Two nights before Nugget Nationals Round 4, I received a message from my co-organiser Thomas stating that a spot had become available and if I wanted to drive Gary at Broadford.
Had I done anything to Gary or even gotten a track wheel alignment since March? No. Did I also take the spot at the track day? Yes.
The plan this time was different. Rather than stressing myself out about setting a fast lap time I said to myself, we’ll just go out and have fun today Ying. Don’t put pressure on yourself, just go drive and enjoy your dream car. This year will just be about learning about all his little idiosyncrasies.
As a wise man once said at drivers briefing, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
After tracking Perry (and occasionally Cherry) for the last few years, having a new car meant that there were no existing lap times to beat. Every time I take Gary to a new track will mean a default PB. I may never get to experience this again so I best enjoy this while I can!
Having said this, I still had some modest goals for the day:
- Beat Perry’s time (1:12.0) this would be personally embarrassing for myself if I didn’t
- Do a 1:08 – I figured he’d probably achieve this without any skilful inputs from myself and with just power alone
SESSION 1
MODE: Sport
LAPTIME: 1:09.58
Last year, Kam had told me that Broadford made him feel a bit sick whenever he drove his S15 here. I never understood why until I went for a passenger lap in his car. There is a significant dip on the long straight which creates a roller coaster stomach lurch effect and makes you feel a bit quesy.
In this first session I understood why I never felt it in a Nugget. It’s related to speed.
Gary clocked a 174 on the back straight (over 30kms faster than the Echo) into the dip and for a second I thought I was going to vomit up my coffee.
Good to know.
SESSION 2
MODE: Sport
LAPTIME: 1:08.82
Uhhh the corners come up real fast at this track now and there is so much power to pull myself up the hill! After complaining so much about TRC kicking in at Winton, I opted to leave it on for this session while I came to grips with the car. (Pun intended)
Goal lap time achieved. Lets go try some new things in the next session.
SESSION 3
MODE: Track
LAPTIME: 1:08.51
I flicked the dail over to track mode and from memory this should turn off TRC. My memory was faulty and it did not fully turn it off but it appeared to give you a little more leeway before it kicked in. I wasn’t too fussed about this and netted a newer PB of 1:08.51.
Gary did feel a bit sketchy through the technical section up the top of the track. The weight transfer felt unsettling and perhaps it’s just about me getting used to the extra 250kg moving around. Am I doing to do anything about it? Nope. I know as a driver I am a far greater limiting factor than anything else at the moment.
With that lap time tucked away and after only 3 proper sessions, I called it a day. Broadford is notoriously hard on tyres and I could really see the shoulders taking a beating on this day. I absolutely can not afford new tyres of this size yet, so I will preserve them for the next few track days. Future Ying will thank me.
While the sessions carried on into the afternoon, I parked Gary up and opted to enjoy the rest of the day in the Winter sun hanging out with my friends and watching all the Nuggets go faster and set some ridiculously quick PB’s. We had lucked out with the weather and looking down the pit lane and seeing the happiness that was around – it was one of those days that reminded me about what is good in life.
We created this great little motorsport series called Nugget Nationals, surrounded by my best mates who had come to help and here I was driving a car I had only dreamed about. What an absolute fking treat.
Then just when I was pinching myself about how perfect the day was, I saw a little blue car from the corner of my eye.
My boy Perry was also here with his new owner Ben. I’m sure he and Gary had a lot to chat about. ❤
I didn’t even cry that much this time…
Thanks for my new favourite photo Matt D!
Speaking of Perry, a few people had asked me how Gary compared on track. In all honesty, after driving Perry for so many track days over the last 8 years, he felt like he was every fibre of my being. We were one and we were fearless together.
With Gary it still feels like I’m wearing a costume that’s a little too big for me. We’re not in sync and he’s a little scary but lucky the fix for that is more track days!
As I got into the car with a huge smile on my face we headed off for some post track kebabs. With the coldness quickly rushing towards us as the sun set over Broadford, I smugly called out to my friends, “I’d just like to announce I’m turning on my heated seats again!”
Everyone within ear shot sighed and rolled their eyes me.
Noisy Ninja 