Southwall Smokers Lydden Hill Drift Day 22nd March 2014

yeah no disrespect towards lez and the staff, they do a good job of running it as its not easy, but always looking for ways to improve things. so more constructive critism. And i am more speaking up for everyone in the pit lane who said the same but doesnt like putting it down on here.
 
 
bear. said:
Some more photographers:

Maximum D https://www.facebook.com/MaximumDPhotography?fref=ts
Skid Marks https://www.facebook.com/skidmarksphotography
Low Mileage https://www.facebook.com/lowmileage?fref=ts
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tbtstt said:
Not a comprehensive list, but I know the following photographers were there:

Rubber Duck (Official Lydden Photographer) https://www.facebook.com/#!/RubberDuckDoesPhotography?fref=ts
Dan Fegent: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dan-Fegent-Photography/116765711730600?fref=ts
Shooting Dave: https://www.facebook.com/#!/shootingdave?fref=ts
Maximum Revs: https://www.facebook.com/#!/MaximumRevsPhotography?fref=ts
ASR Photography: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AdamRousPhotography?fref=ts

There were probably more: those are just the ones I know off hand!
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And the one more:


https://www.facebook.com/EyedeaMedia
 
Finally had time to read your comments, Sorry for delay in reply had a busy & stressful few days,

I'm not taking any offence to what people are saying and I understand where you are all coming from,
I really don't know how we could regulate people and say you need to do X days at somewhere like pod/Essex arena before you could do lydden, it would take something along the lines of getting every event organiser together and agreeing a standard of driving aswell as having someone at each venue to sign off on it, otherwise you only have the word of the driver that they have done it. In which case you need some form of proving system. On top of that some people learn quicker than others it may take someone 1 day to be at the same level as someone that's done 6 days.


As for it being open pit lane its not wise to send out the novices with the pros chasing them down at a rapid rate, this weekend proved that and Lydden had to move the BDC guys that had booked themselves into the novice as there had been some complaints from some drivers in the novice group, which is where the extra group came from.


In fairness to the novice group its not them that is the biggest issue with open pit lane, its more the lack of respect for the flags and one another on track. People are still ignoring the flags and skidding under yellows, in feb I saw 2 people skidding under reds! Generally speaking its not the novices that are worst, its the inters & inter/pro groups that are the worst for it so until we get to a stage where the driving standards and attention to flags are far better than they are now theres no way we could run public open pit lane days at lydden in a safe manor for all, its asking for trouble. If everyone ups there game for the next few months i'll see what can be done for later in the year for a public opl day.
 
I really think if we can get open pit back it would be great to get more seat time there.

To make it easier to identify a novice couldnt they have a sticker on the back of their car so the person coming up behind knows to give them some space and pass when they can. Then when a driver has done enough days at lydden they dont have the sticker any more.

Like lez says everyone needs to respect each other on the track. I couldnt make it this time but have been to most lydden days and there is always people skidding under flags. Sort it out! Its not that difficult to check the marshal posts as you coming up to them.
 
I think the marshals need to be more clear when waving the flag, the marshal where the pit enters the track is usually behind the barrier making it near impossible to see, maybe get him on the bank next to him so he can be seen. And it seems lydden is going through some upgrades, maybe the could install light boxes to make it easier to see the flags.
 
wiggye36 said:
I think the marshals need to be more clear when waving the flag, the marshal where the pit enters the track is usually behind the barrier making it near impossible to see, maybe get him on the bank next to him so he can be seen. And it seems lydden is going through some upgrades, maybe the could install light boxes to make it easier to see the flags.
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Bollocks, i couldnt see the flag isnt an excuse, i can see them all so theres no reason anyone else cant. Most people carry passengers aswell so get them to keep an eye out aswell.
 
Lez has a point there but to be fair the communication between the marshalls can be terrible, i have seen red flags waved while another is waving a yellow and one not waving any thing.

also the clerk at the pits tends to be looking the other way, fair enough he has other things to deal with but there should always be a marshall watching. There has been a couple of times i have spun on paddock and sat there with no flags being waved and cars coming towards me.
 
lezbrucelee said:
As for it being open pit lane its not wise to send out the novices with the pros chasing them down at a rapid rate, this weekend proved that and Lydden had to move the BDC guys that had booked themselves into the novice as there had been some complaints from some drivers in the novice group, which is where the extra group came from.
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agreed. but the problem with the current system is that is exactly what is happening anyway, because people get to book their own groups, so novices and pros are already mixed up.

i get the theory though. but also bear in mind it wasnt a huge problem when we did the last open pit lane day

as most pros id of said wont be chasing down slower drivers and taking risks as they dont want to trash their cars.

I think youd prob find that the reason that happened in sessions is because they had no choice, you get your ten mins and think "ive only got ten mins, im going for it regardless" where as open pit you dont mind slowing down/taking your time to get round someone gripping for a while as there is no time constraint, as you know that no matter how many tyres youve got, chances are youll run out by lunchtime!

also with open pit, people drive in groups. we did, slow down and wait for each other and stay in a pack of drivers that know each other, give newbies space.

maybe put it to a vote? as so far i havnt spoke or heard from anyone that prefers sessions to open pit lane, and most people dont comment on these things either way.


and yeah, some decent marshalling would make it work a lot better! i.e you need someone to enforce flags, not just wave them. if people skid through flags they need to be actually black flagged and briefed up, or there is literaly no point what so ever in having them. do that, and open pit lane would work
 
In my opinion there are too many people attending a day at lydden for it to be run in groups. Too many people=too many groups. The last Day I did at lydden was August last year, and I thought for the money you pay it was pretty bad value.
After Drifting Snetterton a few times since then it is run so much better. Open pitlane with a set number of cars out on track at the same time works so well. Experienced and Novice drivers give each other space, and all is cool, if you drive like a cunt you get pulled off the track and get a talking too.

I also agree that the flags are sometimes not so great at Lydden. I remember when I span coming into devils and I sat on the grass for literally a few minutes with no marshalls waving flags, and people still drifting past, making it impossible to get back onto the track.
 
I'd just like to say I really enjoy lydden and this is only a suggestion from what people have been saying, tbh I'm happy doing groups or open it don't really bother me I still enjoy the day.
Would it not be possible to have a bit of both? For example 50 mins open pit lane then the people on tack get brought off and run a 10min novice group then the pit lane reopens and the drivers who where taken off can retake they're places on track.
This way you could say people must do x novice days (1 or more) before entering the open pit lane group. The first time I went to lydden one of my main worries was getting in the way of ppl so being on track with "pros" would've been daunting.
Obviously the ppl that run it would have to set the rules but I think not allowing ppl who come off track to change tyres while the novices were on track would mean that they'd still only get the same amount of track time just with a 10min brake in it.
 
If lydden consider another pit lane in the near future, say June I would definitely consider making the effort to come back down. The February day fun, just felt like some people shouldn't have been in the Inters group, and even some of the Pro's were questionable.

There were a number of times where I would set myself up for the pit corner, only to find a car facing the wrong wag without any flags.

I agree with everything Jack has said, and to be honest, most "groups" get filled up nowadays not because of the skill level, but purely due to groups of drivers wanting to be in the same group as each other.

On the plus point, if novice's are out on track with those with experience, if they just followed and learned the lines they are taking chances are that they may well learn how to approach a corner. (Im not on about those who can link the circuit, just those with more skill than the beginners)
 
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