On the weekend a good friend of mine decided to redeem a voucher he received on his birthday for a drive and hot laps in a V8 at Queensland Raceway. Now these cars aren’t V8 Supercars. They are V8 limited production cars. So they are still all caged, exhausts, slicks, suspension, bracing and so forth, they do lack the horsepower of your normal V8 Supercar that you would watch on TV.
Upon arrival you head into the Circuit Office to sign your waivers, check in, and get your arm bands. From there you’re over to the driver briefing room. Probably one of the best driver briefings I’ve seen. They take into consideration that a lot of people are at the track or driving a car fast for the first time. The briefing has a big whiteboard with the circuit layout, the braking points, apex points, gear you should be in at what part of the track and the instructor goes through the lot. He explains how corners in racing work, how to open it right up, when to brake, when to turn, when to accelerate. He also lets you know that whilst these cars have slicks, cages, race suspension and modified engines, that they are NOT go karts, and you are still driving a tonne and a half of metal. Once you’ve sat your driver briefing, it’s time to suit up. As part of your package the V8 Race Experience take your photo in front of one of the cars, that you get printed and laminated to take home with you.
Whilst you’re waiting for your turn in the car, the pits house a hive of activity. Cars are in and out, drivers rotating, the instructors swapping from passenger to driver seat depending on if they’re taking people for hot laps or instructing on the fly.
There was a bit of a wait for my friend as he chose to drive a Ford. On the day there were 3 Fords running, and 6 Holdens. The 4th Ford unfortunately blew a gearbox coming out of turn 6. Here he is waiting (im)patiently for his turn.
Everyone gets given helmets, suits, and a super fashionable hairnet for their drive.
The experience is definitely not just for guys either. The girls were plenty keen to put some rubber down!
The weather did turn a bit sour briefly, but that didn’t stop them. No crashes, but some slight sliding in the damp on full slicks. Not too bad though. “In a straight line my stock Ford G6E Turbo would be quicker, however coming into those corners, there is nothing but security with those tyres and that suspension” advised my friend Michael. “When you come hard into a corner, the back doesn’t just start squealing and slide out, all four wheels grip to the road and you know you’ve still got control”.
For a few laps I could see the front splitter of this Falcon flapping madly down the front straight (still attached, just not solid) and by the time it came in the inevitable had happened.
One bolt later and all was rectified! In this photo you can also see the extremely aggressive camber (AND IT’S NOT EVEN FOR FITMENT! OH MY! haha) that these cars use for hard cornering. Check out those slicks too!
Back in the cars, it was time for more racing.
The cars weren’t too loud, certainly nothing like a V8 Supercar, but rather mild engine mods and an exhaust.
As you’re racing, the instructor in the passenger seat is constantly in your ear. “Accelerate, harder, go go go, move to the outside, ok BRAKE HARD NOW, brake brake brake, off brakes, turn in, accelerate GO GO!” Always talking, always instructing, teaching.
It was very cool seeing some of the cars come back into the pits, smoke peeling off the brake rotors.
At the end of the day you come back in, park up, de-suit, collect your photo and you’re on your way.
A cool experience to get a feel for a track, especially if you don’t have your own car to take on. You can purchase the V8 Race Experience through organisations like Red Balloon and Adrenalin. Give it a go, it’s an awesome morning out.