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In which i got to be a HOON!
Oct. 1st, 2004 02:11 pmA couple of weeks ago sombody from Holden Australia called me up and asked if I would like to attend a Holden Drive day at Sandown.
It would involve a day off work and the ability to drive some new Holdens.
The ones listed were the New Astra, Comodore, Caprice and Statseman.
Yesterday (Thursday) was the day.
They had three Holden drivers there. Cameron Mcconville, Nathan Pretty and Todd Kelly.
Those attending were split up into three groups and we rotated through 3 different stations.
The first area we got to play with the new ABS systems Holden have developed. We got a couple of Calias and an Astra to play with on this. Nothing spectacular. Thrash the car in a straight line and then Plant the anchors at a given spot. and then do it again but this time turning to avoid an obstical. Nothing exciting. Todd Kelly was the sucker who had to look after this one.
The second area we got to play with the new Holden ERS system which helps handling around corners with sudden turns. It applies the breaks to the relevant wheels to control slippage and the like. There were two Calais SV6s here . We got to race at a wall and then swerve to miss it and then swerve back again to miss another wall. Naturually there was some pretty funny stuff happenign as people compleatly failed to turn and went through the witches hats, OR turned but failed to turn again and went through some more witches hats. Cameron mcconville was the driver in charge of this. once we had driven the course testing ERS he took people for a drive with the ERS turned OFF. WOOHOO!! spins and smoke EVERYWHERE!.. The tires on the cars were TOTALLY ruined
The third area we got to play with was THE TRACK!.. They had 14 cars we could drive. We did a lap of the track and then moved foward a car and this repeated until we were out of time. I cant rememeber ALL the cars I drove. But I got to drive an Astra CDXI, An SV8, an SV6, TWO manual Monaros, an SS commodore just to name a few.
All I can say is WOW!
The Monaro has so much POWER. I was at the end of the pit lane EXIT and I was ALREADY doing 140Km/hr. However it wasnt very stable. even when I slowed down to 90Km/hr it felt like it was going to fly off the road when goign around corners . But on the STRAIGHTS it was FAST. The back straight I planted it and got to 160 before I decided I needed to slow down. It was FAST. The second time around in a DIFFERENT Monaro I kept it in third the WHOLE time and it STILL felt powerfull. (yes thats right I barely changed gears. I used the power of the engine to overcome any power requireements in the gearbox) . Daves Verdict on the Monaro. Dont even THINK of buying one of these monsters unless you have a treack to drive it on .. I cant see ANY sane reason you would NEED the power of this thing on the open road. But on the track thats a whole different thing.
The new Astra is a horrible little common design.. it sucks. i think ive said this beofre. it REALLTY sucks. Climbing into one of those from the monaro is a bit of a shock. I was doign 90Km/hr by the end of pit lane exit :) But it handled nicly. But not worthy of a mention.
The SS commodore was the only other car I REALLY remember. IT FELT as powerfull as the monaro and yet it handled SO MUCH NICER on the corners. It didnt feel like it was going to leave the road at all. now THAT i would buy.. but likewise.. it was still way to powerfull for my needs.
Once we had all got a drive of most of the cars (I missed a thrid drive in an AUTO Monaro) Nathan Pretty (I think) Gave us a hot lap in an SS commodore. AHHK! I hadnt realsied just how narrow the track was until he drove with us in the car. it was INSANE. Going sideways at 160Km/hr is vertainly an expeirence... I could get used to.
*drools* is all I can say.. I WANT MORE!
It would involve a day off work and the ability to drive some new Holdens.
The ones listed were the New Astra, Comodore, Caprice and Statseman.
Yesterday (Thursday) was the day.
They had three Holden drivers there. Cameron Mcconville, Nathan Pretty and Todd Kelly.
Those attending were split up into three groups and we rotated through 3 different stations.
The first area we got to play with the new ABS systems Holden have developed. We got a couple of Calias and an Astra to play with on this. Nothing spectacular. Thrash the car in a straight line and then Plant the anchors at a given spot. and then do it again but this time turning to avoid an obstical. Nothing exciting. Todd Kelly was the sucker who had to look after this one.
The second area we got to play with the new Holden ERS system which helps handling around corners with sudden turns. It applies the breaks to the relevant wheels to control slippage and the like. There were two Calais SV6s here . We got to race at a wall and then swerve to miss it and then swerve back again to miss another wall. Naturually there was some pretty funny stuff happenign as people compleatly failed to turn and went through the witches hats, OR turned but failed to turn again and went through some more witches hats. Cameron mcconville was the driver in charge of this. once we had driven the course testing ERS he took people for a drive with the ERS turned OFF. WOOHOO!! spins and smoke EVERYWHERE!.. The tires on the cars were TOTALLY ruined
The third area we got to play with was THE TRACK!.. They had 14 cars we could drive. We did a lap of the track and then moved foward a car and this repeated until we were out of time. I cant rememeber ALL the cars I drove. But I got to drive an Astra CDXI, An SV8, an SV6, TWO manual Monaros, an SS commodore just to name a few.
All I can say is WOW!
The Monaro has so much POWER. I was at the end of the pit lane EXIT and I was ALREADY doing 140Km/hr. However it wasnt very stable. even when I slowed down to 90Km/hr it felt like it was going to fly off the road when goign around corners . But on the STRAIGHTS it was FAST. The back straight I planted it and got to 160 before I decided I needed to slow down. It was FAST. The second time around in a DIFFERENT Monaro I kept it in third the WHOLE time and it STILL felt powerfull. (yes thats right I barely changed gears. I used the power of the engine to overcome any power requireements in the gearbox) . Daves Verdict on the Monaro. Dont even THINK of buying one of these monsters unless you have a treack to drive it on .. I cant see ANY sane reason you would NEED the power of this thing on the open road. But on the track thats a whole different thing.
The new Astra is a horrible little common design.. it sucks. i think ive said this beofre. it REALLTY sucks. Climbing into one of those from the monaro is a bit of a shock. I was doign 90Km/hr by the end of pit lane exit :) But it handled nicly. But not worthy of a mention.
The SS commodore was the only other car I REALLY remember. IT FELT as powerfull as the monaro and yet it handled SO MUCH NICER on the corners. It didnt feel like it was going to leave the road at all. now THAT i would buy.. but likewise.. it was still way to powerfull for my needs.
Once we had all got a drive of most of the cars (I missed a thrid drive in an AUTO Monaro) Nathan Pretty (I think) Gave us a hot lap in an SS commodore. AHHK! I hadnt realsied just how narrow the track was until he drove with us in the car. it was INSANE. Going sideways at 160Km/hr is vertainly an expeirence... I could get used to.
*drools* is all I can say.. I WANT MORE!
