VMax

[Ekona]

So yesterday I was at Bruntingthorpe at VMax Hammer, and never having been before I didn't really know what to expect. What I found was basically a load of proper petrolheads without an ego between them, and some of the nicest metal I have ever seen in the flesh having the balls driven off it. My personal favourite was the 599 GTO that turned up, the sound was utterly incredible:

 

 

Noisiest thing by far, but what a noise! Anyhoo, obviously I managed to get a good few runs in, but as daft as it sounds high speed in a straight line isn't as easy to accomplish as you think it would be. I've driven at pace on many circuits and always felt comfortable, but even I found myself lifting off well before the timing beams on the first couple of attempts without even realising it, and I was peaking at around 165mph in the morning. Jo had a couple of goes after me and managed to hold her nerve better and pushed the car into the 170mph bracket which I was so proud of her for, although she did then rib me in front of complete strangers about it

 

I did pick my speeds back up in the afternoon though and by the end I was very comfortable holding the go pedal right down from much earlier until right past the timing beams, but it was also a good day to try out the launch control function over and over and over again. I didn't always get it right though:

 

 

I ever so slightly lifted the accelerator just before the go, and the whole thing cancelled itself but it still said LC Active in the display so I lifted off the brake and just sat there! Didn't matter in the end as the way to get the top speeds is to let the other person go so you can get a clear run at the corner at the bottom, so I actually got a pretty good number on that run. That GTR was absolutely immense all day. I did on occasion get the launch very much spot-on though, and the power and flexibility of the 997.2 C2S PDK is really shown in this next video. The car I'm up against is the almighty Ruf Yellowbird, so you know how powerful and quick that car actually is, but keep watching after we take the bend and start coming back up, and who pulls out on who:

 

 

Okay, so once he got in his stride he breezed past me as you would expect, but I would never have given my car a chance against a legend like that from lower speeds. As far as the experience from inside the car goes, I guess the best way to show it is just to show it, and yes it is that bumpy!

 

 

Shame the angle wouldn't let us film the digital speedo, but you can see the dial to the left of the rev counter well up near the top. Just an amazing experience all round, and I can see why people go there regularly with all sorts of modified stuff trying to beat their previous best. Car of choice seemed to be 996 + 997 Turbos, although the GTO and the 430 Scud (as shown in the video above) were fairly brutal too, and the various Audi turbo nutter barge cars were just completely insane. There was a chap there in his Atom who hit 155 every single time as he was bang into the limiter halfway up the runway!

 

I guess I was most impressed about the 911 overall, as it took a serious pounding all day and not once did it moan or grumble, or even force me to stop doing the runs as it was overheating. The power was there every time, the gearbox seemed to enjoy the launches as much as me, and the brakes didn't have a hint of noise or fade about them despite the repeated stops from 170mph+ down to 30mph, and they have some serious stopping power too. A very enjoyable day, and I'll definitely do another one at some point.

 

 

Top speed from me for the day? 176mph, which I'm very happy with. Top speed overall was a 997 3.9 GT2 with 206mph I believe

[bronzee]

Nice work there. Bags of smiles.

[as2bsc]

Sounds like a great day and some good footage to boot. Thanks for sharing

[magic84]

looks like a great day, glad to see these cars being put through there paces