Volkswagen Driver Training

[hooba]

Was a great event, well worth attending. It was very well organised and they really encouraged you to explore the limits of the cars. The cars took a lot of punishment and the brakes held up very well, however one of the GTIs did put out a large puff of white smoke towards the end of our session. According to the instructor they've seen that before when their driven hard in the same direction.

The highlight would have been hot lapping the GTI around the Corporate Hill short course, and the hot lap in the R with Steve Owen was amazing. According to someone's smartphone he was doing 160mph down the straight at Eastern Creek, however I couldn't verify this as the speedometer was too far down the counter to be able to see it. Regardless, he wasn't holding back and the car control was amazing.

[Corey_R]

Yeah - it was fantastic!

They weren't quite doing 160mph though! That'd be 257kph which of course is above the eletronic limiter of the cars

I did get them doing just on 220kph turning into turn one of the main track
They might need a bit of APR work before hitting 160mph along that straight

[The_Hawk]

I'm waiting for Coreying for some better video, but here is the R down the straight at about 200km/h:[YOUTUBE]viTb4EtiTJQ[/YOUTUBE]

And some skid pan slalom
[YOUTUBE]8M-vJmpWM8g[/YOUTUBE]


More videos are here: YouTube - TheHawk79's Channel


I have to say it was a great event, it inspires me to get more into this sort of thing

[Speed]

What a great day! My wife and I had loads of fun.

Especially liked the corporate hill part in one of the GTI's.
Have a new appreciation for DSG's.

Pushing the Passat thru the witches hats was also entertaining.

All topped off by a hot lap in an R. Loved every minute of it!

[Highlander]

Back Seat 4 Up

Yeah - it was fantastic!

They weren't quite doing 160mph though! That'd be 257kph which of course is above the eletronic limiter of the cars

I did get them doing just on 220kph turning into turn one of the main track
They might need a bit of APR work before hitting 160mph along that straight

From my back seat and 4 up the R was just nudging over 200 on the speedo at the end of the straight.

Great day. More track time would have been great but can't complain when it is free.

And don't knock the GTD till you have tried it on the track. Very impressed.

[The_Hawk]

[YOUTUBE]Lp6UCHK5DCo[/YOUTUBE]

Coreying's Hot Lap video

[Corey_R]

Thanks for posting that The_Hawk.

Guys, let me tell you, the video doesn't really convey the speed and lateral G's that we were experiencing. At the end of the front straight, as you can just see in the video, we hit just over 200kph as we turned into turn 1 of Eastern Creek - with 4 adult men in the car! You can see by how much the camera moves around, that it was difficult for me to hold the camera steady. Truly fantastic

[elephino]

This day is sounding like the GTI launch/drive day from last year but with more variety of cars to drive. Sounds good to me.

[Corey_R]

This day is sounding like the GTI launch/drive day from last year but with more variety of cars to drive. Sounds good to me.

Yep, exactly

[anthony_VWJET]

Out of curiosity, what rubber were they using? Contis?

[Corey_R]

Different cars had different rubber. I can't remember specifically what the R's were using, but from the photos I think I can see a very faith outline of "Potenza" on the sidewalls - so Bridgestone. They were 18" and not the 19".

[hooba]

The instructor in charge of the Corporate Hill drive was telling me how they had shod all of the GTIs / GTDs with Bridgestone RE050As. In their opinion they found them to wear well, remain consistent in their feel, and stand up to the abuse they were getting on the track. He said that the Dunlops (didn't specify which model, but I'm assuming the ones VW ships) had a good feel and grip, but that after a few hot laps that they would overheat and loose chunks off the tread.

[Leagle]

Have a friend who went and he was very impressed with the organisation of the day and the handling of all the veedubs generally. Doing 200km/hr with 4 on board scared him a tad lol.

Can't wait till I go (booked for September). Looking forward to drive the R even though I have the better car ;P

[Speed]

Looking forward to drive the R

We didn't get to drive the R, they take you out in it for a hot lap.

[cme2c]

My wife and I were both in the 2 pm Yellow group.Man, that was a fun day.Needed better directions though to find the right entrance to Eastern Creek. But we both found it, independently.

Really impressed with the Passat CC 3.6 4Motion on the skidpan. Talk about iron fist in a velvet glove. I hand't considered that type of vehicle at all before the day, but if the budget allowed I would seriously consider it come changeover time.The Tiguan handled much better than I expected, but the (minimal) turbo lag was noticeable compared to the Passat and 1.4 twincharged Jetta.

I scored the truck engine on the hill circuit, Bob the instructor was great, pointing out turning, acceleration and braking points. The GTD is a well balanced car, but I like the sound of a revving petrol engine too much (especially that V6)to consider one.

The order was Mrs cme2c (GTD), Me (GTD), an unknown woman (GTI) and Stoney! (GTI) Don't know how far behind me the others were at the start, but i soon passed my wife, and a bit later passed her and the other lady in the GTI. Didn't see Stoney! in front or behind me. Not bad in 3 laps!

What was really impressive about the Golf Rs was that they were totally unfussed at the end of a day when they had had the ring driven off them. Nice goodies in the goody bag.

My wife was impressed by how hard she could drive these cars without them losing the ability to be controlled. I was impressed by how hard she was driving on the skid pan. Neither of us killed a witches hat.

Better than an afternoon at work,

John