Oulton & Anglesey Double Header Trackday Roadtrip
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Time to read 5 min
WHAT. A. TRIP!! ........Obviously we're going to say it was great, but honestly I don't think I've had as much fun mucking about with cars for a very long time!
Being based in Ireland we're severely limited in the number of tracks that us petrolheads have at our disposal, so the idea behind this roadtrip was to bring a small group of Trackdays.ie customers to the UK to experience some new tracks in the most cost effective and convenient way possible. This meant organising 2 trackdays on consecutive days at great circuits, not too much driving in between events and affordable accommodation. We also wanted the schedule to be pretty tight so there was minimal time off work needed.
The Circuits we visited on this roadtrip were Anglesey in North Wales and Oulton Park in Cheshire. We brought 18 customers on the trip and another 10 or so who missed out on the limited spaces we had available decided they wanted in on the action and made their own arrangements.
We organised the ferries, trackdays, garages, hotels and breakfast so all the organisational hassle was removed. The idea was to make this first trip as accessible to everyone as possible. Anglesey is about 20 minutes from the port in Holyhead and Oulton is an easy 2 hour drive down the motorway to Little Budworth in Cheshire (nr Manchester) Both are very easy to get to from Ireland.
There was an interesting mix of cars on the trip, some being driven, some trailered and included Zetec Fiesta's, a brace of hot Cooper S's, Clio 197's, Caterhams and turbocharged Caterham derivatives, an RT2000, M3's, Civics & Integra's, Porsche GT3's, Ariel Atoms and a trio of Radical's. We brought the Trackdays.ie SR3 over which is always a blast to drive and to give passenger spins in no matter what the circuit.
Anglesey Circuit:
Anglesey circuit is perched precariously on the edge of a cliff on the island of Anglesey, North Wales. On a nice day I'd argue there are few racetracks anywhere in the world that can compare for breathtaking scenery.
As you round Peel bend and the track drops away steeply before you it makes the sky seem immense! I for one have had a few 'it doesn't get much better than this' moments at this point on the track!
The stand out feature is probably the Rocket. You're flat from Church, or in some cars all the way from the banked harpin. Because the track is so steep on the entry to Rocket you can brake unbelievably late. In the Radical this section is mega, the aero is doing its thing so you can absolutely stand on the brakes bang down 4 gears as quickly as possible, scrubbing off about a 100mph in what feels like just a few meters..
The Tom Pryce straight and hairpin are a bit pointless but in the afternoon the track layout changes to the Costal Circuit and they close that section off at Seaman's and this creates an epic steep downhill left, right, left plunge which is not dissimilar to the corkscrew at Laguna Seca!
The onboard video's below don't do the elevation changes justice, but some sections on both tracks are incredibly steep, which adds a whole new dimension to the experience...literally.
Anglesey Onboard: Trackdays.ie Radical SR3 RS >>
A couple of laps chasing down Colm McDonald's earlier SR3 on Anglesey's full GP circuit (in the afternoon the circuit changes to the coastal layout which is slightly shorter but much more fun)
Oulton Park Circuit:
Nestled in amongst the trees and greenery of an English country park, Oulton is an old school circuit in use since the 1950's. The second ever race meeting there in 1953 attracted a whopping crowd of 40,000 fans!
The circuit is now one of Jonathan Palmer's MSV venues and as soon as you drive through the gates you get the slightly daunting realisation that this is on a whole different level! That sense of foreboding quickly turns to excitement though as you realise you're going to be driving one of the best circuits in europe, probably the world.
Thankfully I had driven 100's of laps of Oulton on the sim so knew where the track went, but again it was the elevation changes that really took me by surprise.
It's hard to isolate a standout section of the circuit, it's genuinely all brilliant but I suppose the really fast section from Old Hall, down through Cascades and Island bend (which is frightening) would be my favourite.
Shell oils corner is way more steeply banked than it looks on the onboard, that's awesome. The really quick direction changes through Brittens and Hislops are awesome, The blind crest through Knickerbrook is awesome, Druids is a tricky double apex job with a crest on the exit for good measure, then finally you have Lodge which is like a bomb hole and gives you that stomach plunging sensation you get on a on rollercoaster!.....All AWESOME!
Oulton Park Onboard: Trackdays.ie Radical SR3 RS >>
Another couple of onboard laps, again chasing down Colm McDonald's blue SR3, this time on the Full international Circuit at Oulton Park....What a track!!
Ferries & Hotels:
We used Stena Line for the crossings. The Stena Estrid and Adventurer are both large, comfortable modern ships and are the 2 vessels used on this route. The sailing takes 3.5 - 4 hours.
For this particular trip we used Premier Inn hotels at both tracks. They're nothing fancy but do the job just fine, they're clean, convenient, cost effective and the food is actually pretty decent. There's a good breakfast included as well.
The Premier Inn In Holyhead is literally 4 minutes away from the port and 20 mins from the track. There's plenty of parking for large tow rigs & trailers and there is a decent restaurant and bar in the hotel.
At Oulton we stayed in the Premier Inn Northwich South which is a bit of an older hotel but the rooms are fine and it has a large pub/restaurant to the front and loads of parking for tow rigs round the back. The track is only 20 mins away.
Oulton & Donington UK Double Header Roadtrip:
August 14th - 14th 2024
If you want the chance to drive Oulton Park AND Donington Park, we have another double header roadtrip planned for the 12th-14th August this year.
The format will be largely the same as above but with upgraded hotels and the addition of an optional extra night following the Donington trackday for those who don't want to rush to make the boat back to Ireland.
>> At the time of writing we have just 10 places left for this trip! <<
Click HERE for full details or click the link below to reserve your place NOW!
Image Gallery:
Images from both trackdays are courtesy of Robert Baxter. There are 1000's more pictures from the 2 days on Javelin's Flickr page, I predominantly downloaded pics of our group.
