Test Day Mayhem

You join us for a look into the whirlwind couple of weeks we have had recently, with four test days taking place all over the UK across nine days and three circuits - Silverstone, Snetterton & Donington.

Things kicked off at Silverstone, where our Youth Development Driver, Tom, spent the day honing his skills and tweaking the race-ready pair of Fiestas that he will be racing throughout this year’s season of Fiesta Juniors. The conditions started off wet, followed by a brief dry period before the weather turned sour with heavy rainfall. Tom did well throughout, making necessary adjustments to the dampers to sort the handling, taking on board advice from instructors and fighting through windscreen misting issues to make for a successful day of testing.

An extremely early start saw us trailering our GT4RS Clubsport for its debut drive with us at Snetterton a couple of days later, along with our development M2 Competition (https://www.bc-racing.co.uk/blog/post/bmw-m2-competition.html) and Tom with his Fiesta Juniors. A dry and sunny day was made somewhat interesting by heavy winds, making our gazebos briefly turn into aircraft at times. It was a busy open-pit session, with a huge range of interesting cars on track alongside our development cars - everything from 911 GT3s to Lotus Cortinas to engine-swapped Clios. A personal favourite had to be a fire-spitting Sierra Cosworth. Our own cars performed well, with the Clubsport driving flawlessly and making quite the impression as it stormed round the circuit. The M2 proved to be as reliable as ever, being a dependable and enjoyable car to drive on track. Tom continued to practice and rack up seat time in the Fiestas, accompanied by experienced instructors to help hone his driving abilities even further - evidenced by a great save when the rear end kicked loose in dramatic fashion on one particular lap. Further adjustments to the cars were made per Tom’s requirements throughout the day. Red flags were unfortunately frequent, with various public cars suffering mechanical failures or accidents on track. Nonetheless, it was a productive day of testing followed by a long journey back to Yorkshire in the evening. 

The next circuit was Donington Park - this time attending with the Junior Fiestas, road-going GT4RS and our GR Yaris. The weather was good, and despite a minor contact incident with the Yaris as a result of another driver’s optimistic attempt at an undertake, the day proved to be constructive and further boosted Tom’s track time and skills. The Yaris, as ever, performed admirably and remains a fantastic and easy to master car. The GT4RS was also as capable and reliable as you’d expect it to be. 

Our fourth and final test day before the opening of the race season was back at Snetterton with the GR Yaris, GT4RS & Fiestas in tow. Blue skies and a pleasant lack of wind compared to our previous visit was much welcomed. The cars remained reliable as they racked up lap after lap round the circuit through the day. 

The first round of Fiesta Juniors takes place at Snetterton later this month, so Tom’s track time was hugely beneficial and we look forward to seeing the practice pay off as the season progresses. Best of luck, Tom!