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.

Club 100 Karting.

With motorsport now mostly back on our screens it had me thinking about my time racing in the Club 100 UK Karting series, the UK’s most competitive arrive and drive series. Me and my friend Jonny had always been in to karting and attended local karting sites around work and family life when the time allowed. Jonny had found out about Club 100 and asked if I wanted to give it a go in there newly formed (although gone now) quadrant series. The format was relatively simple, although you could run as a lone driver. The idea was to have a team with a minimum of 2 drivers. There would be 4 races in the day made up of a 5 minute warm up and then a 20 minute race. The grid was divided into classes made up with elite drivers at the head of the field, club drivers in the middle and the novices bringing up the rear. Each group would have a random grid position but you would always start at either the front, middle or back of the grid depending what class you were in. So an elite driver would never start at the rear or middle of the pack and the same goes for the reverse. With 2 drivers in our team we each would do 2 races in the day. We also usually optioned for a test session the day before to familiarize ourselves with the new circuits, of which all were new to us. Now jumping from the type of karts you get at most arrive and drive centers (the 4 stroke type) to a direct drive high performance 2 stroke kart is quite the learning curve, especially when your very first test day at the start of the year is on a track you don’t know, which is slowly defrosting from the overnight winter conditions. Never the less we cracked on with it and after many many spins we did start to get a feel for the kart, all be it in the worst possible conditions. Things could only get better right?

The race report below was one I kept round by round so I could share the experience with other potential enthusiasts who were looking to get in to the next level of karting but were maybe put off by the level of talent (which was generally pretty high) or were just unsure what the racing might be like.

Pile-ups, Pizza & Passes.

Round 5 Ellough Park.

This months round took us east towards Ecceles. Another long distance trip for most much like Llandow meant the turn out was a little down on numbers but on the up side it did bring out some new faces to the series.

Again me and my team mate decided to go for the testing hour the day before to familiarize ourselves as much as possible with another new circuit. We would be in for a bit of luck also with part of the track having just been freshly resurfaced which kept my ribs happy for at least 10 minutes.

June 2017, Ellough Park Circuit. Me turning left in to a right, a tricky corner to get dialed.

Heat 1.

With another randomly allocated grid we found ourselves starting mid pack for the first race. My team mate took the duties on this occasion and after the usual 5 minutes warm up the grid was formed up and the lights went green. Keen to stay out of the first lap elbows out my team mate held station for a moment until being tagged from behind and spun off the circuit. Now it was all to do running from the back of the pack and some several seconds off the nearest kart. As the laps went by he settled in to a rhythm and began to catch the nearest driver. A swift pass and then it was on towards the next who happen to be in a small group. As the time and laps went by he did manage to gain 2 more places before the flag came out to end the heat. We ended up loosing 3 places from our start spot in the end which wasn't bad considering.  

Heat 2.

I found myself lined up 6th on our next heat and hoped I could at least hold station for most if not all of the race, however things don't always play out how you'd like...So the flag dropped and I kept to the outside trying to avoid the bumping and pushing on the inside for the first 3 corners. At this point things were going well until we all hit the heavy braking zone for a tight hairpin left. I ended up on the inside line with enough space, I then felt a tap to the rear which I caught but the second one I had no chance. In to the braking zone the back came around, ahead half a dozen other karts had come to a stop with spinning out and one was right on the apex which I connected with sideways rather firmly. Ouch, well F*%k it was probably more like it. After getting the kart straight and being push started I was looking around for a aborted start but no such luck this time. It was time to play catch up once again. I managed to put a few consistent lap times in and started to catch the pack. Soon after I made up my first place and hoped the next wouldn't be to far off. It took nearly the remainder of the race to eventually catch my last pass annoyingly but as the flag dropped I had climbed back up to 6th having not known that some of our other rivals were caught up in the first lap chaos.

Passing a driver in to the tight right hander at the back of the circuit.

Heat 3.

Again my team mate took to the circuit hoping to find a bit more luck this time around, and starting from the back of the grid we wouldn't say no to any help at this point. The first few laps went by and things were going ok for us, staying out of any first lap madness and getting stuck in to making up places. Again things didn't look like they were going our way this time. Whilst battling with a pack of our class runners my team mate made up a few places, however whilst making one of the passes the marshals had deemed that he had made enough contact during the pass to call a passing by contact penalty which automatically drops you back 4 places after the race is over. A really tough penalty especially after look back over the GoPro footage and struggling to see where the contact was made. However the decision was final and although the rest of the race went by without incident we were eventually dropped back down to 2nd from last. 

Heat 4.

My last race of the day and we were gridded again towards the rear of our field with it all to do. The green lights went and this time I kept well away from any lurking trouble on the first lap. I quickly settled in behind a small pack of the faster drivers in our class and started to put in the laps. After following for a few more laps I couldn't hold off the attack from behind and a faster driver went past, however he wasn't to get far and I stayed with him for most of the race. He slowly started to pull away towards the back end of the race be was pulling me along nicely which meant we both caught up to a couple of karts ahead. We both made the passes and pushed on. By this point we had 5 laps to go and he had now gone further down the road and I was quickly coming up on another of our rivals. I stuck with him for the remainder of the laps looking for where I could make a move and coming in to the last hairpin on the last lap I dived down the inside and cleanly took the place. After the flag dropped I had made 5 places in all. 

So not such a good round for us, much like part of Llandow to actually. The next round is Clay Pigeon in Dorset later in the month. 

Video of Heat 2 attached, I didn't get my final race as the GoPro played up, again annoying!

Enjoy and thanks for reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Cpm5zHal8

Reading it back now brings it all back, good and bad but ultimately a fantastic experience and I hope to jump back in to the racing seat in the very near future.