What a circuit! With it being around 1000km from home I was determined to make the most of the weekend come rain, hail or shine... unfortunately we only got rain but it was still awesome. Left to right is Rob Hayden's supercharged UZZ32, Gaz's JZZ30, Neil's supercharged manual UZZ31, my car and Juzza's JZZ30 (nutter!).

This was my first time at Phillip Island and I always knew it's a fast circuit, but it's really fast, and in the wet it's very slippery in places. In the first session I had the back start to come around twice at about 100km/h but it gave plenty of warning. If I went into a corner a bit quick the front would push but if I got on the gas too early the back would start to come out so I'm really happy with the balance now that I've fitted the stiffer rear springs. I was running Falken Azenis RT215 semi-slick tyres and because they heat up quickly and have some decent grooves they were very effective in the wet.

Most of the circuit is 3rd & 4th gear with 2 tight right-handers requiring 2nd gear but there were only a few places where I could actually get the pedal to the floor. Heading through the final turn (turn 12) I was gingerly feeding in throttle in 3rd so as to get a good run onto the straight without losing traction at 120km/h. I pulled 4th just as I hit the straight when the shift light flashed on and then was in 5th before the bridge at the halfway point. Top speed was only about 190km/h but this was in the rain so I was backing off very early for turn 1 to just coast into it.

Click on the image above to play a short clip of me belting down the straight.

Here is Rob Hayden (www.lexusaustralia.org) fitting semi slicks to his supercharged UZZ32. Rob has more info about his and other supercharger setups on his website.

This pic was taken from video. You can see how the bonnet is lifting slightly at the edges and also how the windscreen wiper is clear off the glass. This was at about 160km/h so I've bought some Aerocatch flush-mount bonnet pins to subtly secure the bonnet. You can see the bonnet pins here - www.vsport.com.au/vsport_aerocatch.htm

The next Phillip Island day won't be until November so hopefully the weather will be a little more conducive to fast lapping!

You can view the track layout and get more info from here: http://www.phillipislandcircuit.com.au

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