Pushing a car to its limit on the public highway is not only highly illegal but also very dangerous. With highly congested roads littered with speed, sorry, 'safety' cameras, the only place to drive at 100% commitment in safety is at the track.

So it's no surprise that organized 'track days' have been a staple of UK car culture for some time now.

It has been a long time since I attended a track day, probably near on 10 years ago in my old rat of a 944 Turbo. With Track Culture holding a day at Bedford Autodrome I popped in for a look.    

The day was being held in conjunction with Mazda On Track so there was plenty of MX5s there.

Everything from stock late model examples …

… to stripped out racers.

The day was run as an 'open pitlane' so there was no waiting for your 15 minute slot on track, It was just a case of drive to the track entrance and out you go for as long as you wanted.

Its the accessibility that makes track days so popular, they really are open to anyone with any car and with any level of driving experience. There was even qualified instructors on hand to show you round the track if need be..Something that was not available back in the day I used to attend, and something I would have defiantly made use of.

 

Four letters that world wide are an acronym of speed and precision : B, M, W and M …

So it was no surprise to see a a few examples of the breed on the track. A couple of Z4 Ms …

A gorgeous M3 CSL. (Spotlight coming on this car soon)

Track Culture organizer and Nurburgring veteran Al Clarke was good enough to take me out for a few laps in his own E46 M3.  Now this is not a stripped out track car, in fact the only modifications made are the addition of some KW v3 coilovers and some AP 6 pot front brakes. The car still has a full leather interior and weighs in at a fairly lardy 1600KG…

… All I can say is just WOW!  Lighting quick direction changes and incredible speed it was hard to believe that the car is a full road going car. 140mph with jazz on the Harmon Kardon sound system was a a little surreal. The few laps really brought home to me what the M in M3 really means.

No track day would be complete without the odd piece of track specialist machinery.

The insanely fast supercharged Ariel Atom. 300BHP, 500kg and of course road legal.

There are loads of Lotus 7 type kits on the market. This one caught my eye as its essentially a Mazda MX5. Roadrunner Racing build the chassis and body …

… then all the major components come straight from the MX5. A very cost effective way of building a track bias car.

Not what you would call roomy, but it doesn't get much more 'seat-of-the-pants' than this.

It's not very often you get to see a Lotus 340R.

One of my all time favorite cars, the 911 GT3.

As all rounders go it doesn't get much better.

Even though a set of brake pads may last 10,000 miles on the road, the track is an altogether different matter.

Making sure you have plenty of life left in a set before going out is a good idea.

My first visit to a track day in along time looks like it may turn out to be a expensive one, as soon as i got home I was looking through the classified ads for an M3. With track days so accessible and value for money it would be rude not to have a tool for the job.

-Ross I'Anson.