NSW BMW Club Track Day Report longish
 

     Subject: NSW BMW Club Track Day Report longish
     From: David Walsh <daw@matra.com.au>
     Date: 5 Mar 1997 21:52:34 -0500
 
 

I thought I would enlighten you drivers in other countries of the sort of
thing our BMW Club is doing here in Australia.

Tuesday 4 March saw a New South Wales BMW Club Track Day at a track two
hundred kilometres south of Sydney called Wakefield Park.

It was a beautiful rain free day and temps were around 30 degrees C, better
still, no humidity down south and inland.

There were 28 cars in total. These included an M3R, an Alpina B3, an E34 M5,
a few E28 535s, an e12 525, a couple of 2.6 e30 323s, two 02s, a couple of
e21s, an e36 325i sedan. Representing us M42 drivers were me in my 318is,
two other e36 318is drivers an e30 318is and one of the 02s had an M42 with
a revised engine managment system. A few non BMWs were there, most notable
was a Maserati, most surprising was a 15 year old Mitsubishi Colt. So, quite
a cross section of vehicles. I would have liked to have seen at least one
318ti, but they are rather new over here.

The day was a supersprint format. This means that cars are broken up into
suitable groups of six and sent out at intervals of about 15 seconds. During
each session, there are five timed laps for each driver. Overtaking is not
permitted unless on the straight and you are instructed to let faster cars
(or better drivers) past you. Cost was AUD$60 for the full day. Yes, that's
about US$ 47!

About four of the drivers including me were first timers. After a briefing
for us first timers, it was suggested that we have an experienced driver
accompany us for our first set of laps.

I missed out on an accompanying driver, but I wasn't too fussed as I have
done a performance driving course before and know how to swallow my ego.

Anyway, what a learning experience! The first session left me feeling happy
but nervous. At the end of my seventh session I was in heaven. The first few
sessions were used to group people into evenly matched groups. I ended up
qualifying as the fastest driver in the slowest group. I had gone from laps
of 1:38 down to late 1:29s. I was pleased with this, especially as I was
ahead of some people who weren't first timers. I was faster than an e36
325i, an e30 Hartge 323i, an e30 318is an e28, an e12 and a Ford Falcon
wagon. Great stuff. My sense of accomplishment diminished a bit though when
I found that the 15 year old Mitsubishi Colt was two seconds quicker than
me!! My real opposition, the two e36 318is were three seconds faster than
me. None of this bothered me really though, as this wasn't the spirit of the
day. I went with two aims, 1) enjoy myself and 2) improve my driving. I had
satisfied these more than I could imagine even before the second session of
the day.

The second session was even more fun. I was more relaxed and was starting to
push the envelope further. Anyway, I got my best time down to early 1:28s.

The top group was very entertaining. Not surprisingly, the M3R was the
fastest car of the day lapping at around 1:16. I think second place was the
Alpina B3 doing best laps of 1:19. It must be said that the M3R driver was
very experienced, the B3 driver less so. One of the most interesting moments
was seeing the B3 and M3R enter the straight at almost the same moment.
Everyone watched as they went head to head. Everyone was surprised as the B3
slowly pulled away! When their session finished the M3R driver told the B3
driver that he gave it everything. The e34 M5 was third, with only
hundredths of a second separating him from the B3. The M5 may have have
moved ahead of him in the final session though as I didn't see his final
timings. The Maserati though very fast didn't seem to handle well at all and
it came in fourth.

The M42 engined 02 made it into the top group also, doing 1:22s. What a car!

I am hooked! This was a most wonderful wonderful day. I can't wait for the
next one. To anyone who is hesitating about getting their car on to the
track, all I can say is DO IT! I was amazed at how good my car is, that
M-Technic suspension is very very good out of the box! The other thing that
amazed me was even though I didn't think so, I am such a conservative
driver, each session I learned how much farther I could push the envelope,
and the best thing about Wakefield Park is that it is very open and there's
not much to crash into. Wet weather aquaplaning may be a different matter
though.

And the final benefit. Even though I regularly give my car plenty of revs, I
think that I must have well and truly cleared out 35000km of accumulated
shit from the engine because it has never ever run as well as it does now!

David Walsh
'94 318is