Sorry if this boring people but I had the best day on the track today & I just had to share it with everyone. Today was the 2nd Supersprint of the year for the Porsche club of N.S.W. There were 62 Porsches all up, & 1 Volkswagen. The morning consisted of 20-minute sessions on the track followed by timed runs in the afternoon. We were sent out onto the track in groups of 10. I was about fifth onto the track, right behind a 2001 model twin turbo, who was also my pit partner; man those things are fast! Behind me were older model 911's. I just can't explain the thrill of freight training around a track with 4 911's. It was simply the biggest buzz ever. I was quite amazed at how I stayed with them on the back section of the track through all the twisty stuff, only for them to get about 4 to 5 car lengths on me on the huge straight.

I don't think that's too bad for a little 1880 cc! After a few laps of playing cat & mouse with them like this, I managed to pass all 4 of them (I kid u not!) & make a little head way on them so that they couldn't get me on the straight. A few more laps & I finally caught 2 944's whose turbo's I just couldn't compete with on the straights (gees they blow some smoke!) but they were courteous enough to let me through on the twisty stuff, to let me have a clear track in front of me. All was going well until I could see a 2001 model twin turbo in my mirrors! I got to the end of the straight before he caught me & thought that I may be able to hold him off through the tight stuff. Well he stayed behind for all the back of the track until we got the straight where he just drove away from me as though I was standing still! He later told me that he & his instructor stayed behind me because they were interested to see how quick the little beetle really was! He said that they were both impressed!

After our session was up we came into the pits, parked next to the twin turbo & got out only to find that my brakes were smoking big time! There was smoke coming from both my front wheels, I should have taken a photo! I basically had no pads left! My front wheels had gone from fully polished to black from brake pad dust. The rest of the car was sweet but the brakes were in dire need of attention. About 20 people came up to me after my run, including the 4 911 drivers. I had a headache after talking to everyone as they all kept asking the same questions about the car! I would have been better off putting a spec sheet on the side of the car for people to read. I let the car cool off before my first timed session of the day, & watched all the other Porsches having their sessions on the track. Damn some of those things are seriously fast. I was quite surprised at the amount of people that commented on how fast the beetle was going at the end of the straight. I only have the Porsche tacho to go by & I was doing 6500 rpm in top gear at the end of the straight. One 944 driver told me that when he was behind on one lap that we were doing 185 kph by his speedo! Damn!

I went out for my first timed 4 laps & all went well, I don't know about times, but I was feeling quite comfortable with the car, apart from the fact that I had no brakes. I decided to end the day early unfortunately because of the brake situation, so I intend to upgrade the brakes A.S.A.P. Needless to say that I had to take it very easy on the way home, which was a 2 hour drive, but I got home in one piece & with a grin on my face.

Stay Cool, Jak