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The Hornet - Brands Hatch 20/2/13


rooflessdriver
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After several months parked up on my drive at home, the time came for the Hornet to venture out on track again.

Due to work commitments I missed the MOT track day in Dec, but saw they had one scheduled for Feb, so got an early bird booking.

I mentioned it to my GF and asked if she wanted to come along too, and she was quite interested.

Turns out it was £10 for a passenger or £25 as a second driver, so booked her to drive as well!!

 

Couple of weeks before, i did a quick check on the car, only to find the battery was flat and the interior was covered in mould

IMG 8660

 

Having got this cleaned up, checked all the fluids, brakes, lights and tyre pressures and the car was ready to go.

 

On the day, I suggested Jacky drove the first sighting session to get used to the car and follow the others to see the track and the racing line.

What we didnt expect was for them to take off at 50-60mph on the first lap and leave her floundering, so I gave her directions as best as possible and she made it round.

 

After one of the other owners did his sighting session, we got ready for her to go out in the "Novice's" session.

I'm afraid to say that was a complete p**s take. Some of the so called novices were seen after lunch in the advanced sessions and were quite happy to bully the novices around.

 

The circuit was quite damp and slippery and the session was immediately red flagged as an RX8 had gone off at clearways on the first lap, damaging the whole passenger side and blowing out the rear window. Ouch!

 

I went out in the next session with my new toy mounted on my crash helmet. A Go Pro HD Hero 3.

Unfortunately it was mounted to high and got a very good view of the top of the window surround!

 

I refitted it later on the TR Lanes roll bars and got some better footage, but it was possibly a bit too low.

(videos linked below)

 

The afternoon sessions started much better with a dry circuit and the Hornet proved to be a great little car again, although seriously under powered in comparison to some of the other cars there.

 

I did draft a couple of other MX5's onto Paddock Straight and saw an indicated 92mph before some very late braking before paddock hill! 

On one of the first videos I recorded, I can quite clearly hear Jacky squealing as we go over the blind apex and drop down into the compression before heading up towards Druids.

 

I still can't get the knack of Druids and find it very frustrating as I really enjoy the rest of the circuit.

 

Jacky went out for her last go in the late afternoon, and frankly the driving standards of some of the other cars was abysmal.

It seemed like they had decided 'well if i get kicked out now, i have had my fun', so there was overtaking in corners, undertaking on the right handside and serious bullying going on. 

I think Jacky managed 3 or 4 laps and came back in frustrated and angry.

 

Ironically I went straight back out and had the best 20mins of the day for me.

 

All I can say is I will seriously have to consider booking another MOT day. Even one of the marshalls said there were too many cars, and some had been sent home.

 

Real shame as the first ones were a pleasure to attend with mostly MX5's, but thats a sign of progress and success.

 

The Hornet was almost faultless all day, (couldnt get reverse to go to lunch!), and handled beautifully. 

Considering it hadnt been driven for so long and got some real stick from Dave & myself, it is such a great car.

 

Some photos we bought from the photographer on the day.

 

IMG 9014

IMG 9013

IMG 9012

IMG 9011

IMG 9010

IMG 9009

 

 

 

few videos uploaded from my HD Hero3 
 
 
 
 
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Nice one - i haven't done brands yet but i think its the next one on the list for me this year. Shame to hear the track was chock full of plebs though. Hopefully MoT wise up and sort it out. I've only ever done Club MSV days (bedford) and they have been superb. Whether or not thats because they own the track and operate slightly differently to 3rd party organisers i dont know.

 

I was looking at picking up a cheaper Go Pro2 HD - but was wondering if they could take a remote mic input so get the camera angle right and take the sound from a mic out of the wind by the exhaust. Do you know if thats possible on these units Sean ? :)

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Thanks guys for the comments.  :)

 

I was very impressed with the quality of the video, the only annoying thing was I lost several clips due to a bug in the software, if you dont format the card in camera first.  :o

 

Steve-O, i had a quick look on the GoPro site, and the hero 2 does have an external mic input.  :)

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Also for those that have Harrys Lap Timer.

Shortly to be released with v17 iirc is the ability to use a GoPro Hero camera (And/or additional iphones  as an additional camera, controlled by bluetooth from HLT). This will  then allow PiP from 2nd camera within the overlaid video.

Awaiting approval by Apple for release to app store.

You will need to ensure you get the right version of HLT to ensure you get all of the functionality.

 

See here:

http://www.gps-laptimer-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1159

 

This piece of software just gets better and better!

h

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Yes, Hero 2 definitely has an external mic jack, but you will have to drill a hole in the clear plastic casing to use it which might compromise the waterproofing if you intend to use that case in the wet.

I dont know about the Hero 2, but I just bought a battery pac for my Hero 3, and it comes with two additional rear frames, a skeleton & a sealed one.

The skeleton has openings on the sides as well as the back, so I can run leads into it.

 

Worth checking the go pro site before drilling the case...

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I have HLT installed in preparation of some track days this year (beast of an app need to try and work it out lol) but still trying to find a Marshall friendly mount. Was looking at some kind of proper clamp for my cabin brace (soon to be harness bar).

 

Am trying to be a bit sensible with spending hence looking at the go pro 2 - pretty impressed with the quality of the video it's just the sound I always find lacking. Really after a nice clean exhaust sound over the recording. To start with I was going to test out a cheap eBay jobby with foam socks over it and adjust to find a good setup and work up from there.

 

Bit like this : http://bit.ly/YiJqa8

 

Might need extending though

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was just reminded by this thread - i was out today on my lunch break and went into maplins and on the off chance found a action camera - AEE SD20 on special for £119.99 that i had been mulling over the last couple of weeks on various websites. I couldnt find it any cheaper than £149.99 from UK sites.

 

I have watched various clips and reviews on this and this for the price will do me nicely. Its a full 1080p camera and technically has the same components as the Go Pro HD2. I'll forgive the lack of external input at that price! Comes with a screen, laser point for lining it up and various mounts, remote control and waterproof case.

 

Looking forward to getting some footage on it!

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sounds like a good purchase Steve with all the accessories you got.  :)

 

I was a bit concerned about not having a screen on the go pro for lining up in the car, but then saw a demo of the iPhone app.

WIFI connectivity to an ipad or iphone and full control from there.

 

The other thing i like about the go pro is the 'upside down' setting. 

I have put a mount pad on the windscreen behind the rear view mirror and then mount the camera hanging down, switch the mode to inverted and away you go!

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