[thommo101]

So yesterday was an exciting day for a few reasons:
1) filled up my car for the second time (meaning I now have a proper economy figure!)
2) did a nice 200km drive to the Perth hills and back
3) drove a rally car (VIDEO)

Some more info:

1) Filled up to similar level as the first time (maybe a little bit more - a bit more dribbling was done at the end). Managed to put in 43.4 litres of diesel into my i30 GD elite manual. The vital stats:

Litres : 43.4
Kilometers : 841
Economy : 5.16 L/100km (or 54.7mpg thanks to the forum converter!)

Some stats from the trip computer (resetted on previous fill):
Avg Economy : 4.9 L/100km
Avg Speed : 36 km/h
DTE (before fill) : 83km
DTE (after fill) : 772km (for comparison, after the previous fill it said 742km)

I'm pretty happy with those figures. Getting over 800km for a tank of mostly around town driving (3.4 to/from work).

2) The rally drive in 3) was up in Northam... which I thought from a glance on the map was at most 50/60km, or an hours drive from home in Como. So off I went... got onto Great Eastern Highway and programmed in the main turnoff I needed to take... which I thought was coming up soon...

"In 58km turn right"

Oh crap! It starts at 2:30 and its nearly 2:00 already! So... with double demerit points in mind I slotted it in 6th and set the cruise control at 112km/hr.

I have to say, the cruise worked amazing, even up steep hills in top gear it had no worries staying within +-1km/hr. Car sat on 2250rpm at 112km/hr. I need to check the car over and give it a wash as the last 6km of the trip was on gravel.

I also learned that my speedo reads about 5% over (112km/hr on my GPS reads about 117km/hr on the speedo). No wonder I've been getting good economy, I've been driving like a grandma!

3) So last year for my 30th some friends got me an 8-lap drive in a rally car from rallyschool.com.au. You get to do 8 laps in either a Subaru WRX or Mitsubishi Evo rally car with an instructor in the passenger seat shouting instructions.

I got put in the WRX (which turned out to be the better option... the exhaust sound was 10 times meatier than the Evo). The first couple of laps were slow, but I got faster and faster, and felt I finally got the hang of it... And run out of laps!

It felt both slow and fast at the same time. I was pretty cautious, particularly given they have a 'You break it you bought it' policy! Watching other people drive around I was thinking, wow they are going slow. I hate to imagine how slow I looked!

Oh well! Video of my drive below:



Afterwards they take you around for a 'hot lap'. I gotta say, whilst he flung it around a bit, it was a LOT less scary than when I was driving it myself. Which I thought odd, given that normally when you are a passenger everything seems that bit faster and your brake pedal doesn't seem to work! It was probably because the instructor's drive was nice, fluid and under control.



And some photos I took of the other people driving around:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodney_thomson/sets/72157633834781494/

[Doggie 1]

Looks like fun. 
In the first video it got to nine & a half minutes and then the picture stopped but the sound kept going on mine.
I haven't done that drive but I have done the V8 Touring Car one at the airport.

[Surferdude]

Looks like fun. 
In the first video it got to nine & a half minutes and then the picture stopped but the sound kept going on mine.
I haven't done that drive but I have done the V8 Touring Car one at the airport.

It went right through for me Dave.

[thommo101]

I haven't done that drive but I have done the V8 Touring Car one at the airport.

I'd like to try a tarmac drive. Might be a bit easier to pick up... just like hooning around the streets right?

[Surferdude]

I haven't done that drive but I have done the V8 Touring Car one at the airport.

I'd like to try a tarmac drive. Might be a bit easier to pick up... just like hooning around the streets right?

Tha absolute best advice I can give younger or less-experienced drivers is to find a car club which runs motorkhanas on grass. You'll have to be doing something really stupid to hurt your car and you'll quickly learn about sliding and car control. Motorkhanas generally only used first and reverse and occasionaly second gear, but the skills and sensation translate surprisingly well to higher speeds such as you experienced in the rally car.

[rustynutz]

Looks like fun. 
In the first video it got to nine & a half minutes and then the picture stopped but the sound kept going on mine.

 

[Surferdude]

Looks like fun. 
In the first video it got to nine & a half minutes and then the picture stopped but the sound kept going on mine.

 

Odd.
It still plays for me. 

[Dazzler]

Thanks Thommo .. Brilliant post (very interesting) and the videos were a nice touch too 

[thommo101]

I haven't done that drive but I have done the V8 Touring Car one at the airport.

I'd like to try a tarmac drive. Might be a bit easier to pick up... just like hooning around the streets right?

Tha absolute best advice I can give younger or less-experienced drivers is to find a car club which runs motorkhanas on grass. You'll have to be doing something really stupid to hurt your car and you'll quickly learn about sliding and car control. Motorkhanas generally only used first and reverse and occasionaly second gear, but the skills and sensation translate surprisingly well to higher speeds such as you experienced in the rally car.

I've always wanted to have a go at Motorkhanas. They look like a great old time. Would have been great fun in my old Daihatsu Charade. Not too sure how my slightly overweight i30 would do

Looks like fun. 
In the first video it got to nine & a half minutes and then the picture stopped but the sound kept going on mine.

 

I've tested it to full playback on my 2 computers with no trouble. Strange! Update to latest flash? Or switch to HTML5?

[Doggie 1]

No worries, I got most of the first one and all of the second one. 

[Surferdude]

I haven't done that drive but I have done the V8 Touring Car one at the airport.

I'd like to try a tarmac drive. Might be a bit easier to pick up... just like hooning around the streets right?

Tha absolute best advice I can give younger or less-experienced drivers is to find a car club which runs motorkhanas on grass. You'll have to be doing something really stupid to hurt your car and you'll quickly learn about sliding and car control. Motorkhanas generally only used first and reverse and occasionaly second gear, but the skills and sensation translate surprisingly well to higher speeds such as you experienced in the rally car.

I've always wanted to have a go at Motorkhanas. They look like a great old time. Would have been great fun in my old Daihatsu Charade. Not too sure how my slightly overweight i30 would do

I reckon the i30 would go well in a motorkana. And they generally have classes for different wheelbases, specials and road cars.

[thommo101]

I reckon the i30 would go well in a motorkana. And they generally have classes for different wheelbases, specials and road cars.

I've just been watching some WA Motorkhana videos... god... some of those guys are amazing! The control!

Its got me thinking I should go halves with a mate in a nice cheap light little FWD car and investigate motokhana. Looks like great fun, not too dangerous (only to the wallet if you break something on the car, and even then its only going to be as expensive as the car you bring)

[Surferdude]

I reckon the i30 would go well in a motorkana. And they generally have classes for different wheelbases, specials and road cars.

I've just been watching some WA Motorkhana videos... god... some of those guys are amazing! The control!

Its got me thinking I should go halves with a mate in a nice cheap light little FWD car and investigate motokhana. Looks like great fun, not too dangerous (only to the wallet if you break something on the car, and even then its only going to be as expensive as the car you bring)

Excellent idea.

[agentr31]

Motorkhanas generally only used first and reverse and occasionaly second gear.

thats how it should work... look on my facebook and you will see what happens on a wet concrete skid pan and 4th gear... the results are quite astonishing!

[Surferdude]

Motorkhanas generally only used first and reverse and occasionaly second gear.

thats how it should work... look on my facebook and you will see what happens on a wet concrete skid pan and 4th gear... the results are quite astonishing!

Can't see it with a quick wander through Ian, but organised mototkhanas use a set of tests where getting up to 4th gear would not be possible and still stay on the correct course.

[agentr31]

hahaha i found the worst video ever!!! no LSD and a handbrake that never worked, all of those aus build skylines were like that... made for some awquard turns!



thats 4th gear, a flying look of the track while they tallied up the scores ready for the presentation! shortly after this you had to get a