Grass = Fun at Santa Pod

[petefarrell360]

For £4 I had a right laugh today at Santa Pod on the grass. I know it's not the same, but, a load of cones set out on the grass, some barrels and sensors and timing equipment made for a lot of fun. £2 a run, the first one went well, as I predicted, somewhat over enthusiastically wrong, as the right foot didn't lift off, even when the understeer is so bad the ditch is approaching and we will make it this way. Dorifto fun made for proper fun, best of all, the tyres weren't left on tarmac, they've just got very little grass left! The second run was somewhat more serious, weaved in and out of the cones nicely, it was just the tight turns that were my downfall, as rather than slowly taking a tight turn, the spectators needed entertaining with some drift action steer from the rear Volvo action, which meant loss of time, big wide sweep. I tried taking one of the turns at low speed, that lasted all of two seconds before the boot dropped again!

Best bit was when I rolled up, the guy in charge said he was rooting for me as he used to have a 360! He thought it'd be funny if I could do the best time, but sadly I didn't. Was all good fun and cheap as chips to boot.

I'd watched too many people come out of the last part of the cone slalom too slowly so that they could safely drive into the undersized coned area between the timing sensor and stop. So me....... on my second go, with my mate with a huge grin on his face clinging on for dear life looking out of the car which was completely sideways at the bloke in charge rather quickly walking backwards looking worried as if I might sideswipe the timing display, sensors the lot, I left the slalom at speed sideways to tuck it back in perfectly to skid to a halt inside the cones and end the course without wasting time! Hooligan at work.

I only realised after I'd done the course that I'd done the slalom one handed and had been laid back enough to have one arm either leaning on the window in the sun with the window down or clinging onto the roof guttering outside for support! Oh well!

At least I wasn't going to get told off for destroying the grass, and it was pretty flat, and my tyres didn't have to suffer on tarmac. Traction, or lack of it was an issue, as was understeer and the dust I was kicking up! I think if we could find a flat piece of grass where they didn't mind us playing, a few cones and we could have a grand old time with a stop watch for the day.

Pete

[Chris_C]

Welcome to the world of the grass autotest Nick knows more about them then me, and prolly Carl too, but i want to get involved!

Another mate has been playing over here on the island, a lot of island business' let the island car club set autotests, great idea if you ask me! So... who has a spare field!

[990]

Now that my friends sounds like unlimited fun

[Nick C]

Grass Autotests are indeed really good fun. As Pete mentioned, you don't kill your tyres, and there's usually plenty of space to stop you worrying about hitting anything! Which of course means you can go properly sideways

Another thing to look out for a car 'Gymkhana'. They are generally run like an autotest, but have to incorporate 50% untimed tests, and are a lot cheaper to organise (less insurance required by the organisers), and so cheaper to compete on too! I'm guessing the Santa Pod one was probably unofficial to be only 2 quid, they're usually about a tenner.

I have known Gymkhanas to be organised that are virtually a minature stage rally, interspersed with really easy questions to make them legal

The big problem with grass autotests is that they are somewhat reliant on the weather, so are always at risk of getting called off if it's too wet and the field is all muddy. Shouldn't be a problem at the moment though!

[Ali]

Sounds like top fun mate, that kind of thing would suit everyone on here, chance to have a lot of fun without the worry of putting the car under so much strain and killing parts! How bumpy was it though? I played on a field at rotorstock and managed to break something on both days lol, think ground clearance could by my major downfall

[petefarrell360]

It was great fun indeed, and as you say without the worry of either stacking it into something unforgiving or killing tyres or majorly straining the car, however I gave it some abuse. As you say, it would appeal to more people, as it's more open to have a go and go at your own pace.

The thing about a track day that puts me off somewhat would be where there a faster cars on the track, that would be suddenly appearing out of nowhere behind us, which while your concentrating on your own lap could cause some problems for some people. I know one at a time tracks aren't going to see everyone get as much use of the track, but it would rule out any collisions at all!

There was a BMW convertible on the grass that just couldn't keep it in a straight line, and ended up playing spectacularly, along with a highly modded Sierra. One of my favourites was an old Jag, that looked so wrong weaving in and out of cones on the grass, but for a heavy old beast it was pretty agile.

It wasn't as bumpy as I thought it might have been, they'd found a well kept area to use. Better than the actual car park opposite. Most the the bumps were long following waves, so nothing pot holey or deep wheel ruts, just make you sea sick instead. That was my only concern with the whole thing was what damage I'd do from bumps, but it seemed ok.

Pete

[SteveP]

Sounds like alot of fun mate, had some fun on the grass at Shakespeare County Raceway but it can get pretty bumpy.. last thing I want is to rip my bodykit off Acutally getting ripped up grass come through the windows But it's so very controllable (unless the grass is wet.. oops accidental 270 degree spin ).

[petefarrell360]

Yeah, or if you cannot lift the heavy right foot up it gets interesting! Yeah, I'd probably not go as mad as I did if I'd got a kit on the car.
Pete

[Carl]

Grass autotests/gymkhanas (in fact just playing on grass in general) are great fun!! Definately recommend people give it a go if there's something organised in your area.

Never used a 300 on a proper organised event but have used the 360s on grass/gravel roads a fair bit (a few road rallies, a few random trips into the New Forest and a few gravel stages of the Wales Rally GB) and it's damn good fun - the car is very well balanced and controllable. The only bad thing is the lack of LSD - that would make proper grass tests much easier on the tighter bits. And much more fun.

The only proper grass event I did was a gymkhana thing last summer which is when I had an XR4x4 - this was possible the most fun I've ever had in a car - v6, 4WD and LSDs - lots of traction, lots of oversteer and lots of dohnuts

[petefarrell360]

Yeah you're dead right Carl, a LSD would be the biggest help of all! It was a pig on the tightest parts of the course, I think I got through the cone slalom quite well really, trying to create a bit of drift action just for fun too!

Taught my FWD driving mate some things, that's for sure, he's got a newfound respect for RWD I think, having no idea on what it could actually do before and how much fun it can be! I'd reccommend playing on grass to anyone, obviously where it's safe and you've got permission blah blah, as is the same for ice, as the things you can learn this way could stand you in a very good position when confronted with nasty situations. Through teaching myself this way I have reacted the right way in certain situations as I know what the car is doing and what needs doing to correct it etc, making for a better driver, where otherwise people might panic and not react in the right way. As we know, keep the power down in a drift, not suddenly panic when the rear end comes round and jab the brakes to spin out!

Pete

Pete

[Ali]

Yeah I reckon thats the biggest lesson of all! Whatever you do don't suddenly lift off the power when your holding some angle otherwise your just going to spin the other way! My mate found that out the hard way *£9k insurance write off*