Anglesey + North Wales

R

Raify

Active member
 Kent
I've just got back from a brilliant driving weekend in Anglesey + Wales, got a few good pics too.

Drove up Thursday (rubbish, boring and motorways) to stay in the Prince Llewelyn B&B right near Anglesey circuit. Brilliant B&B, would recommend it to anyone needing to stay near the circuit. It's about 3 mins drive from the track, and has the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.

http://www.angleseybandb.co.uk/

Then on Friday I went to the track with two friends and the significant other. My friend and I were sharing a Caterham superlight rental and the other buddy brought his Exige S2.

IMG_2349.jpg

IMG_2367.jpg

Track day was excellent, and only slightly marred by an idiot in a Morgan who had no idea at all about track days / mirrors etc. They black flagged him 3 times but didn't give him any instruction or send him home. Due to a weird invasion of sprint cars, the afternoon was split between the club and national (morning was international) so I managed to drive 3 different formats in one day. Best fun was a session of adult Karting on the club circuit when we managed to borrow another Caterham. Weather held all day, sunny and very windy.

There were some great cars there: F430 (weird lines and slow in corners but what a noise!), Ginetta race car, Lancia Fulvia, Dodge Charger, KTM Xbow, a lovely 996 GT3 and a few fun looking Mx5's.

Then it was off to stay in Betws-y-Coed to drive the Evo Triangle the next day:

DSC00606.jpg

It was so nice to do a track day and then leave in a comfortable car! Our convoy was the Exige, a 350z roadster and the Z4mc. Triangle was excellent fun, and would have liked to do it a few times, but a fuel stop and the need to get south prevented us.

Very impressed with the Welsh driving standards, I've honestly never seen so many camper vans / caravans pull over to let faster traffic pass :thumbsup:

We spent the whole day picking B and A roads in a meandering route south through Wales.

Cameraphone whilst the significant other enjoys the drive:
DSC00616.jpg

The convoy waiting at lights:
DSC00625.jpg

Stopped in the Elan valley, at the dam where they practised dropping the bouncing bomb:
IMG_2402.jpg

what they aimed at, over a Exige spoiler / map table:
IMG_2412.jpg

Waterfall over the dam:
IMG_2420.jpg

Chasing the Zed:
IMG_2422.jpg

The Danger Zone. A live firing section of land. I put Kenny Loggins on for this section:
IMG_2426.jpg

The Exige keeping up with ease in the Elan Valley:
IMG_2399.jpg

A rough panorma of the Elan Valley dam:
Elanpanorama_low.jpg

Amazing roads, and so few people on them. The Z4 was brilliant, screaming 6 cylinders when you wanted, burbling along with heated seats to relax. even the rubbish tyres did alright.

If you've got the opportunity to take your Z4 to Wales, do it
 
The new Trac Môn circuit is nice and wide, and smooth too :thumbsup:

Pity it's such a trek for a track day as I'd love to do it more often - although camping there is cheap :P
 
It's a bloody long way, 6 hours from home (that included the inevitable M25 car park). If it was closer I'd be there all the time!

That corner you clear and get a view of the Irish sea is awesome. It was only a 135bhp Superlight, not one of the R500's so little chance of getting it wrong on power. There aren't many places it can go horribly wrong at Anglesey really. Just the corner near the pits where you could spin to the inside if you lifted and hit a wall. Everything else had loads of run off IIRC.

I wouldn't have liked to camp there, some poor bugger was trying to pitch a tent as it was blowing a gale.
 
Can I ask what the cost of hiring the Caterham was and if it was purely for the track day? It looks like it was at the circuit – I am thinking about hiring one for a week next year to attack the Alps again in.
 
PetKiller said:
Can I ask what the cost of hiring the Caterham was and if it was purely for the track day? It looks like it was at the circuit – I am thinking about hiring one for a week next year to attack the Alps again in.
Click to expand...

These are just track hires, the cars are not road legal (no lights etc).

Superlight SV that we had was £425 and the R300 is £525. That's for the whole day, including fuel. http://bookatrack.com/-pE_Trackday-Calendar.html

I know places that hire out sports cars for driving around the UK. Not sure where you'd look for an Apline trip.
 
Thanks, I did notice the car had no plates etc on it after I posted (was on the third bottle of red by then!). £500 is not bad is it to get to rape a car like that for the day on a track – you could easily do that in tyres, pads and fuel in some cars.

I know there are a few places that specialise in renting Sevens, not asked any of them yet about it as it is a way off – can't imagine taking one to mainland Europe would be much of an issue though?

Looked a good trip you did. Nice to see the photos :)
 
Excellent.

Thanks for sharing 8)

PS - I was stood at the pit wall a couple of years ago when an M3 lost it coming off the last bend, and hit the wall. We were showered with glass, but OK. The M3 was totalled, and the guy did not have track insurance :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom