Thanks to all who relied!
So, I finally made it to a track. And I have to say, it was one of my best experiences yet! It was a little damp and drizzly all afternoon, and I have never driven a track before so it was harder to get used to, especially sliding all over the place. lots of people say the Civic Type R is not good in the wet, and it understeered pretty badly, but then what do you expect for a FWD! There was a good mix of cars there. the scoobs pretty much owned the track, as did one TT quattro, behind the Porsches and this one guy in a Z3 M. There were also a lady in a brand new C3, a guy in a Passsat estate, and a family (I **** you not) in an A4 estate cruising around! No stangs on the track though, but there was one black SVT in the parking lot. Also a a lot of older race prepped cars and a lot of 3 and 5 series, a 'vette a Focus RS and a new golf GTI.
I did one session which was a bit messy, then waited a while for the rain to stop and the track to dry. i waited too long in the end and only managed to get out one more time. by this point, though, there were more cars on the track and it dried a little to where I was not going sideways as much! I hve stock brakes and pads and they did pretty well. Perhaps if it was drier and I could have gone faster, it would have been diferent.
I ended up behind an older 740 beemer on the second session and couldn't pass him for about 3 laps. I could outbrake and corner at higher speeds than him, but he kept geting away on each of the two straights, and he was not willing to let me go. I had a bash at the hairpin and nearly understeered into him, and I couldn't get the power down because of how sharp I had to take the corner so he managed to pass me again so I took the inside on another slower corner and finally managed to put some distance between us just as a red flag stopped the session because of a crash. It was an older golf or opel iifc and it looked like there might have been someone hurt a little because the ambulance was there. Another casualty was a 911 turbo (whaletail model) which span off the track and will need new bumper, right front wing and lights, right rear exhaust and rear lef panel after looking at it. They guy ws physically ok though.
In all, the best thing I have done for myself in a long while. I will be there next week without fail., mabe try to get some pics.
Some extra info if anyone else ever fancies going. It is open each Thursday. It was €3 to get into the pits and €12 per 15 min session which usuallz went on for longer. they didn't require a helmet or anything else special. Just show up at 5pm when they opened for the public and drive. there were a few bike sessions too. the last sesh (I think )was 7:45.
this was taken from mighty mustangs.net
looks like thursday is the public day.
maybe worth contacting them direct?
http://www.hockenheimring.com/