt needed wipers not only on the windscreen but also his glasses and the side windows when the hail was going virtually horizontal and he was going sideways.
For anyone thinking about doing this
A few thoughts from a first time Porsche owner who had never done a track day and was nervous about risking my own pride and joy. Millbrook is a fantastic facility, it is unique in the UK and while its own website gives you some idea of how good it is you have to experience it. The diversity of tracks and the way it has been designed means that it provides much more scope for demonstrating and training particular skills/techniques; certainly more than is possible on one normal track. It has been designed to test vehicles (and by implication drivers) on things like adverse cambers, tightening corners etc. There is a reason why so many manufacturers use it as a test facility. On the day I was there I saw everything from a prototype Maclaren to a prototype military vehicle designed to withstand land mines. As well as tractors, disguised MPVs, a lotus doing a stupid speed on the banked circle, an aston on the alpine circuit... Oh and its where James Bond rolled his Aston in Casino Royale!
With this as a tool for teaching, the instruction from CAT Driver Training was excellent. Small groups (6 people split into 2 groups of 3 each with an instructor) with knowledgeable, friendly and approachable instructors. As I say above, the course is well structured to cover core skills that they build on through the day. However, the structure is not so rigid that they can't/'won't adapt it. If there is something in particular you want to learn or have a fault with tell them and they will try to work it into the content of the day. There is a little bit of 'theory time' but it is there to help with the practical driving. For me the small groups and the amount of time actually spent in the car learning were both real positives.
The biggest negative for me was that I felt I was just starting to get to grips with a discipline/skill and we were having to move on to the next circuit/exercise. However, the only way to get round this is either to make the course more than one day (CAT offer a 5 day driving programme) or to drop one of the exercises to make time to extend the others (I wouldn't advocate this) so really I'm saying CAT have got it about right. What needs to happen is that you go away and practice the core skills that they have planted the seed.
In terms of risk to your car, it really is quite safe if you follow the instructions given. No one had an off, or came close, and the only spins were when the driver wanted them (you know who you are!). Another advantage of Millbrook is that it's not like other tracks in terms of the road surface. It is designed to mirror real roads so it's not any worse than driving hard (very hard at times) on a conventional road surface. The instructors warn you of hazards eg where if you did run wide and drop a wheel into the gravel you could damage it coming back onto the track. On the steering pad where you could wear out tyres, I found the instructors to be mindful of not wanting to put your tyres through too much. If you don't mind and want to have some fun then they will let you.
My car is completely standard, unmodified and survived the day unscathed.
Do you need
Insurance? My
Insurance covers me for a couple of track days so I called them up and explained I was going on driver training (one on one) gave them the details of Millbrook and CAT DT and they covered me for no additional cost. For peace of mind, I can understand why some might take
Insurance but the excess seems to be very high (I've heard of £1600 – £7500) which negates the benefit if you have to pay for additional cover. Each to their own but training with CAT DT at Millbrook is probably fairly low risk (relatively).
CAT DT can probably advise if anyone has ever had to claim on a track
Insurance policy. This leads me to another point about CAT DT - I would believe what they say, they aren't just out to make money from you. I have done experience days (Red Letter and the like, driving Ferraris Ariel Atom etc) and felt they were more sales focussed than anything else. CAT DT is not like this. They are very professional and enthusiastic about cars, engineering, training and what they are doing – a genuinely nice firm. Probably comes from being a husband and wife team with some long-serving instructors.
For all of the above reasons I would thoroughly recommend them if you are new to Porsches and want to find out what the car can do, if you want to ensure that your skills are up to handling the car or if you are experienced but want to move to the next level (CAT DT do Nurburgring prep training too). This is probably why there have been so many from this forum have gone to CAT DT for training.
It was good to meet you all and put some faces to the names.
Porsche 991: 2011-2019
Porsche 997: 2004-2012
Porsche 996: 1997-2005
Porsche 993: 1993-1998
Porsche 964: 1989-1993
Porsche Carrera 3.2: 1983-1989
Porsche Carrera SC: 1977-1983
Porsche 930 Turbo: 1975-1989
Porsche Early 911: 1964-1977
Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche GT1
Porsche 959
Porsche Macan : 2013-
Porsche Panamera : 2009-
Porsche Cayman: 2005-
Porsche Cayenne: 2003-
Porsche Boxster: 1997-
Porsche 968
Porsche 944
Porsche 924
Porsche 914
Porsche 912
Porsche 904
Porsche 550
Porsche 356 Speedster
Porsche 356
