Behind The Wheel of a V8 Race Car.

My steed for the day, a post 2010 Ford Mustang GT race car.

If you one day decide to get on a plane and fly for over 24hrs southeast(ish) from the United Kingdom you eventually reach New Zealand, specifically the south island. A few hours drive north from Dunedin brings you to Highlands Racing Circuit. Now I didn’t literally fly from the UK to New Zealand just for this, that would be commitment, but I was actually working and this happened to be a day off. After being away from home for nearly 5 weeks I was craving, amongst other things some motorsport. So after a quick google search and a call to the booking line I was set for my time on track. At the time of visiting the cars on offer to drive were the Radical you see pictured above behind the GT and the big Ford V8. I really wanted the Radical but with being amongst the height gifted population (6ft5’’) I was advised that I was too tall, but would be fine for the Ford Mustang race car. So with my choices now limited to nothing or the Mustang, I took the Mustang. After one of the most breathtakingly scenic drives from Dunedin (honestly you must try this drive is you are visiting) I arrived at Highlands Racing Circuit. As I pull up there is plenty to catch your eye. First up a track focused Ferrari 458 next to a line of Subaru Impreza’s. Then to the other side a 997 Porsche GT3 race car pulls in followed by the Radical. Then sat waiting is the Mustang race car. I’ve seen plenty of Mustang GT’s on the road and have read many reviews on them, they are big old cars, heavy in road form, and I was a little worried that my experience to come might not be quite as I wanted. Never the less I headed in to get registered and to get kitted up.

The 458 ready for its next passenger ride.

Once ready I headed out to the trackside balcony to watch the session that was currently happening. There was a privately owned fully race ready Mazda RX7 going around for either some testing or practice laps making the most amazing noise. I’d quite forgotten how cool a rotary racecar on fully chat can sound, coupled with sequential shifting, heaven! All too soon the Mazda was back in and I was called over for my briefing. My instructor, a guy probably half my age (he said behind gritted teeth), talks me through the safety side of things and then what the plan was once we were out on circuit. I had paid for a certain amount of time and then once that was over you could pay a little extra to get a few more laps if the instructor was happy with how you handled the car. Once the briefing was over we headed over to the car and got strapped in. I have to say when they said I would fit it was still a squeeze to get in, mainly due to the full roll cage. Now strapped in the first thing I notice which I may have missed somewhere in the website was the car was an automatic! My worries about the car not offering the thrill I was after were coming back. Looking ahead to the steering wheel I also notice a large lever that comes up from the brake pedal to the passengers side console area. It was a brake override, incase of a emergency the instructor could simply yank the control and bring the car to a stop. On the center console there was also a map settings toggle switch to allow the instructor to dim down the power or give you the full beans from the V8, clearly almost everyone I would assume starts on the lowest setting.

The 997 passenger thrill ride race car. If only this had been available to drive.

We trundled out the pits and started to slowly make our way around the circuit. I’m told to weave a little to start to get some tire temperature as well work on the brakes to bring them up. The next lap around I’m told to start building up the speed and to listen/look out for when and how hard to brake, what sort of line to take and when to bring in the throttle. As the first few steady laps go by the instructor lets me know he is happy so far with how I’m doing and says we can now start to push on a little more. The engine map hasn’t changed as far as I know yet but as I start to brake harder and later, and get on the throttle earlier, its clear to see the big Ford is no slouch. Now over halfway in to my time the instructor shouts over to say lets have a cool down lap for me to give you some pointers and then get back up to full speed. He is now making me brake much much later than before and I’m trusting the brakes much more than I’m used to, putting lots more pressure into the pedal. I’m now getting the thumbs up to get the throttle to the floor and on lift off and brake on command. I look over and see his hands are no longer hovering over the emergency brake and instead switching the map to a higher setting. We start the next lap with only a few more laps left to go and we are really moving now. Out of a tight left hander I floor the throttle, then lifting slightly for a quick left right and back on it round a left kink and then heavy on the brakes in to another tight left. As we roll out of it I’m now stamping on the throttle instead of rolling on to it and this time a tad early, not giving a chance for the front wheels to straighten up and the rears light up for a second before I quickly let off and then get back on the throttle again. I get a wry smile from the instructor. All too soon the time is up including the extra laps which I’m told I’ve been given a little extra time on top of that.

The Impreza fleet.

My worries about the car were clearly not needed. As a former racecar the car was very well setup for the track. The braking was phenomenal, probably not surprising given the massive AP Racing calipers and discs. I also really didn’t miss the manual gearbox, something I thought I’d never say! I think its because I was so focused on getting my lines right, listening when to brake and how hard, and when to use the throttle and how much of it to use. If you add gears in to the mix I think there just would have been to much going on in the small space of time you had and it would take away from the experience for a relatively new person to track/race car driving. The way the car built speed though was very impressive, the noise wasn’t bad either! If you ever find yourself in the south island of New Zealand and want to get your motorsport fix I can’t recommend this experience highly enough. Until next time then.