Volkswagen Driver Training

[Corey_R]

Different cars had different rubber. I can't remember specifically what the R's were using, but from the photos I think I can see a very faith outline of "Potenza" on the sidewalls - so Bridgestone. They were 18" and not the 19".

[hooba]

The instructor in charge of the Corporate Hill drive was telling me how they had shod all of the GTIs / GTDs with Bridgestone RE050As. In their opinion they found them to wear well, remain consistent in their feel, and stand up to the abuse they were getting on the track. He said that the Dunlops (didn't specify which model, but I'm assuming the ones VW ships) had a good feel and grip, but that after a few hot laps that they would overheat and loose chunks off the tread.

[Leagle]

Have a friend who went and he was very impressed with the organisation of the day and the handling of all the veedubs generally. Doing 200km/hr with 4 on board scared him a tad lol.

Can't wait till I go (booked for September). Looking forward to drive the R even though I have the better car ;P

[Speed]

Looking forward to drive the R

We didn't get to drive the R, they take you out in it for a hot lap.

[cme2c]

My wife and I were both in the 2 pm Yellow group.Man, that was a fun day.Needed better directions though to find the right entrance to Eastern Creek. But we both found it, independently.

Really impressed with the Passat CC 3.6 4Motion on the skidpan. Talk about iron fist in a velvet glove. I hand't considered that type of vehicle at all before the day, but if the budget allowed I would seriously consider it come changeover time.The Tiguan handled much better than I expected, but the (minimal) turbo lag was noticeable compared to the Passat and 1.4 twincharged Jetta.

I scored the truck engine on the hill circuit, Bob the instructor was great, pointing out turning, acceleration and braking points. The GTD is a well balanced car, but I like the sound of a revving petrol engine too much (especially that V6)to consider one.

The order was Mrs cme2c (GTD), Me (GTD), an unknown woman (GTI) and Stoney! (GTI) Don't know how far behind me the others were at the start, but i soon passed my wife, and a bit later passed her and the other lady in the GTI. Didn't see Stoney! in front or behind me. Not bad in 3 laps!

What was really impressive about the Golf Rs was that they were totally unfussed at the end of a day when they had had the ring driven off them. Nice goodies in the goody bag.

My wife was impressed by how hard she could drive these cars without them losing the ability to be controlled. I was impressed by how hard she was driving on the skid pan. Neither of us killed a witches hat.

Better than an afternoon at work,

John

[Highlander]

[QUOTE=cme2c;523361.

The order was Mrs cme2c (GTD), Me (GTD), an unknown woman (GTI) and Stoney! (GTI) Don't know how far behind me the others were at the start, but i soon passed my wife, and a bit later passed her and the other lady in the GTI. Didn't see Stoney! in front or behind me. Not bad in 3 laps!

John[/QUOTE]

Your wife let you pass her (especially if you lapped her in three laps as stated above)

[cme2c]

She started just in front of me. She thinks I'm crazy, and that being a mum, she isn't. She may be right. Also, the hill circuit is short. Also, how do you explain catching a GTI that would have been maybe half a lap behind me?

It surprised me to be honest.

[team_v]

Had the driver training this morning.

Took the Mk6 GTI around the race track, it goes quite well but slips a bit and fealt a bit spongy compared to the APR'd Tiguan.
One of the GTI's had engine oil issues.

Had the Polo diesel on the wet motorkhana track, handled quite well and stoppped in time even after giving it a bootful.
Still lags and is noisy though.

Had the Tiguan 147 for the slalom, handled better than i expected.
Not a fan of the leather.
The 147 engine feels a bit dull mated to the slushbox auto compared to a manual APR'd Tiguan.

Sat behind the driver for the Mk6 R hotlap.
My driver didn't push it as far as the other driver did.

[CrimDub]

I had the training this morning as well.

It was a really good few hours, esp when it's free!!!

Had the GTi around the circuit, nice tight little package. pleasant surprise that VW let you push them round the course quite hard. Had Luke as my instructor, he was definitely letting me push to the edge of my skill set.

Also had Luke for the hot lap and managed to get shot gun. F#*K, when i was driving on my lap he said that if i got him for the hot lap he would go hard.......... he didn't lie!

GOOD DAY

thanks VW

[isaw]

I was lucky enough to drive both the GTD and then GTI around the track, the D moved alright but was still a tractor, seems to no have as wide a band of revs to play with, and was still slower than then GTI
when smashing the GTI I tried to brake alot later into the hairpin, but managed to activate every safty feature while trying to pull it up, and still overshot the corner by a good 20m. must have taken the other 2 corners at the limit and just not been prepared for the extra speed i was carrying.
I still think my mk5 with slotted rotors and new pads pulls up better and harder, maybe that gti needed its brakes bleeded as well..

the skidpan was fun, would of been very nice to turn the traction control off and try to slide around the cones.. i almost had it a few times before the ESP cut all the power, even when i was still flat to the floor.
hot laps in the R were good, but we had Bob and he seem'd to go 6-7/10. there was alot more in the car, and it felt nice but something was missing... couldn't put my finger on it. am also disapointed it runs the old motor, but you cant have it all!

the salom was in the tiggy and as stated the body roll isn.t too bad. i was pushing it pretty hard and managed to miss every cone will have to try harder neixt time!


Anyway big thanks to VW aus for putting it on, was really alot of fun and great to talk to some professional drivers and take home some pointers. really want to get on the track again and put some of the info into action. I'd love to see them do a 1/2 course for a few hundred... I think it'd be well worth it.

On a side note, Frank(?) from FST auto was great to have a chat to about his old builds (he did the skoda for vw aus) and whats planned for the R. I really wish him the best of luck playing with it, and I will be watching closely to see what he changes on the R.