Holden Performance Driving Center... In a Nissan :)

Today was the day to see all this hard work pay off...  A day at the Holden Performance Driving Center, compliments of Hardtuned.net.  Had to be there at 7.30 in the morning, so it was a very nippy start, full of chilliness and plenty of exhaust steam =P

Needs to be said, what a way to start a winter's Sunday...

After passing scrutineering, I got my very own sticker... yay!  Number 23... first racing number I've ever been given :)  Had to laugh at the irony though, just turned 24... swing and a miss!  I wonder if I'll end up obsessing over this number like Jim Carey did...

We had a quick drivers briefing, which was an overview of safety requirements, general rules, and what parts of the track to be aware of.  Turns out this info came in very handy after we got into it.

First look at the track... what a stunning day!!

I ended up in Group 2 - there were 5 cars per group, 11 groups in total.  They placed us based on car type and power output, with driving experience also influencing placement.  Group 1 started the day off, so my day began with queuing up, ready for group 2 to grace the track.

There ended up being 4 cars in my group.  A 180sx, an s13, s14 and then my one via.  All in all, we were very evenly matched :) although sprints was a bit boring, as the racing against each other was measured by a clock, nothing tangible.  Honestly, I'm not a big fan, but hey, can't keep a closed mind when it comes to these things.

Getting shots with a small point and shoot camera was tricky, and an iPhone didn't fare much better... my beautiful girlfriend got some very good photos none-the-less :)

The track itself was very small and tight.  I was lucky to get into 4th gear let alone think about getting into 5th.  There's some very high speed corners, and some very tricky sections, but all in all a very fun track.


After the first session out (we had a total of 5, i only completed 3 due to exhaustion and not wanting to do something stupid), I got pulled over coming off the track... Turns out my car was leaking fuel.  The fuel was coming from the filler cap, although after lifting the car up and having a nosey around, I couldn't work out how that was even possible.

Regardless, I couldn't deny the fact that there was an issue... the solution?  Grabbed a rag from the boot and stuffed it in the filler cap hole.  While it didn't fix the issue, it did slow down the leak enough that I could complete a session without having any more leak out.  What it did mean though is that I was pulling the rag out at the end of each session and rinsing it (it was DRENCHED in fuel), ready for the next session.

There was plenty of eye candy throughout the day... some very impressive motor vehicles graced us!!  We saw a white Lexus LFA rock up... but within 5 minutes we saw this - a chrome plated LFA.  All of a sudden the white one didn't seem to matter anymore... Some people have too much money =\  Wouldn't you hate it if you got a scratch or a ding in that paint?

This was a treat... an Aston Martin DBS...

... that headed out onto the skid pan :)  What was quite funny was he spent most of his session turning off all the electronic assists that seem to grace exotic cars, but once he got that sorted, it did surprisingly well!

Given that I'd never ever drifted before, I thought I might as well give it a shot!  I mean, what better way to do it than on a skid pan, with plenty of water and nothing to hit.

Just a tad nervous waiting to head out...

It needs to be said, it was fuducking hard!!!  And that's even in an ex-comp drift car on a wet track... I could only go off of assumed knowledge, I'd had no formal training per se.  While it was easy enough to get sideways, maintaining that was a real challenge.  Before I knew it, the session was over... back to sprints.

The second session brought with it a little bit more confidence, as I'd had time to learn the track.  Seemed a little bit too much confidence though, had an off on my first hot lap.  Nothing serious, just gave her a bit too much coming out of a corner, spun out and ended up on the grass.  I went on to a third sprint session, nothing overly exciting, just working on improving my times (which I had no idea of... so it was kind of just more spirited driving lol).

What I was a lot more interested in was persevering with the skid pan.  After having a yarn with a couple of guys regarding techniques and what I could improve on, I had to try and see if I couldn't put some of that to use.

Big thanks to Chris for jumping in with me and giving me some flying pointers for a session or 2 :) needless to say it did net an improvement, but I still had a long way to go...

What amazed me was how dirty the car got!!  

The organisers then decided to throw out a Gymkhana track, which I gave 2 tries with Erin as my passenger... good fun!  But a tad hard when I'm still learning to drift, let alone control one.  The solution?

Chris took me for 2 runs in my own car :)

Thought a thumbs up was a good indication for what was about to happen...

This was the second run... wicked fun!!  Had an issue though that the water was getting into the rear brake pads, and basically rendered the handbrake useless.  Didn't stop Chris from throwing it around, although you could see where it was affecting him.  I'll be honest, I didn't pick up that much, was a bit too focused on having fun =P

I managed to get in another 2 sessions on the straight skid pan (no gymkhana) with Erin as a passenger.  She had a smile on her face, could only be a good thing :)  The hardest thing to learn initially was throttle control.  I started getting the hang of it, but then I had to deal with figuring out counter steer.  Apparently less is more, but to me it was completely counter-intuitive =S

Throughout the day there were also cruise sessions, got to take my beautiful for a couple of blips around the track!  Match that up with drags with random people on the main straight, some good clean fun was had by everyone.

All in all, a very very fun day :)  learnt a lot about both myself and Stacey... hopefully skills I can use in the near future!  There will be more photos coming once the professionals start posting theirs (yay for trawling).  Can't wait to see what comes up :)