Wakefield Track Day 25th may 09

[Guran]

I got my annual leave approved for this day. So I'm in. Pity it isn't timed?

Glad to hear you can make it Alan. I'm sure some laptiming can be arranged on the day, provided we split into different groups. Hopefully there won't be any open-wheelers or racecars which usually get their own group.

[CoffeeBoss]

Passed a few of you on the way down there this morning - silver NB and red NA with hard top. Salt in the wound when I'm on my way to work. Hopefully will make the next one.

[Hammer]

Passed a few of you on the way down there this morning - silver NB and red NA with hard top. Salt in the wound when I'm on my way to work. Hopefully will make the next one.

There were only two red NAs with hardtop today. Mine and Bryan (aka Guran). Mine is a red hardtop. Guran's is white.

The silver NB must have been Regie's.

[Regie]

must have been me... awesome day i must say.. time for some new front brakes now.

i was just watching the footage that i took in my car and just did a rough timing with the stopwatch and it looks as though i may have cracked into the low 16s if not very mid 16s

im happy with that.. i need a proper timer for the car now

ill get the pics and stuff off my work mates when im back at work and post them up!

[Hammer]

It was great to see a lonely white NA mixing it with WRXs & STis and beating them.

David's (of MX5 Mania) road registered white NA ran rings around the Rex boys on the circuit. I loved it.

[Regie]

It was great to see a lonely white NA mixing it with WRXs & STis and beating them.

David's (of MX5 Mania) road registered white NA ran rings around the Rex boys on the circuit. I loved it.

hah yeah was good to see. that is a nice looking car!

[Guran]

"Speed off the streets days" ... you pay your money and take your chances. I've had better ones at Wakefield. There were two street car sessions on Monday and both were very busy with a lot of inexperienced drivers. Combine that with individual sessions for open-wheelers, tin-top racecars, and superkarts, and you can imagine that we didn't get a huge amount of track time. I had five sessions of about eight laps each, but missed the first one because I was still preparing the car. Yes, that's more laps than on a club track day, but in the entire day I only got about 5-6 laps without hitting any traffic. Still, it was a fun day out and had some great conversations with various faces, new and old. No regrets.

David from MX-5 Mania was also kind enough to accept my request and take my car out for a session so that I could get an idea of what times he could do in it. We then compared the Performance Box data from his runs with my own. Very handy! He got a few laps clear of traffic and his best was 1:18.3, which was a few tenths quicker than my best on the day of 1:18.6 (PB on club trackdays is 1:18.26). I'm sure David could go quicker with some more laps to get used to my car, but it's still a relief to see that I'm not too far off the limits for my car. There's probably still a second or so for me to find (my best "theoretical lap" is 1:17.2).

BTW, if you are ever pushing a bit too hard to get to Wakefield Park and pass a highway patrol car, but think you've gotten away with it ... think again! One poor bugger got himself booked, and license suspended on the spot, because the cop took a gamble and showed up at the track later in the morning.

[CoffeeBoss]

Great report Guran. If the Speed Off The Streets are always that busy, i'll probably keep my money for Circuit Club days, more laps/$ IMHO. However that's the chance you take i guess - i have heard of Open Days being very quiet.

If your lapping in similar times to David in your car, then yes, i'd say your doing something right

There must have been something on down there again today actually. Passed a cavalcade of Usual Suspects on the way in to work this morning: SW20, 360 Modena, Evo 7, 328 GTS, Elise, Cooper S all within a few minutes of each other.

There's probably still a second or so for me to find (my best "theoretical lap" is 1:17.2).

Curious - how do you arrive at that time?

[Hammer]

BTW, if you are ever pushing a bit too hard to get to Wakefield Park and pass a highway patrol car, but think you've gotten away with it ... think again! One poor bugger got himself booked, and license suspended on the spot, because the cop took a gamble and showed up at the track later in the morning.

Yeah, poor guy.

This guy was on his "P" plates and was speeding along the road to Wakefield when he passed a police car going the opposite way. The P plater was clearly speeding but the Police car with his lights blaring continued to drive on.

The P Plater thought he got away with it.

A few hours later, the same Police car showed up in Wakefield, tracked down the owner of a white Nissan Skyline 350GT and booked him on the spot.

Apparently the reason the police car didn't turn around to chase him, is that he [policeman] was already involved on a pursuit. So the policeman completed that first pursuit, then came back to trackdown the Skyline driver, chancing he was in Wakefield - which he was.

[Regie]

BTW, if you are ever pushing a bit too hard to get to Wakefield Park and pass a highway patrol car, but think you've gotten away with it ... think again! One poor bugger got himself booked, and license suspended on the spot, because the cop took a gamble and showed up at the track later in the morning.

Yeah, poor guy.

This guy was on his "P" plates and was speeding along the road to Wakefield when he passed a police car going the opposite way. The P plater was clearly speeding but the Police car with his lights blaring continued to drive on.

The P Plater thought he got away with it.

A few hours later, the same Police car showed up in Wakefield, tracked down the owner of a white Nissan Skyline 350GT and booked him on the spot.

Apparently the reason the police car didn't turn around to chase him, is that he [policeman] was already involved on a pursuit. So the policeman completed that first pursuit, then came back to trackdown the Skyline driver, chancing he was in Wakefield - which he was.

did you talk to the guy? i was talking to that guy that had the white VS SS and he is suspended from driving in NSW after yesterday..(he is from canberra)

so maybe 2 people got pinged yesterday...ahh the good old MX5...drive down and track it all day with just stopping for fuel on the way home (or on the side of the road in your case )

[Guran]

To get that "theoretical time", I broke the track into 7 sectors, found my best sector time for each, and then added them up. That's not to say that it's actually possible to do because you can go fast in one sector and then be in the wrong line to get fast in the next sector. But it gives you something to aim for.

BTW, it's definitely not always this busy at the Speed off the Streets days. I've been there when there has been fewer than 10 streetcars with a racecar and openwheeler session to break it up. Like I said, it's luck of the draw what you get on the day. I'm tempted to give Circuit Club a try. A mate of mine is a regular in his Polo GTI.

[Hammer]

BTW, it's definitely not always this busy at the Speed off the Streets days. I've been there when there has been fewer than 10 streetcars with a racecar and openwheeler session to break it up. Like I said, it's luck of the draw what you get on the day.

Hey Bryan

What day did you go when there were not as many cars? Maybe "Street of the road" day is less busy during the middle of the week, say like Wednesday etc.

[Hammer]

...ahh the good old MX5...drive down and track it all day with just stopping for fuel on the way home (or on the side of the road in your case )

Shut-up you

[Marty]

I went on Sunday and there were only about 10 street cars there. I guess the bad weather in Sydney on saturday scared a few people off. It was a good day with a good group of guys down there.

Couldn't belive it was so quiet for a Sunday.

[Guran]

It was a Tuesday when I had fewer cars to share the track with. But I don't know if there's any consistent pattern. Like Matty said, you'd think it would be very busy on a sunday but maybe the extra cost scares some people off?