This is something I should have done a very long time ago! For Christmas my little brother bought me a voucher for 6 laps at Sandown with Fast Track racing, I've heard mixed things about there ride days, things like the cars are just bog stock Commodores and Falcons with a roll cage and lowered with wheels and a bit of an exhaust, upon my arrival I was very very surprised at the quality of some of the cars, some of them were quality cars. The car I was driving was the #6 Toshiba Monaro and while engine wise it was fairly stock with and exhaust and air intake and tune, the rest of the car was on a pretty high level, the main thing I was excited for was the brakes, they were off of an ex Perkins Racing V8 Supercar and they were EPIC!.
I was quite nervous leading up to this day, I kept thinking after all these years of dreaming of being a racing car driver what if I get in and just flat out suck, luckily to my surprise rolling down pit lane and then onto the track I quickly started to feel quite comfortable, My instructor was Darren Formosa a champion touring car driver, he made the whole process very simple, easy and clear, and after a few laps he told me he was extremely confident with my driving and would turn the traction control off, something he doesn't normally allow, after that he had me start pushing the braking zones and finding the cars and my limits.
At the end of the day I could walk away with a lot of gained confidence, I now was not concerned with finishing my XF race car and taking it out on the track knowing now that I have the ability to do all the basics pretty well and had a solid foundation to start with, also I was extremely pleased to find out that the driving for real felt so similar to my racing simulator and that the practice I have been doing on that wasn't worthless.
Lap after lap it all just got better, after all these years of being a fan and watching my idols I finally got a taste of the real thing and it lived up to everything I had ever imagined, it truly was the greatest feeling I have ever experienced.
I have to thank my brother Taylar for organizing all this for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'd happily recommend to anyone to hit up Fast Track Racing.