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My China Trip

CrispyFries

By CrispyFries,
in Victoria

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CrispyFries Grand Master

CrispyFries

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Warning: TL;DR ahead

It all started last October, I was browing the Motorsport section and missing my skyline and came across this thread. I have a feeling it was school holiday time. Nevertheless I signed up for the competition and dutifully read the info and answered the questions and referred a few friends.

Early December I received an email stating I was in the top 20. The comp was due to be drawn in January so I made sure I'd gotten all the points I could up til then.

Not hearing anything in Jan I subsequently forgot all about the competition... until May, when I received an email stating that I'd won.

A 3 day trip to the Zhuhai International Circuit in China, for a Formula Racecar Experience.

Having won the British Lottery so many times I initially thought "Yeah right", but reading further it seemed more and more legit. A call to the Melbourne Mobil 1 office confirmed it.

With the trip scheduled for July, I had about 3 months to get everything sorted (less to meet Mobil's deadlines), so I got my passport renewed and organised my visa to China. The visa actually took less time than the passport, I thought it would be a trickier process.

Fast forward to July, and I received flight 2 details, 1 overnight flight landing me in China at 6:30am on Monday the 11th. With so few people at the airport that early in the morning, immigration and customs was a breeze and I was met, along with another Melbourne winner, by the Global Racing School team. With winners flying in all through the day from all over Asia-Pac the GRS team were going to have a long day at the airport.

We had a brief wait for another winner to land from India then we were off on the scariest 2 and half hour ride I've ever had in a car :/ White lines are more like guidelines than any real lane boundary, horns and headlights are used in favour of indicators and toll gates are crazy funnels.

After the crazy car ride, we were met in the hotel lobby by the Mobil 1 team where we went over the welcomes and details and were given our race suits for the Tuesday. From there we were taken to our rooms, where I basically slept for the remainder of the day due to a lack of sleep on the plane.

After being woken early on drive day by my wake up call, I donned my Mobil 1 tshirt and race suit and feeling no small amount of silly headed upstairs for breakfast where all the drivers were gathering. All up there was about 30 drivers from across Asia-Pac (though none from Japan or NZ), so the language barriers were a bit tricky, but we all gave it our best go. After breakfast we all met in the lobby ready to board the bus which is when we got our first taste of the days weather. About 30 degrees and high humidity - awesome conditions for spending the day in a race suit...

A half hour bus ride and we arrived at the track, which like a lot of buildings in China appeared modern and lacking maintenance at the same time.

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CrispyFries Grand Master

CrispyFries

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We were then seated for the welcome and drivers briefing by the head instructor.

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We were then split into groups based mainly on nationality and assigned our instructors for the day. The format of the day would be 2 sessions in the Ford Focus with the instructors for training and evaluation. From there the top 8 would be selected to drive the Formula Renaults and the remainder of the drivers getting to sit in the back of a special 2 seat Formula Renault for a lap with a professional driver.

The aussie group was assigned Steve Elmes as our instructor, former brit and now Clio Cup China Series driver. His advice proved invaluable throughout the day.

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CrispyFries Grand Master

CrispyFries

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The Focus was great fun, but it was hard to get a good lap. With so many inexperienced drivers (some only just having got their licence) there were a lot of hold ups on the track, and no overtaking was allowed. It became a case of trying to get enough room to get out a good lap, and when that proved difficult, trying to get a good corner or 2 - Nailing 9 and 10 on the Zhuhai track proved particularly satisfying.

A heavy storm nearly cancelled the Formula Renault session, the combination of inexperienced drivers, heavy rain and slicks deemed too dangerous. As the day dried up though it was decided that there was time for 2 drivers to drive the renaults and the rest of us getting a ride in the 2 seater.

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CrispyFries Grand Master

CrispyFries

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That night we had the gala dinner, where I managed to pick up the Most Improved Driver award, for being able to apply the instructors advice the best.

Chatting with the organisers later that night I discovered I'd also made the 8, but sadly not the 2 :(

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Apart from nearly missing my connecting flight from Sydney to Melbourne, the trip home was basically uneventful.

China is a long way to go for my first track day, but damn it was worth it and I want to give a big thanks to the Mobil 1 and GRS teams for making it happen.

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I'll post more pics as I get them. Cameras weren't allowed at the track as a safety issue, but Mobil 1 provided a professional photographer.

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CrispyFries Grand Master

CrispyFries

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How does Formula Renaults drive compared to say a Focus or Skyline or whatever you've driven on track?

I missed out on the drive thanks to the rain, but from back seat they have stupid amounts of grip, braking and acceleration

Nice! did you get to keep the race suit? :D

Haha, no, but I sure hope they wash them good before anyone else wears them.

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