Upcoming events

Introduction

Motorsport or track days is a very different than either driving fast on roads or Go Karting. The speeds are far higher, the forces are much higher and the car is under a lot more physical and thermal stress. For this reason the preparation is key

Many first time drivers, particularly in road cars are always surprised just how fast modern road cars can go, how much grip they have an especially how hard they brake. However many are therefore unaware how quickly things can go wrong

This guide is intended to provide all drivers both experienced and first timers with some basic steps and knowledge to allow you to safely get the most from your track day.

How Track Days Work?

Most track days, including ours are run as SPEED events, sometimes known as TIMED SPRINTS. These consist of up to 6 groups of cars that go out on track for a series of timed runs over the day. Each run is between 10-15min usually with a out lap (first lap, essentially a warm up), and an in lap (cool down).
Generally groups will be up to 20 cars, although tracks like Broadford which are smaller required smaller group sizes.

Speed events, are timed. Its you verses the clock, not you verses other cars. Any form of racing or aggressive overtaking is not tolerated

Which group you are in, is determined by two factors. 1. If you are a first time\Come & Try driver you will be always in Group 1 (at events where we have Come & Try, eg Sandown) only with other similar drivers. 2. Predicted lap time. Low group number, means slower lap time. High group number, high lap time. This ensures cars are with other cars that are running similar pace. The purpose of this, is to reduce overtaking, reduce the amount of time you might get stuck behind slower cars and most of all improve safety.

All our days start with Group 1 first. Once they are on track, group 2 will line up ready to go out and so on. Once the last car of current group pulls into pit lane, the first car of the next group will be released from the other end of pit lane onto the track. An official will release cars with a gap between each one the idea is to space cars out as much as possible.

We strive to provide drivers with 5 runs per day. Factors that affect this always is weather and incidents. Weather we can't control, but incidents we can influence. So think about that when out on track, if you push to hard and go off, firstly you risk yourself, your car and others. But secondly recovering a car takes time. Therefore reducing the amount of track time you and others get.

Vehicle preparation is key to this well, a well looked after and well prepared car is a more reliable car. If you break down on track, especially if you drop fluid like oil and coolant this takes a lot of time to clean up. This will sometimes result in a cost to you for the clean up, but also deprives others of track time.

Come & Try

Currently the club offers at every Sandown event a Come & Try session. This is a great way to give track days a go without the need for getting club membership or a Motorsport Australia license.

The club will also provide an experience instructor who is a club member with extensive experience doing track days, and knows that venue well. They will give you tips on braking points, racing line and track features as well as provide some coaching tips on your driving. All of it is done in a very friendly and constructive way to provide you with some basic tools and knowledge to safely enjoy track days.

Our instructors are mandatory for the first session, then you can ask you instructor if you wish for them to come out again during the day. If they are unable to, as some may have a be in a overlapping group they are driving in, that's fine. Come speak to an official and we can arrange somebody to jump in with you.

If you have a friend or preferred instructor, please speak to the Motorsport Director or Clerk of Coarse, all instructors must be approved by them. We prefer that club appointed instructors are used as it promotes better behavior and safer driving. Rather than a mate encouraging you to push beyond your capabilities as these usually result in incidents, spins or being spoken to by the Clerk of Coarse. 

Come & Try groups are always group 1, and will be the first group on track for the day. So be prepared to be in the pit lane at least 8:55am, as the session will start at 9am sharp.

The first lap will be behind a pace car, it will be done with helmets off, at highway speeds. This is a familiarization lap intended to allow you be get an understanding of the layout of the track, how to enter the track, where flag points are, and how to enter pit lane.
Once this familiarization session is complete, you'll renter pit lane and line up to go out again. Helmets will go on, and you'll head out for your first flying lap session.

 All come & try sessions are untimed. The idea is not to be chasing lap time, instead your focus should be on driving line, car familiarization and braking points. If you go off or spin you will likely be off to see the Clerk of Coarse for a please explain. They usually offer a warning and advice to take it easy

Vehicles

Whilst we are the Impreza WRX Club, we above all are just car enthusiasts. For this reason not only do we welcome all makes and models to our track days, we also welcome them as members. Our current president joined with a Golf!

Many of our track days are made up of a mix of stock road cars, modified road cars and dedicated track cars. More recently road registered cars make up a bulk of the participants.

Daily drivers and cars you drive to the track. This is a common thing to see these days. Few things to consider most of which we cover in our vehicle preparation guide:

The big one for now is... How hard should you push?

If you have to drive it home, or to work tomorrow. We recommend you just back off a little, maybe don't rev it out to red line every shift and perhaps do a couple of hot laps, then back off and let it cool down, then do a couple more hot laps. You'll be amazed how much of a difference this will make to the longevity of your car

2. Tires. Track days are super tough on tires. Most road tires are not designed for track work, so they very quickly overheat and loose a lot of grip which can be scary. But can also literally melt the tread blocks. So coming to the track with the wrong tires may cost you that set of tires. Modern tire technology has come a long way though, so some premium brands offer tires that work really well on road but also work really well on track so while it might seem like spending the extra on a more high performance road tire is not worth it, in the long run it likely will be. Then's theres the other option. Watch thinks like Facebook marketplace and ebay for a spare set of rim and get some semi-slicks that you just bolt on for track days. These are legal to drive on the road with, but wear very quickly on road however are excellent on track.

3.

Theres a few vehicles that you should contact us about though before registering. Open Wheelers, we do sometimes offer a Formula Ford group at Phillip Island but generally we can't support Open Wheelers. Second, is Open class cars. Things like world time attack cars are sometimes challenging due to noise and their speed differential with other competitors so best to reach out as some events we do we can support them, and others is harder.

Electric and Hybrid's. There is a lot of new regulations around these that makes it more challenging. So if you are thinking of registering one of these vehicles please contact us first. They require specialisted equipment such as extinguishers and training for our safety crews so we need to ensure we have this available before accepting one of these vehicles.

Vehicle Requirements

We cover of more details in our vehicle preparation guide but here are the key items you must have

• Fire Extinguisher 1kg min and must be less than 3 years old. That's 3 years from date of manufacture, not sale Schedule H
  
• That fire extinguisher must be securely fastened within easy reach of the driver while seated. We have handy brackets the bolt into a WRX seat rails WRX Club Shop
• A battery triangle on the outside of the car
  
• Tow hooks fitted, and a tow sticker or at least some red tape\paint on the factory ones
• No loose items in the car
• Compliant factory seat belt or a suitable harness. See Schedule I
  

Driver Requirements

• A valid Motorsport Australia Speed or higher license
  But what if you don't have one?
  You first need to be a member of a Motorsport Australia affiliated car club like ours. You can join here Join Us. You don't need a Subaru to enter by the way
  You can apply for a license here Motorsport Australia Registration
• If this is your first time doing a track day, enter as Come & Try. This doesn't require a license or to be a member, although if you have one that's ok too. Just note, these are untimed sessions with a provided instructor.
• A vehicle to drive that meets Motorsport Australia guidelines, and our supp regs (links below, see your vehicle section)
• A suitable helmet. Minimum is a helmet that meets AS 1698, but a motorsport specific helmet is strong recommended. See link for further details Motorsport Australia Schedule D
  
• Suitable apparel. Minimum is covered from ankle to wrist in cotton and closed toe shoes. Our long sleeve motorsport shirts are perfect for this. WRX Shop See link for further details Motorsport Australia Schedule D

Motorsport Flags

	Yellow flag: The yellow flag signals a situation of danger ahead. Drivers must slow down and show extreme caution. Drivers may not overtake other vehicles until they have passed the green flag.
	Green Flag: All clear signal. It is used at the end of the danger area controlled by yellow flags. Drivers may continue on at race speed. It can also be used to signal the start of a warm-up lap or practice session.
	Blue flag: Overtaking signal. The blue flag informs the driver that he is about to overtaken by one or more faster cars. When the flag is waved, it draws the driver’s attention either to the closeness of the car about to overtake him, or to the high speed at which it is approaching. The blue flag can be shown motionless when the faster car is still some distance away but approaching quickly.
	Red Flag: Stopping the race. The red flag will be shown at all posts on the circuit when the Clerk of the Course has decided to stop the race or practice session due to a hazard effecting the course. All drivers must stop racing immediately and proceed to the pit area. Drivers must exercise extreme caution and being prepared to stop if necessary.
	Black Flag: Return to the pit area. The black flag is usually shown at the Start / Finish line by the Clerk of Course or his marshal. The flag will be shown whilst your vehicle is being pointed at. This informs the driver they must return to the pit area immediately and report to the Clerk of Course.
	Checkered Flag: Denotes end of session. Use the remaining lap to cool the car and return to the pit area.