Sunday the 12th of March marked my first proper session on a track. Sure I had some time previously at the Powercruise, but this was some actual time where we were given the opportunity to actually drive, instead of being limited to 100 kph... $40 got us track time at 2 tracks (Lakeside & Queensland Raceway) including meals... little did I know just how much value for money I was getting!!!
Anyways the day started off bright and early with a pre-meet for the Gold Coast people at 5am. Been a damn long time since I've been up this early!
Nothing like driving at the crack of dawn as the sky starts to get light... Empty freeways, a cold air full of anticipation and excitement... as hard as it is to get up its always worth it :)
Everyone had to give their cars a good blap through the Clem 7 tunnel... Pity about the speed cameras, feeling for ya Pubes! Regardless, the sounds that we can make in that tunnel always put a smile on our face :)
It was dry when we left the tunnel, and wet when we left. Never a good sign, and it had us concerned for a bit, but thankfully the rain stayed away for the whole day. We had a couple of light showers come through, but nothing that affected us while we were on the track.
Waiting to get into Lakeside... I've never been to this track before, only ever heard of its existence. So didn't really know what to expect, especially given that I was still waking up and my mind was having issues functioning...
This was our crew of cars... for some reason the song about coconuts all standing in a row comes to mind =D Also a great shot of the impending clouds that had most of us (there were a few that were looking forward to the slippery conditions) worried.
Lakeside is a very fun track. Some very tricky corners, a lot of variance in conditions, and plenty of hills to keep things interesting.
We started off with breakfast, while another group had some track time. We had what was basically a practise session, where you can take your car out and just drive. It differs to a proper track day because its a lot less formal, there's no official rules or regulations, just a session where people can get out in whatever car they choose (everything from tuned Civics and WRXs to Rav4's and Holden Cruze's). No helmets, no long sleeved attire, just common sense and good times :)
Unfortunately this guy got a bit excited and had a moment...
Needless to say mate, I feel your pain!! He simply got too aggressive, cut a corner, got some wheels on the grass and lost control. Spun a couple of times, smacking the front and the rear at the same time. Thankfully he and his passenger are OK, but unfortunately the car isn't.
We were concerned it might have had some ramifications for our session, given that we were on after the accident happened, but all it resulted in was a comment about being careful, knowing our limits, and driving to suit the conditions. Duly noted :) Didn't want a repeat of history!
Waiting to get on the track, I couldn't work out if I was more excited or nervous!! I did have to laugh, there were 2 guys from the previous session that I overheard making a comment about how they can't wait for us to clutch kick... for the uneducated, basically they couldn't wait for us to start drifting. I wish I could've seen their faces as they ate their words... granted, the appearance of some of our cars could've definitely led to their conclusion, but to be honest, I think quite a few of us would've had them quite easily :)
Sorry, bit hard to take photos whilst driving =P and driving hard at that!! We were given free reign to drive, and drive we did. Had an absolute blast just pelting around, going pretty damn hard out and then some :) Had to back it off a bit as I had some braking concerns I was mindful of (cracked brake rotors will have that effect on you) but the highlight of the whole day was having a great battle with Casey. We ended up meeting on the track, and I'm proud to say, a race broke out. It was genuinely wicked fun, going as hard as we dared, trying to match each other corner for corner, doing what I always wanted to do as a kid. You could seriously not wipe the smile off of either of our faces, and it was something we talked about for the remainder of the day.
So instead of taking photos as I was too busy driving, I got a photo of all of us after our track session, talking about what can only be described as racers excuses =P trying to justify moments of poor driving or judgement, and rubbing in the moments that were amazing. Oh and letting the cars cool down properly of course... Track time is bloody hard on any car!
Did find this classic baby down the bottom of the function room... beautiful.
There were several other groups too that ran after we did, and I got some (average) photos of some of the other cars we got to watch.
A beautifully finished Caterham 7 (looked a lot better in person, trust me)
A formula ford kind of thing
This thing was brutal. So quick, so much downforce that it handled like a slot car, and so damn low that across this back straight, all you could hear was its body scraping on the ground, followed by a heap of smoke that was generated from the scraping body
And another variant of some incredibly custom vehicle. Gotta love purpose built machines!
We headed off about mid morning to continue our day at Queensland Raceway (QR). We arrived to the sound of screeching tyres, and that could only mean one thing...
Short track was on :) So incredibly relaxed, just guys drifting as they wanted to without having to worry about scores or doing perfect runs, it gives them opportunities to experiment. The guy in the black car was having big issues retaining his body panels, he lost quite a few panels to the cones while we were there, and the guy in the maroon car was having quite a fun time wrecking tyres, to the extent that we saw smoking chunks of rubber flying off his wheels.
Anyways we headed back to watch the bikes that were running around QR. They had the national track open, which is the same track that is used by the V8 super cars. They also have shorter variants for different occasions. Needless to say, guys on bikes are nuts!!! So much speed, such heavy cornering, and so much at stake if you have an off. We watched the bikes for quite a while, and while we were doing that, an F18 hornet from the nearby air force base flew over. So awesome!!! There was also a muscle car group at QR who had some beautiful examples of cars, including this...
A car that resembled a Lamborghini Countach, but went by a completely different name. Something quite ridiculous that wasn't familiar at all, but it still had an absolutely amazing presence about it.
Gotta love mid mounted engines!
And so incredibly in awe of the stance of this thing at the rear. So insane, so striking, with those insane exhaust tips, and those 345mm wide rear tyres. 345mm!!!!!!!!!!! We all felt a bit inadequate after seeing this thing...
I'm throwing this in for my girlfriend, who is an avid Mustang fan :) There were so many fantastic examples of muscle cars, but I'm sure we all know what tidy examples of mustangs, camaros, GTHO's and what not look like. I love you babe <3
There was however, an absolutely bad ass Mini that deserved a photo. This thing was an absolute rocket, and its no wonder this car was such a revolution when it entered the racing scene back in the '60s.
Couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap this beauty on the track though :)
And how can you not love that sound... *froth*
Casey pulling his stunned mullet look as we got ready to head out onto the track.
Queensland Raceway as it turns out is a very punishing track... Massively long straights, with some very tight corners, so you're accelerating very hard, then braking very hard followed by some very high speed corners. The car is constantly under stress, whether its hard revving, hard cornering, or very hard braking. I only managed to get 3 or 4 full speed laps in before I had to back off due to the unmistakeable smell of burnt brakes. Did another 2 laps at half speed just to let them cool down, and then exited, only to find out pretty much everyone else had exactly the same issues =P Its funny, most people think more power makes for quicker lap times, and by the end of it everyone was talking about how brakes need to be addressed for next time!
Stacey held up beautifully for the most part throughout the entire day. Temperatures were never a cause for concern, tyres gripped the whole time, never had any real issues with oversteer or understeer, and the brakes (keeping in mind I was a bit gentler on them because I didn't want to aggravate the cracked rotors) did well all things considered. The only issue I had was this...
A completely knackered tail fuse... turns out I haven't fixed the parkers issue! Whats really weird is that they were fine for the whole drive up in the dark, and for the drive from Lakeside to QR. It was only after I left QR that they decided to do what they do best... burn themselves to death. And I mean literally burn themselves. Within 5 minutes of leaving QR, I had electrical smoke coming out of the steering column. By the time I had a chance to pull over (no shoulders on the road I was on, and trucks like to rocket through the area) I had electrical smoke pouring out of the dash, coming up through the vents that you normally demist your windscreen through, out of the steering column, out from underneath the dash, and through the air vents too. It also decided to take the fuel gauge, the stereo, the clock and the climate control with it. Thankfully I was still able to drive her home, but it did put a bit of a dampener on the day. However, not enough to ruin the genuinely great time I had.
I'll leave you with this... the only shot I have so far of me actually driving :)
