I wouldn't do what I was doing at any track I've been on aside from Wakefield, lets put it that way. I wish they'd built Eastern Creek with the same lack of walls, because with that track's immaculate surface it would be great fun to drift on.
If you've ever seen the
aerial photo, there's nothing to hit should you make an excursion off-road, except if you hook a massive sideways on the admittedly tight last turn. Even then, the pit wall is a good 100m down the road so you'd have to **** up in a big way to go into it.
As an aside, one of the GT-Rs almost ended up in that wall.
The risk factor changes very little in the wet. The only concern is the other cars at this point, and with only 8 on the track you just keep an eye on your rear view mirror approaching turn-in before deciding how hard you're going to push it.
Lets put it this way. Should there ever be a rainy session on Wakefield again, I'll definitely be pencilling it in to my diary.
I did try grip driving the first session, and it was going slow. 3rd gear corners turned into 2nd gear corners, and I was around 25km/hr off the pace down the main straight. On the plus side I did manage to feed the throttle in gently and hold it for the most part, to a point where the other drivers were amazed at the amount of rear end grip in the Z's.
As for non-ridiculous corner entry speeds dorifto style, I don't have the confidence to throw the car in to turns at 160km/hr+, Japanese D1 style. The best I did was around 100km/hr, I'd say. Both Turn 6 and the turn on to the back straight (turn 9 I think, turn 7 is double apex so it might have turn 8 in it too) are approached in 3rd gear well above what 2nd can offer. But since I have to back off and sometimes brake, I'll call it an even hundred.
I did manage to check my speedo exiting the turn on to the back straight (which is a 3rd gear turn) and when the rear tyres regained traction I was doing 120km/hr. My friend was exiting at around 130km/hr at the same corner. ******* had only had 3 laps in my car in its current tune, and 6 laps in total of ever driving a 350Z.
No videos, since I haven't got the camera set up in the back yet. I'm trying to find a tripod, and a safe way to "net" the thing in so it can pass scrutineering. I could have asked for a "chase car" to film me had I brought the video camera, but I didn't even know who I could ask to do that.
Photos will be coming soon, though.
No timing either. I didn't time myself because of the lack of pace, and he spent the entire time sideways, so yesterday was more an expression session than anything else.
