Lakeside Breakfast Laps - 17 January 2016

[team_v]

I'll come along for my first happy laps if there's still a spot, with passenger.
Silver 03 S3

Sure thing mate.
I will send through the details now.

[Dav369]

Hi Clay,
Is there room enough for me and my blue ST again? Please and thank you's!

[team_v]

Hi Clay,
Is there room enough for me and my blue ST again? Please and thank you's!

Sure thing mate.
Payment information sent to you via pm.

[gk898r]

Hi Clay,

I have have just transferred the payment for my passenger.

Cheers

[Dav369]

Hi Clay,
could you please add 1 passenger to my car too please, i will have payment transferred

[team_v]

Hi Clay,
could you please add 1 passenger to my car too please, i will have payment transferred

No worries. Will do!

[Ben J]

you must be in a FWD or AWD Euro car.

Wtf, what's up with that?

I'll take a spot if any are left, red mk3 if we're keeping things boring or would much rather bring the e30 out..

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[nat225]

Wtf, what's up with that?

I'll take a spot if any are left, red mk3 if we're keeping things boring or would much rather bring the e30 out..

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RWD tail comes out and spins.. the whole HL session ends and causing disadvantage to the rest of the VAG guys..

best to maximise a RWD potentials at a skidcontrol or drift events, which is what i am doing in my RWD.

[nat225]

and you weren't the BMW guy who turned up late and just drove straight into the track right?? Dough was really not impressed with that guy.

[Ben J]

Fwd and AWD understeer which is potentially as dangerous I don't understand that logic, seems like there has to be more too it that that. I also drift my rwd vehicle's at appropriate events, can guarantee my rwd car would be a hell of a lot safer on the track than my sketchy mk3 will be but whatever still keen to come and play

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[Ben J]

and you weren't the BMW guy who turned up late and just drove straight into the track right?? Dough was really not impressed with that guy.

No that was not me. Lovely conclusion jumping though, it's fair for me to assume it's to block certain people then?
I have a mk3 vr6 I'd love to bring, if it's because of me just say

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[Machine]

Ben, I hate to intervene, but what's up with your attitude?
First of all, you don't have a leg to stand on, because you went sideways in your old BMW RWD with a poor setup in the wet on bald tyres within 2 laps. You might have improved as a driver since then and made your car safer, but don't tell me that you think understeer is just as dangerous. It's not. It's why car manufacturers have been building it into their cars for decades. Oversteer is much harder to control.
Now, what makes your Mk3 boring at happy laps? Is it because when it's pushed, it's easy to control? If it's the thrill or challenge you're looking for when the limits are reached, I don't think happy laps is your venue.

[Ben J]

That was well over 2 years ago when I was fresh into rwd and under your instruction... Safe to say I've learnt and improved. I want to bring my e30 out because I've put hundreds of hours and dollars into building it into something track worthy and have just put fresh semi slicks on it. I have a few drift events coming up but would like to see how it feels going straight on the new set up, and lakeside is a lot of fun to drive, very good value. Also it is really a drift car so not setup for sprints and stuff nor what I'm interested in. I just want to do some chill laps, exactly in happy lap spirit. My mk3 would be a lot of fun too and I would probably want to bring it to the next one, but timing wise this works out perfectly for my e30. The vr needs a bit of work before I'd be confident in taking it out on track, suspension and brakes, but hey has to be tonnes safer than my e30 because it's fwd so it's all good

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[Ben J]

For what it's worth the only bad crash I've had was from snap oversteer in a FWD car, which is even harder to catch. The rwd point is silly, I've seen far more fwd cars go off and hit cones at vw happy laps over the years

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[Machine]

You've seen more FWD cars go off because they're mostly FWD cars at happy laps. And a FWD or AWD car does not negate the need for proper maintenance and having fully functional brakes, tyres and suspension. If the driver isn't confident in his car, it's not safe, no matter which drive wheels it uses.
This isn't my call, it's Clay's, but when I was organising HL for a short while, I didn't let Mr Bigg bring his RWD Merc. I recall another regular coming out once and spinning his Lotus. And he was an experienced driver.
You can't mitigate all risk at a track event like happy laps, but it starts with a set of rules and restrictions on certain cars and certain behaviours. And you can't ignore past incidents, unfortunately, because history tends to repeat itself. If the worst incidents occurred in RWD cars, then maybe they should be disallowed. If overtaking through The Kink is deemed to be dangerous and people are told not to do it, but they do it anyway, then those people don't get to come back. Etc, etc.
Happy Laps is only going to get more popular and of course it's great bang for your buck, but it's a privilege, not a right, so opening a conversation with "what the ****, what's up with that?", in my opinion, isn't the best way to show people that you're not a cowboy and that you truly want to cruise around in happy laps fashion in what you believe is a safe car.