24MAR12 Calder Park Raceway Track Day

It was hard to know what to expect rocking up to calder park, the word around the traps is that its a small easy track. With that in mind i had rocked up with the cars as it sat at the end of the last PI track day. With scrutiny all done it was time to go out for a five minute warm up session.

The first impression i got as i entered the track is that this is the complete opposite to Phillip Island, Walls are close, track is short and very bumpy. After a quick couple of laps it reminded me of a go kart track, short sharp and needs precise lines to get the lap times down.

Warm Up
Lap  Time   VMAX
1  01:57.40 111.27
2 01:45.00 140.66

It was now time to have a session in anger, unfortunately the track was still damp from overnight rain, and being that calder park is all so a drag strip, the main straight is covered in "VHT"? compound that allows there slicks to get some extra grip. But when this stuff is mixed with water grip levels are atrocious, making it to dangerous to drive on. So in cases like this they use the pit straight making the track a bit longer but no overtaking is allow. So all in all i just used this session to learn the back half of the track. Nothing to exciting to report.

Session 1

Lap  Time  VMAX
1 01:27.90 169.84
2 01:22.90 196.96
3 01:28.00 175.76
4 01:23.30 188.84
5 01:19.50 203.15
6 01:21.70 191.72

Finally the sun had come out warmed up the track enough to remove the dampness from the main straight, that meant we could finally put in some serious times with out the worry of the "no overtaking" order on the main straight. The first thing i noticed this session was how hard it was braking down into turn 1. Being that the track was very short, with only 8 corners, meant that for a good lap time the lines had to be spot on. Much of this session was spent trying to find good lines. The last lap i felt the best and the score card showed just that with a respectable 1.11.7. 

Session 2

Lap  Time  VMAX

1 01:21.50 163.59

2 01:13.40 197.08

3 01:13.00 198.07

4 01:14.10 198.07

5 01:15.80 198.75

6 01:13.50 196.47

7 01:11.70 197.46

After seeing a 1.11.7 on the lap timing board during lunch, the goal after lunch had been set to a 1.10. The first flying lap of the session had me feeling good as the brakes had come back to life, it didn't last long though with the second flying lap the brakes had gone away again. Even with poor brakes i was determined not to let that stop me. After a couple of laps overtaking other cars it was time for a shot at the 1.10. The fifth lap felt on track and the sixth lap felt even better. After crossing the start/finish to start the seventh lap i was sure that if i could just brake a bit later and keep the apex speeds up the elusive 1.10 would be mine.

Braking down into turn one is where the fun began. As soon as i hit the brake pedal, deceleration was poor, a quick pump yielded no improvement, and then before i knew what happened, the car stopped decelerating, with the corner fast approaching, i quickly selected the gear i had been taking turn one in all day. Unfortunately i had not wiped off enough speed and the result? Well i over-revved the $%*^ out of the motor. The data logger shows i entered the corner 25km/h up on the best lap of the day. At this point i was deep in over-steer, i just keep on the pedal and power slid my way around the rest of the corner. On the exit i noticed the engine was noising, a quick gauge check saw the oil pressure light on and the gauge on 0. At this point i was in denial and keep driving for another 500m waiting for the light to go off, but it never did. I shut the engine off and was towed back to the pits.

Session 3

Lap  Time         VMAX

1 01:22.70 167.50

2 01:14.30 198.86

3 01:13.40 197.96

4 01:16.40 194.93

5 01:12.30 198.70

6 01:11.20 198.34

With an unexpected early day, it was time to run around the pits and organize a tow truck home. I was lucky to find Richard, friend of Craig from Track Side Race and Rally Whom put my car on his trailer and towed it home.