RAF MARHAM TRACK WEEKEND 3/4th Oct

[John_C]

Damnit! It's my wife's birthday that weekend AND the Alpina guys are running a handling day at the Rockingham wet weather test track on the Saturday as well.....

Some serious negociations with 'er indoors are going to be needed here methinks.....

[nosuchuser]

I've just got a V70R and could well be tempted as my parents live up near Bury.

Any ideas of the format? time on track? Number of other cars there? 60 places allocated to PH'ers - does that include the volvo owners?

Cheers

[icooney]

Time on track usually 2 groups 30-40 min each in rotation till lunch time then free for all durring afternoon, briefing either 8 or 9am - check on piston heads, 60 places for PH, can include volvos, also other car clubs have spaces, usually 150ish cars,

[saturnuranus]

John get there so I can grab a lap in the monster!

Sat
1. icooney + 1 (S60R)
2. st5ve (850R)
3. saturnuranus (850 T5)
4.

Sun
1. icooney + 1 (S60R)
2

[Georgey dee]

Don't forget me!

Sat
1. icooney + 1 (S60R)
2. st5ve (850R)
3. saturnuranus (850 T5)
4. Georgey Dee. (RAF Astra Estate)

Sun
1. icooney + 1 (S60R)
2. Georgey Dee. (RAF Astra Estate)

[st5ve]

car checked, fueled and loaded, hotel booked and paid
Marham I am on my way

I am going to try and see what mpg I get on the way up so I have my pipe and slippers at the ready, will then compare my mpg round the track. At a guess I will get around 29mpg driving to Marham and 7mpg around the track.

G D still up for going round in the R?

[saturnuranus]

Great day, and thanks Steve for the ride (and loan of a jumper!). A shame we don't see more Volvo's at this event as it really is quite well suited.

Double thumbs up to all the folks that are involved with organisation of the weekend - see you next year!

[Georgey dee]

DAM IT!!!


Sorry steve,,, . I was a busy bunny this time. I had a lot of the track to cover so I got no breaks today.

If your still in the area tomorrow and fancy popping down then I'm sure we can allow a few more laps


Cheers for coming as I really enjoyed watching the old girl again.



George

[st5ve]

Originally Posted by saturnuranus

Great day, and thanks Steve for the ride (and loan of a jumper!). A shame we don't see more Volvo's at this event as it really is quite well suited.

Double thumbs up to all the folks that are involved with organisation of the weekend - see you next year!

You are more than welcome glad you enjoyed the passenger ride, totally agree with you I remember the first time I went to Marham seeing plenty of Volvos.

[st5ve]

Originally Posted by Georgey dee

DAM IT!!!


Sorry steve,,, . I was a busy bunny this time. I had a lot of the track to cover so I got no breaks today.

If your still in the area tomorrow and fancy popping down then I'm sure we can allow a few more laps


Cheers for coming as I really enjoyed watching the old girl again.



George

Hi George,

Nice to see you again and pleased that you enjoyed watching the old girl go round the track. Sorry you never got a chance of going out in her hopefully next time.
Unfortunately I left for Cornwall straight after leaving RAF Marham otherwise I would have taken you up on the offer.

I had a great time at Marham but I will come to that latter, I wanted to give an indication of what a joy it is driving a car like the 850 R to and from an event like this. I spent Friday morning doing a final check over the car to make sure everything was as it should be, once the check was carried out I loaded the car up with 4 spare wheels, tool kit, trolley jack, axle stands, oil, helmet and some spare parts all of which went into the boot. Fuelled the car up using normal 95 from the local Jet garage, zeroed the on board computer and set off for Marham.

I switched the auto transmission in to economy mode to see what the best fuel economy I could get and was very surprised to see 32mpg when I arrived at my Hotel. The journey was 354 miles and took 7hrs 37mins thanks to being held up by 2hrs in various traffic jams. My average moving speed was a measly 46.1 mph thanks to the traffic hold ups.

After a very hefty fry up breakfast I set of for Marham fuelling up with Shell 97 on route. I arrived late (09.30hrs) and missed the briefing, but signed on as soon as I arrived and got down to unloading the car and putting the spare wheels on. One thing to remember is bring tape to blank off and protect your lights, also helps to protect the paint work against stone chips.

The car performed impeccably giving a GPS top speed reading of 138mph (with passenger), returned an average of 9.1mpg including warm down laps and aprox 110 miles before the on board computer said I had 20 miles worth of fuel left. The brakes did not fade and the auto transmission warning light never came on at all, I went out on three sessions the last one being with Peter each session being just under 40 miles each on average.
After my last session I changed the tyres back over and left for home fuelling up on route with Q8 95 fuel, left the car in sport mode as I wanted to see what the fuel consumption would be on the home journey. Managed to get 29mpg with very conservative driving, very surprised to see the average mpg differ so much over the same journey.

A Track day at Marham always attracts a wide range of cars, everything from vintage Minis and MG’s to an Aston Martin. I believe the Seat BTCC racing team were there (the car was done up in the BTCC livery and passed me like I was in reverse, sounded lovely). I spoke to one of the owners of a mint Lotus Carlton, first time I have ever seen one in the flesh what a car! To some it up you can have great fun for very little money and get to experience the limitations of your Volvo and yourself in a safe environment.