I felt a lot of excitement in the lead up to this event at Phillip Island, as I hadn’t driven there since 2011 and this was the first outing since a lot of improvements to the car including weight reduction and the new 16v engine. I invited my mate Sheldon to have a drive as well. The excitement was justified, as the car felt simply fantastic – much faster everywhere on the track and hooking up much better in the corners than I remember. We had some fuel delivery problems on the circuit’s long sweeping left hand corners which we need to sort out, this meant we only got a couple of runs each. I was super-pleased in just a couple of runs to get down to a low 2.04, about six seconds faster than I’d been around the circuit in the Sud before. Sheldon (who actually knows how to drive a race car) proved the car’s potential with a 2.02. I’m left with little doubt with a bit of practice the car is capable of a 2 minute flat lap, which is proper quick. Despite a lack of track time, we had a blast getting the Sud around the Island.
Here’s some video of my quickest couple of laps:
Photos courtesy Marisa Gangemi Photography:
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- Evan at Honda
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- Evan at Honda
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- Sheldon at Honda
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- Sheldon at Honda
