The Bend - V8 Race Car Drive Experience - Commodore

29th April session on the west circuit layout.
Car 121 - Holden VE Commodore. Listed as 360hp v8 race car.
It was 21 degrees with a moderate tailwind along the straight.
TL:DR - not worth it, but the person alongside was a good guy.
The car wouldn’t rev past about 5300rpm (6500rpm is the normal revs for a standard one of these- never mind ‘race car’)
and had a lack of power in the usable rev range. My stock GR Yaris (270hp) was faster than this on all straights- on a hot day and into a headwind on the main straight!
Clutch was not great and 5th gear needed to be hand held to ensure it stayed engaged. Was also hard to select and change out of 5th. 5th gear felt like a bowl of jelly. The rest of the gearbox felt like what you’d expect from a commodore 6 speed.
Drive sessions are advertised as 5 laps of the bend’s world famous circuit, or adjusted to ensure equivalent track time, on alternate layouts.
I was on the west layout (3.4km vs 4.95km for their main ‘international’ layout)
Some others get to go on a modified ‘south west layout- about 1.8kms)
Still only 5 laps (assuming you count in and out as laps…
I don’t recommend this package. I’ve contacted The Bend privately via Facebook and email (no replies) before posting this video.
Key words - The Bend drive v8 racecar drive experience fastrack v8 race

[@waiata216]

nice look at the track they gonna use this season. Cheers.

[@mgc5844]

Hello how are you?
im interested signing in. Can we use our own helmet and race suit? How much additional for the video recordin? Thanks!

[@simonr23]

You just need to wear pants, long sleeve shirt and socks/shoes. You could wear a race suit.
You must wear one of their helmets, as there are intercoms in them, so the co-driver can talk to you.
The video is included in the fee.