rascal wrote: See below for Matt King's writeup he did for the Vic club a few years ago...
General
Sandown is a fast circuit - not as much as Phillip Island, but power will get you good times here. It's also an intimidating circuit, and for good reason.
There are several sections where the fences are close to the track, and if you go off you can hit one.
The main straight is bumpy. Usually this isn't much problem, though it may be for high powered cars in the wet (I did see one VK race car tankslap his way into the wall 200 metres after starting his warmup lap...). The main issue is that it can upset your braking into turn 1.
Agreed, it is bumpy. In my first session managed 187 and final session 194 (5th) down the main straight. Turn 1:
Turn 1 is quite fast, and relatively safe as there is lots of runoff on the outside. It's about 80° to the left.
In a standard MX you'll be near the top of 4th (or maybe 5th in a 6 speed?) at the end of the straight. Turn 1 is a 3rd gear corner, so you need to wash off some speed in a straight line. The main mistake people make is to turn in too fast, and run off the outside at the exit.
I kept expecting the corner to tighten up every time I entered it. The one mistake I did not do is enter too fast!Be progressive applying the brakes due to the bumps. Usually you can use the black rubber marks across the track as brake markers - typically in the 150-100 metre range. Trail brake in a little, but don't overdo it. The apex is hard to sight from the turn in point, so make sure you don't run wide. Get on the power early. If you do it right, you will be running just up onto the exit ripple strip, which is quite flat. Go too fast, and you can run off this ripple strip. If so, hang on for a bumpy ride! and keep the steering straight, don't try to pull back on quickly or it can spit you off the left side.
Yes the apex is difficult to sight, however my brake point was about where there was a chance in the barriers (brown to white) about 200m. My braking was almost all in a straight line, 170m to turn in at 96 km/h. I coasted for about 40m before being at 100% TPS. On my fastest lap I did not make full use of the exit ripple strip. What I did do was change down to 4th at about the 100m sign.Power down to Turn 2.
Managed to get to 128kmh (4th).Turn 2-3 (Esses).
A right-left flip-flop, not terribly complex, you'll be back in 2nd gear probably. (If you are just learning and practising, try it in 3rd and learn the line before doing it aggressively.) There is no need to try to get massive exit speed as you are so close to Turn 4. Smooth smooth smooth! Flow it through. Avoid the ripple strips if possible, particularly in a stiff car - they can bounce you sideways a bit. If you are going to hit one, keep the steering straight until you land. The fence is very close to the outside of turn 3. On standard suspension you can get away with running over the ripple strips, but I don't think it's any faster.
I really enjoyed this part of the track. Not sure what is considered stiff suspension, but I had no issues with being bounced sideways. Could not use 100% throttle trough this section, did get up to 94 kmh on the small straight to T4. T2 apex speed 76 and T3 79).Turn 4:
Left hander onto the back straight, 2nd gear.
You will probably need to wash off a little speed out of 3. If you're on track tyres you may need to short shift to 3rd between 3 and 4, or just bounce off the limiter briefly.
Don't miss the apex (practice this on your warm up and cool down laps!), and get the power on as early as possible to get speed up the back straight.
The main trick here is that there is a very wide concrete apron at the exit. It has quite good grip, even in the wet. So use it, get your car up there so that you can carry more mid-corner speed. If it's wet and you do this, wait til you're pointing straight before applying power. If you have a very low car, you might bottom out on the ripple strip...
Yes I did wash off some speed, down from 94 to 61 (30m of braking). But again no issues with the ripple strips bottoming out. However, I could have used more of the track as well as get on the throttle earlier. It was some 40m before I was at 100%.Turn 5:
just a little right kink in the straight - nothing special, you won't be near the limit. The only thing to do is be super smooth. Don't turn aggressively, you shouldn't apply more than fingertip pressure to the wheel or you will be scrubbing off speed, and that will lose you time up the straight.
This is very similar to Lakeside's kink, however smoother and wider... I changed to 4th just after the corner exit and 5th just after the kink. Maybe I did not read this instructions very well as I may have scrubbed off some speed through the kink not being smooth. Managed 194 kmh in 5th.The back straight is uphill and seems to take forever in a standard MX. But don't back off until you're over the crest and can see Turn 6.
Turn 6 (Sweeper):
Fast and scary, but massively rewarding if you get it right. Keep on the power for much longer than you think. Stay in 4th. Only just before turn in do you need to gently wash off some speed, and you can trail brake in quite deep. If you're at 10/10ths the car will drift a little mid-corner, but near the exit there is a slight dip that will grip the car and hook it around. (If you're at 10/10ths you probably don't need to read this...)
This corner I did struggle with. Most of the time I was braking way too early. In fact I was off 100% TPS about 200m before the corner and started braking at the 150m marker 
I went from 194 to 131 over 300m, small testicle syndrome... Turn 7-8 (flip-flop):
Just before you run out onto Dandenong Rd, there is a right-left kink that can unsettle the car, and the fence is nice and close...
If you haven't been too fast through the sweeper, you can usually power down through 7. If you have soft suspension, you can usually jump the right wheels over the ripple strip. Make sure you get the car straight past 8 - you will need to be hard on the brakes for turn 9. Braking point is just before this kink (or just after depending on your testicles)
I coasted through these 2 corners at about 130kmh, using the ripple strips to make the corners 'straight'. The TPS shows that I was only used an average of 30% TPS through this section. Turn 9 (Dandenong Rd):
A sharp left hander, 2nd gear.
Make sure you get all the way out to the right as you brake on approach, to open up the corner as much as possible. Like Turn 4, don't miss the apex, it is too easy to run wide. Also like turn 4, you can get the car up on the concrete apron at the exit, and carry much more speed. Don't try it in a very low car or you will bottom out the sump (Sorry Andrew!).
Stay on the right as you exit, until you get past the little right kink (Turn 10) with the cones (You don't need a wide entry for this kink)
Since I made an almost straight approach to this turn braking was quite a lot of fun. From 130 to an apex of 57. The booster less brakes allowed a lot more trail braking, to the point of being able to brake almost to the apex. This is one corner where I went almost straight from the brakes to the gas. This was a 3rd gear corner.
It was also fun to use the ripple strips, however may not be wise to get up on flat part as this may upset the balance of the car. Managed 145kmh in 4th just before braking for T11. Turn 11:
Deceptively fast, it's only about a 45° right. This corner is all about setting yourself up for the last corner onto the main straight. You can stay in 3rd and flow in, in which case you have to downshift to 2nd for Turn 12. Or you can drop back to 2nd early and let it rev. Your call. Don't turn in too fast though, or you can spin. Just make sure that you compromise the exit totally, hugging the right ripple strip on the way out. This will get you in the right place for...
Yes it is a deceptively fast corner, again I struggled to make full use of the throttle, the data suggests that I coasted this corner towards T12. However I did make sure that I set myself up for T12.Turn 12:
The last corner onto the straight. You will probably need a dab on the brakes before turn-in, since it's a sharper turn than the previous one. This is going to sound repetitive, but a) don't miss the apex, and b) use all the concrete apron at the exit - this is the most rewarding corner for this, as the apron is dead flat, and the straight is the longest.
No dab on the brakes for me as I was coasting in 3rd. Yes it is does tighten up but the kerbs again can be used, but yes another 'fun' corner'. Apex speed was about 74kmh. There is another little kink onto the main straight - this is negligible in an MX, just flow through while you sit back and make a cuppa and wait for Turn 1 again.
As a 'noob' at Sandown I really did enjoy the track, yes it may be a little bumpy in places, but no worse than some other tracks I have been on (Morgan Park). The ripple strips are very useable and not like 'shark fins' as found at other tracks like Eastern Creek or 'rumble strips' at Morgan Park. At places the fences are very close to the track edge, sans Lakeside however unlike at Lakeside they are not in high speed parts of the track.
Only getting some 25 laps in the car did not give enough time to test the changes to the car, however the alignment, road tyres (AD08R's), lack of brake booster, change in rear spring rates and some additional weight (passenger seat) all seemed to make the car a pleasure to drive.
One positive is that looking at the G Plot I have managed to start to fill the outside parts of the curve, that is brake/corner at the same time, something I have been failing to do in the past
G Plot by Eipeip, on Flickr
IMG_7244 by Eipeip, on Flickr
IMG_1628 by Eipeip, on Flickr
IMG_1649 by Eipeip, on Flickr
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