So, got up nice and early for the drive over to Lincolnshire. I'm sure the neighbours loved hearing the Supersprint at 6 in the morning.

Early morning on a Sunday meant a nice relaxing drive over, stopped to fill up (and do some last minute weight reduction...) at a Shell garage then carried on to the Barkston Heath.
Barkston Heath Airfield is home to the Royal Air Force Elementary Flying School. It was also once home to a forest of Bloodhound ground to air missiles. Javelin Trackdays has for a few years now used the former missile site compound and sections of the concrete peritrack to host a variety of different events.
The setup for the day was a timed sprint track on the old missile compound, run side by side with a handling course on the nearby WW2 runway. Having completed the briefing and 2 sighting runs on each track both courses opened and we could choose between the 2 throughout the day. I had a quick go on the sprint track and then tried the handling course.

With the rough old concrete surface (some cones were even in the middle of the track to mark huge potholes), it felt pretty nasty to drive on and wouldn't be doing the tyres any good, so after one run...



...I decided to stick with the smooth tarmac sprint track!
Vid (not mine) of the sprint track herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QuGUEBVTqgAfter about an hour of practice the timer was turned on, and these were the times that I managed to record (it was a bit of a pain trying to remember and type them into my phone!) throughout the day.
1:08.42
1:08.90
1:08.24
1:07.20
1:06.60
1:06.09
1:06.80
1:06.40
1:06.13
1:05.06
1:05.17
The timing equipment was working great in the morning session but was completely useless towards lunch and after. It did throw up a few times later in the day resulting in the 1:05's, I was trying to get below 1:06 for quite a while but to beat it by a whole second made me a bit sceptical! Then again I must have had quite a few runs where the timing equipment was down.
Luckily (Skillfully?) I managed to avoid all of the white markers out on the track, although quite a few mirrors and panels got scuffed on other cars.
Another thing I noticed was how strange the car felt from a standing start. I guess the amount of rubber on the ground really accentuates how the engine performs? Could feel the dips and rises in performance going up through the rev range, never felt anything like it on the road!




After the first few runs I got talking to a lonely GT86 owner parked next to me, he had managed a 1:03 early on.
Later in the day after talking to the other GT86 owners he got a bit of tuition from one of the Fensport guys and got a low 1:01. The more experience drivers managed to break the minute mark with the GT86s.
I kept having runs right up until the event finished, said bye to my new car friend and then headed home! It was a good day although spoilt by the timing equipment breaking.

Here are a few pics from around the paddock.

Red Golf had travelled from the North West as well, fairly certain I've met them at Oulton before.

86 Drivers Club


The only BRZ in the country?

86 with Turbo and electronically controlled suspension.








