Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver Jamie Whincup takes Cara Jenkin on a hot lap of The Bend
CARA Jenkin describes what it is like to sit through a hot lap of The Bend Supercars track from the passenger seat of Jamie Whincup’s Holden Commodore.
ANYONE who gets car sick on a windy road should not do a hot lap at The Bend.
Supercar drivers have commented on the number of corners at this track and the fast-flowing nature of them, saying how they have barely made it through one corner before they are tackling another.
I soon lose count of what corner I’m on in my hot lap with Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver Jamie Whincup.
It all starts harmless enough as we bolt out of pit lane at 100km/h and Whincup brakes hard as we approach turn one.
Then I’m thrown side to side in my seat as we go right then left, right and so on, as well as going up and down the undulations of the 4.95km-long track.
As Whincup realises I’m not scared we’re going to crash, he goes from driving-miss-daisy mode — or perhaps 70 per cent of real pace — and puts down the throttle.
It’s then that I get a taste of the slipperiness of the circuit that the drivers had been talking about all day.
I can hear the rear tyres squealing behind me as we round one of the tighter turns, then it feels like the back of the car is slipping away as we go around another.
At one point I wonder if Whincup has slipped a little too much off the circuit and on to the grass because it doesn’t sound like we’re on bitumen anymore, but with a flick of his steering wheel, we’re back on track, perhaps literally.
At another part, he’s working the steering wheel really hard to try to keep us on a racing line and I’m wondering if that slipperiness has caught him up again — or maybe that’s just how twisty and turny this track really is.
We’re the only ones on the track, so I cannot imagine how hard it would be to stay on course if you’ve got one competitor giving you a hip and shoulder on one side, and another to defend on the other side as they’re trying to take your position.
One lap at Tailem Bend is quite long compared to other circuits — almost two minutes — and watching them on TV it looks like an eternity.
But when you’re in the car, it feels like you’ve blinked and you’ve missed it.
Suddenly we’ve taken the final turn and we both get to take a breath during the long cornerless stretch that is pit straight.
We reach 267km/h when the brakes are slammed on and around the corners we go again.
Despite feeling a little cool all day in this August weather, I’m now feeling pretty hot in my loaned driving suit, and when the car stops, I start to feel a bit sick.
An hour later (after a bit of a lie down and some crackers) I’m just starting to feel good again.
That’s after two laps.
Today, the drivers do 24 laps, and on Sunday 41.
My daily drive is a dumped Holden Gemini and one of the things I love about her is that she corners like she is on rails.
After this hot lap, I’ve realised I was not built to be a Supercar driver. But I’d love to take that gemini on a driving-miss-daisy style run around The Bend.