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If there's one word that V8 Supercar drivers are using to sum up the new Hamilton street circuit, it's bumpy.
"There's plenty of them," championship leader Jamie Whincup said after today's practice.
"They're not the biggest bumps, but there's heaps of them - bumps at the roundabout, bumps in the chicane, bumps out the back."
Whincup drove his Ford Falcon to the day's fastest time on the 3.4km track and said the predictions from the homework his Team Vodafone had done on the venue had been close to what actually turned out.
"But I must admit it was a little bit bumpier than I predicted," he said.
"The corners are little tighter than I predicted as well."
However, rather than being critical, Whincup said the uneveness and tight sections made the racing all the more exciting.
"It's a street circuit and it's got all the variation that street circuits have with the crown roads, the white lines, the tight corners, the walls either side.
"It was an interesting session trying to make the car go fast and qualifying is going to be exciting tomorrow."
New Zealand teenager Shane Van Gisbergen described the track as "awesome" although he had expected it to be smoother and quicker.
"It was quite bumpy in places, but that's what gives it its character," he said.
"I really enjoyed driving out there."
The bumps were a challenge, especially the one at the roundabout at turn three.
"It's the worst," he said.
"It just unsettles the car no end. You have to brake into it and you lock wheels."
As well as the bumps, defending champion Garth Tander also noted the varying grip levels caused by what appeared to be three different ages of tarmac.
But overall, he believed organisers had done "a fantastic job" and if the surface "was flat and smooth like a billiard table it would be easy".
"They have done everything pretty spot on so far."
- NZPA
