Leong72

We got home last weekend after 5000km driving the length of the country, experiencing some of our best B roads, and a trackday at each of New Zealand's four South Island tracks. Fortunately we had perfect weather at each trackday. Here's some footage from Highlands our track in Cromwell, NZ.

Playing with GT3's around Highlands
Third session of the day Ron comes in car with me. Followed Richard (991 GT3) out of the pits with Macca (991GT3)behind. Catch Richard then come to pass Steve. Richard gets away. Catch him up again and come up behind Nigel, All the while Macca is watching behind in his GT3


My Spin in the Last Session on the Day
Last session of the day at Highlands, Justin a friend from my biking track days comes for a ride. Mark and Richard decide I should go first. At the end of the first lap we encounter the last cars from the previous session. Then two good laps and a spin. First two minutes is a conversation with Justin, which you may want to skip, Spin is around 9min 40, but i was getting ragged a few turns back and should have backed off....

mecho

Looks like fun. Thanks for sharing. Interested to hear your assessment of the spin - traction control on or off? Also what are your impressions of the car so far? sounds like the trip provided a good mix of street driving and track time.

Leong72

ESP only off. Tyres overheating I think, given how loose it felt leading up to that turn, Also carrying an extra 10 km/h. I have the front bar on soft and rear on medium and do get some turn in oversteer. Might try front on medium and rear on hard which is what I think most on here have. Driver error really, as I should have backed off when I could feel it loose over the last few turns.

Yes it was fun. Loving the GT4. I got it on 19 December, second one in NZ and have done over 11,000km on so far. 8 Trackdays, with another tomorrow and one more next Wednesday. On track the feedback from the wheel and seat of pants is great. A little more power would be great to play with the 991 GT3’s, but there are a few well driven 996 GT3’s who haven’t been at the same trackdays as me recently, which I hope to be able to circulate with. There are 14 GT4’s in NZ presently but mine is the only one with Clubsport package. Only ever seen one other on the track (he was on our South Island Tour) and he was circulating a little more sedately.

On the road it used to be good in standard alignment specs, but I now have -2.5 camber at front and toe out which has made it literally painful to drive long distances like I’ve done over the last 2 weeks. Very sore arms. My adjustable front thrust arm bushings, Front LCA monoball ends, Front tie rods with bumpsteer, Rear toe links and lockout kit have arrived so hopefully can get a more optimal setting from next week. On the road I’m one of those that drives with the drivers window down and passenger window down just a little to get the best sound. This was a challenge when we were in southernmost NZ as the temp was a good 10 degrees lower. That’s what heaters are for!!

Only issues with the car…. with LWBs it can be a little difficult getting in and out especially when you can’t open the door fully. One can minimise this by sitting low and having the steering wheel higher to maximise space to exit. It’s a compromise. And the front spoiler is very low such that I’ve given up worrying about scrapes. Fortunately thats all it seems to do ( i.e. it doesn’t break off) so I treat it as a wear item.

Do you have one on the way?

mecho

Thanks for the write up and video. Yes, GT4 inbound to be picked up at Atlanta PEC end of May. Learned so much from all the great folks here. Planning to get a good chunk of the break in miles done en route back to Boston so I can get to the track in June.

fishing

I enjoyed the video. I am glad you did not hit anything as that track is lined by many walls.

Crazy Eddie

Nice driving and good information ...
That GT3 guy needs to give a wave by, when someone behind him is faster

DrPhil Gandini

I really like your video, and your commitment to wringing the neck of the GT4. The guy in the GT3 is clearly not as committed as you, as he should have smoked you! The GT3 is a far more capable car than the GT4, in the hands of the same committed driver. But you sure provide a wonderful example of how a large set of huevos can make a (slightly) lesser car dominate a (slightly) superior car.
Thank you for a truly entertaining, and enjoyable, in-car video!

O5C4R

you Kiwis seem to have it way better then us aussies when it comes to cars and tracks, very nice

Leong72

For some reason I always thought Boston was on the west coast... looks like you'll only get half of the break in done if you don't go the long way. Enjoy, looks like you're getting your car in time for summer and if you're like us here, the trackday season.

Indeed. We used the "bus stop" chicane before that long turn with the wall on the outside to slow the cars. Much safer I think than going into it off the straight.

He did let us start in front of him for the rest of the day

Leong72

Thank you

I'm hoping that by having a relatively "standard" engine, the GT4 can handle this "wringing". Both the guys with the GT3's in the videos are on their third engines.

We do have better selection of cars with our lesser import restrictions but this also means that with used imports cars our new cars depreciate much more quickly.

That Highlands track is owned by Aussie Tony Quinn. He has also just bought our local track, Hampton Downs and is turning it into a world class facility. These tracks are going to be the best in Australasia, so I guess we're lucky he chose to do it here

O5C4R

You guys are lucky to have that investment in motor sport, sydney needs it badly, we have one track that is booked out all the time, i'll look out for Tony Quinn in his Huracan next week at Targa Tasmania when he blasts past me, Targa NZ is some thing i would love to do one day

Leong72

Yes, we are lucky, provided we get to use it. I've ridden at Eastern Creek - that would be my favourite track to date having done all the NZ tracks, Philip Island and Ipswich. Is that the one that's booked out all the time?

I'm doing the Targa Tour Rotorua in May, my first. Will be interesting, never having watched or had anything to do with one before.

IMOA

Sydney motorsport park (Eastern creek) is pretty easy to get on, just join the ARDC and they have very cheap open days there and there's a lot of other open days. Likewise just south of sydney we have wakefield park which has open days basically every week as well of a lot of other reasonably priced trackdays. Honestly, in sydney it's very easy to get on the track if you want to.

O5C4R

been a member for a decade, drive eastern creek a 1000 times and you'll yearn for something else

O5C4R

targa will change your life