Motoring at high speed requires a great deal of skill, as Shelley Bridgeman found out when she took a spin around Hampton Downs.
I'M usually a pretty tame driver. Being the first away when the traffic lights turn green and unofficially racing other mums to after-school pick-up is as edgy as it gets around suburban Auckland for me. The streets of Remuera aren't exactly built for excitement.
I hadn't given much thought to what I might be doing at the driver training day that Continental Car Services had arranged at the new Hampton Downs circuit - sure, I knew it was a racetrack but I kind of imagined doing sedate exercises, maybe perfecting my parallel parking or gently steering around some cones. I certainly didn't expect to be tearing through a slalom course, doing doughnuts like a girl racer and executing a high-speed lane change while screaming my lungs out.
The Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet I was driving has 345 horsepower, a top speed of 287km/hour and goes from 0 to 100 kph in 4.9 seconds. More importantly, it was a lovely snowy white colour and its hood eased down at the push of a button; I was driving with the top down in a little under 20 seconds.
There were about 20 of us and we were split into small groups for the morning. My team's instructor was Kiwi race star Emma Gilmour, the world's number one woman rally driver, who, according to her website, spends a lot of time "driving sideways on gravel at 150+ km" - better than lots of Kiwi men.
Sounds dangerous - still I admired the fact she was brave enough to be my passenger while I experimented with new routines.
"Can you drive in those boots?" Emma asked as she got in beside me. I'd followed the briefing sheet and worn closed-toe shoes, but no one said they couldn't be 10cm-high Marc Jacobs.
Emma went through the correct driving position and recommended sitting with legs apart. I could see how bracing your left leg against the central console would give you extra support when doing hair-raising manoeuvres but I was unlikely to break my ladylike knees-together style of driving in one day.
The slalom exercise, which involved weaving in and out of a series of cones, was a lot of fun. Performing fast starts, quick turns and sudden stops was a total change from the smooth and safe driving I normally strive for. Evidently, the secret of the slalom is to keep the line as shallow as possible and keep looking a few cones ahead rather than focusing on the closest one. I may not have been the fastest slalom driver on the track that day but, unlike some of the participants I watched, I didn't take out any cones or miss any turns either.
As Emma's passenger while she demonstrated the over-steering exercise on a track slick with water I adopted my classic response when it all gets too much on a rollercoaster ride: I closed my eyes and waited for it to end. When it was my turn to drive I was still hazy about the finer points, but Emma knew exactly what we were doing.
New Zealand rally star Emma Gilmour puts a Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet through its paces at Hampton Downs race circuit as part of a driver training day. Pictures / Paul Estcourt I screamed as loud as I could while Emma skilfully changed lanes and then just as quickly switched back.First I had to switch off the Porsche Stability Management (PSM) system then, while doing a figure-of-eight around two cones, at a certain point Emma would say, "Gas it." I'd put the accelerator to the floor and then, if it all came together correctly, the back end of the rear-wheel-drive car would swing out deliciously behind us. "What was THAT?" I asked breathlessly when we lurched to a halt after my first successful doughnut. This was a blast.
I was feeling pretty staunch as we drove in convoy towards the third exercise. Some cones were lined up on the track creating a couple of lanes. This would be a doddle for sure. The first inkling I had that maybe this was more challenging than it looked were Emma's words: "Now this is the exercise that people most commonly chicken out of."
This benignly named "lane-change exercise", for which the PSM system must be on, was designed to simulate the event of a container falling off a truck in front of you while driving on the motorway; with no time to brake, you must simply avoid it and then get back in your lane. Emma takes me in her car to demonstrate. We start in the "garage" - this is race-track speak for four corner cones between which your car must sit - and Emma takes off like a rocket. We get faster and faster; the cones get closer and closer. There's a row of blue cones ahead in our lane representing the "obstacle" and there's just enough space in the adjacent right-hand row of orange cones to swerve. Anyway, I screamed as loud as I could while Emma skilfully changed lanes and then just as quickly switched back.
Then it was my turn and I discovered something new about myself: I learned that I could steer accurately and scream at the same time. I like to think I almost made the unflappable Emma shriek on my third attempt because for no reason, instead of coasting through the lane changes, I weirdly accelerated. I think a bit of fishtailing went on. "Brake, brake," instructed Emma in the calm voice of one who has seen it all before.
After lunch we did laps of the 2.8km track. There was a complicated series of cone markers to show us exactly where to brake, where to turn and where to put the pedal to the metal. We were expected to be nudging 200km/hour by the end of the day but, made cautious by rain and a wee bit of aquaplaning, 167km was my maximum speed. For most participants these circuits were the highlight of the day, but I secretly yearned to do more doughnuts.
Speed and control
Tim Martin, racing driver and Downforce events manager, explains each activity.
* Slalom: For the driver to get to grips with the balance of the vehicle.
* Over-steer: To learn to control a vehicle in extreme situations and to highlight the value of modern electronics that help keep a vehicle under control.
* Lane-change: To show drivers how to use the Electronic Stability Programme - a true life-saving skill.
* Track laps: To stretch the legs of your Porsche in a safe environment without the fear of the dreaded radar-gun.The Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet used for lessons has 345 horsepower, a top speed of 287km/hour and goes from 0 to 100 kph in 4.9 seconds.
Get behind the wheel
Hampton Downs Motor Sport Park
The newly built Hampton Downs track, which V8 supercar driver Greg Murphy describes as the best in Australasia, opened in January 2010.
Located at Te Kauwhata, about 70km south of Auckland's CBD and virtually the same distance from Hamilton, it sits conveniently alongside the SH1 motorway.
See hamptondowns.com or phone (09) 280 6590.
Driver training schools
Six driver training schools, including Downforce, offer courses at Hampton Downs. There are options to take your own car or use one of theirs. Downforce runs its courses via invitation through dealerships, corporate and professional organisations, but members of the public can register their interest in casual courses through its website downforce.co.nz. The Downforce course I participated in costs $895 per person.
* This weekend Emma will be pulling out all the stops to be the first woman to win the NZ Rally series. Wairarapa is hosting the final two-day event, and Emma will start in second place. Follow her here. To find out more about Emma and the NZ Rally go to emmagilmour.com and nzrallychamps.co.nz
