Sunday 24th March saw Karen and Richard attend a track day at Rockingham. This was driving the International Long Circuit configuration which Karen will be racing on in June. Karen was driving her naturally aspirated ex-MR2 Challenge car, but was using the 15” wheels and Yokohama A048R tyres from the Supercharger to get a feel for them.


Image copyright Richard Senter
Grip from the tyres (a least in the dry) is prodigious, allowing higher cornering speeds and fantastic braking even with standard discs and calipers using the Carbotech XP8 pads. This obviously bodes well for the Supercharger which will be a lighter car in race trim.


Image copyright Richard Senter
It was great to share the day with some friendly faces in the form of Garrick, Jo and Tom. Garrick and Jo were working for Bookatrack on the day, and Tom had come along to say hello and enjoy some passenger rides.


Image copyright Richard Senter
Richard had a couple of sessions in the driving seat which he thoroughly enjoyed, but most of the time was given over to Karen to get to grips with the circuit. She also had a brilliant day and enjoyed some tussles with various cars including other MR2s, a Prodrive fettled Aston Martin Vantage V8, Mitsubishi EVOs and Lancers, and a Mazda RX7 which it turned out had about 400bhp!


Image copyright Richard Senter
Other notable attendees at the event were Dixon Cheng in his Honda Integra and the Buddy Club Integra. Both are due to take part in the Nippon Challenge and they looked phenomenally quick around the tight infield and out across the banked oval sections.