Nice way to spend a Monday morning...

[TarJak]

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH! That was a ton of fun!

Instead of going to work today I spend my morning at Eastern Creek Raceway outside Sydney to do a few laps in a V8 Supercar!

Got to the track at about ten to eight this morning and got registered. They make you sign a liability waiver so that if you kill or damage youself or anyone else then you can't sue them, blah... blah... legal jargon... etc.

There are about 16 of us lined up for the moring session and after sitting around drinking cups of coffee or tea and reading the paper, we all get ushered into a room at 08:15 where one of the instructors gives us a half hours session on how to drive the cars, cornering, braking and the track layout. The first words out of his mouth after "Welcome, my name is Doug.", are "What you are going to be doing today can be dangerous and even fatal!"

Sounds like we are off to a good start! After the tutorial, we get taken down to the Pits where we get suited up in a fireproof suit and helmet. They took a couple of photo's beside a staged car then out onto Pit Row where we wait for the cars to be wheeled out.

Then in turn we are all taken to our cars (There were 10 of them and I was in the first group), and strapped in. It's a tight squeeze for someone over 6ft like me and they really tighten the straps on your shoulders tight! Adjust the seat forward and then talk me through the emergency procedures; "There's the fire extingusher, If you can;t open the door, pull the crash net back and climb out the window..." etc.

My instructor, Luke, straps in next to me and plugs into the intercom and asks if I can hear him, I can but not though the intercom. Looks like we have a technical fault so back out if the car while the techies take a look. It's not the intercom but the helmet they gave me that's not working, back into the car with a new helmet and I can hear Luke loud and clear.

Crank up the Ford 5 litre Boss V8 and hear the roar of the unmuffled exhast. (This is why you need the intercom). What was that Luke???? ???

Out of pit lane and onto the track proper for a warm up. The tyres are dead cold so the warm up is so they will stick to the tarmac when I start to go faster.

We stay well to the left to allow one of the cars that went out ahead of me to pass and then around the left hand hairpin at a sedate 60kmh. Sequeeze in the throttle on the exit and then up through the gears to 4th around the following right hander. A bit of throttle then a touch on the brakes to hit the flip flop section a short left right chicane that shortens the track from the one they use when racing.

Up the hill to the right hander and then hard on the brakes to move into the left hard sweeper in 3rd gear. The sweeper gets tighter as you move around to the main straight lettingn the car go over to the right as wide as the road will allow and then open the throttle and give it everything it has through 4th and into 5th gear.

Really moving now and throw out the anchors at the end of the straight but leave her in 5th for the left hander at the end of pit straight that leads to the hairpin. Back down to 3rd, (I stuffed up this gear change on my 2nd fast lap which miffed me a little and Luke had to sort me out before I was off again). This time thinges went smoothly though and we sailed through the apex of the hairpin at a moderate 90kmh!

Getting to grips with the G forces and the sheer power and grip is actually easier than I expected thanks to being strapped into the car nice and snug. This beast really does go and hitting the accelerator is like flicking a switch. You've got power under your right foot and when you want to stop, the things just does. Holding on around the corners is straightforward and soon I'm working up through the corners and throwing the car into them at high speed and still not finding the adhesion limits of the big 20" Dunlop slicks.

I get really moving through the back section of the track now and am really concentrating hard on what Luke is telling me and trying desparately to transfer that onto the track. When I get a moment to relax a bit on the front straight I can feel my right leg pulsing and shaking with the adreneline that's racing through my system. I take a second to look down at my speedo and it says 200kmh and rising as I'm about half way down the straight. Faster than I've been in a car before and certainly the fastest I've ever driven! I estimated and then got confirmed that I made it to 225kmh before hitting the brakes for the corner on at least one of my laps. Not the fastest anyone has been, (The real deal gets up to 260+).

My eyes are needed back on the road within seconds as the corner at the end of the straight is looming fast and back out go the anchors. Whoohoo, this is such a bloody rush!

I finish my 4th lap and get told as I hit the 3rd last corner to stay well left on the main straight and to slow down for the entrance to the pits. A few short seconds later I drift to a stop jump out of the car, get handed my DVD and it's all over! :'( I wanna get straight back in and do it all again!

5 laps was nowhere near enough as I was only just starting to work out what the car could do. The grip and braking is truly amazing. This thing just sticks to the road and when you drop the picks it pulls up in what seems like such a short distance! Not to mention the grunt you have under your right foot! Truly bloddy amazing stuff and I'm really keen to do this again. If any of you get the opportunity to do something like this I wholeheartedly recommend you take it up!

Driving home from the track felt reeeeeeeaaaaaal sssssslllllloooooowwwww esepcially the 20kmh zone behind the pits!

Here is the video. You won't hear anything other than the V8 roar so turn up the volume when you play it. Unfortunately it ends before the end of my 3rd lap because it takes a couple of minutes to actually burn the DVD in car whilst I complete the last two laps:



It will take a lot to wipe the grin off my face for a few days I reckon. To sum it up in one word... WOW! And the best part is I've still in once piece. Noone even had a spin during the session which was nice.