ABDC 2017: The Fastest Ever

Here’s a couple of things to consider about ABDC’s annual track test at Hobart’s Baskerville Raceway.

One: Only German cars have ever topped the timesheets.

Two: The fastest car around the track has yet to be the overall winner of ABDC.

Okay, so that’s only a two-year sample size (and there are qualifications and provisos you can insert all over the place), but there’s no doubt the German domination is under challenge like never before in 2017. The HSV GTSR W1 is a locally-brewed track-day special, the MY17 version of the amazingly complex Nissan GT-R promises to be amazingly fast and the reborn rear-wheel drive Alfa Romeo’s Giulia Quadrifoglio is drawing rave reviews globally.

Flying the flag for Deutschland in terms of outright lap time are the Porsche Cayman S and latest BMW M3 Competition. Hard-chargers both.

Speaking of hard-chargers, our all-out lap times would again be set by motoring.com.au’s own pro driver Luke Youlden, with Tassie legend Greg Crick also having a crack.

Neither of those blokes need any incentive to bang on a stackhat and squeal tyres, but the recent resurfacing of Baskerville had them salivating. Fresh tar usually means more grip and faster times than either of them had experienced at ABDC previously.

Thankfully, even the rain stayed away this year and Youlden and Crick could go their oversteering hardest on what turned into a beautiful Tassie Autumn day.

Why the track
So why do this lapping exercise? Because when it comes to measuring a car’s outright braking, cornering and acceleration performance -- and determining just how it behaves at and beyond its dynamic envelope -- there’s no substitute for a racetrack.

And as racetracks go, the 2.01km Baskerville layout packs plenty of challenges into its short length. Built on the side of a hill, it has fast corners, off cambers, rise and falls and the requirement for plenty of skill and bravery to extract a fast lap -- something both Youlden and Crick deliver in spades.

As in past years, each car was tested with driver-only, a full fuel tank, traction/stability control off and maximum pressures according to its tyre placard. A Qstarz 6000S GPS lap timer provided the key on-track data.

The most popular tyre type in 2017 was the Pirelli P Zero, as fitted to the Giulia, BMW M140i, GTSR W1, Cayman S and Volkswagen Golf GTI 40 Years.

The M3 and Ford Focus RS were both fitted with Michelin Pilot Super Sports, while the Mercedes-AMG C43 and GT-R rolled on variations of the Dunlop Sport Maxx (nitrogen-filled in the case of the Nissan).

The Abarth was on Bridgestone Potenza RE050As and the Audi S5 on Continental ContiSportContacts.

Slow in, fast out
As always, we’ll start with the slowest car and work our way forward. Now, don’t scroll down… We know you want to!

First out of pitlane is the Maz… sorry… Abarth 124 Spider. Luke’s so serious about minimising lost time he’s running with the cloth roof closed for the fast laps (he showboated later topless!).

The Abarth blarts around the track, looking tidy if not especially fast. As always, Luke is wringing its neck, drifting into the uphill first corner and kicking dust up as he exists from the closing sweeper, seeking maximum straight-line drive. The time is a 1:05.572. Last year by the way, on the old surface, the Mazda MX-5 2.0 GT set a 1.05.786.

“It’s a good little car, you can make it oversteer at will,” Luke enthuses.

“The only think I’d say is it could catch a novice out, so it would be wise to keep all the assistants on.

“It’s got a mega gearbox and it seems to have enough grunt. It’s a lot of fun.”

The smile is wiped off his face by the Golf, which while a giant-killer on the road, has issues on the racetrack, recording a 1:03.604.

“I kept on mucking up the gear changes. You have to change gears in awkward spots and that caused problems,” Luke laments.

“Look, it’s fast but it has heaps of power-induced exit understeer. I don’t know what sort of diff it’s got in it, but it’s not working.”

For the record, it’s VW’s Vorderachsquersperre (electronically-clutched) locking diff. A proper mechanical diff a la Peugeot 308 GTi 270 could have had its namesake GTI significantly faster we reckon…

Check the times and you’ll see Cricky was 2.5secs slower in the Golf than Luke. It’s the biggest gap of the day and it’s all down to the location of the shifter and gate detente, which also caused Greg issues when pushing hard. It’s worth noting at this point that the majority of GTIs sold Down Under are DSG. Just saying…

Joy of six
It’s another small white German hatch next in the form of the BMW M140i Performance Edition. The 1:02.099 time is a bit disappointing given this car’s on-road performance and the fact it has a potent 3.0-litre turbo six-cylinder engine and well-sorted rear-wheel drive chassis.

One factor could be the Pirelli run-flats, which are fitted rather than track-oriented Michelin Pilot Super Sports supplied to Performance Edition owners for track days.

“Look, it’s a user-friendly car -- it sends you a telegram before it does anything,” Luke says.

“But it really understeers quite badly. It just doesn’t have the entry grip I expected.”

Another white German slots in next, the Mercedes-AMG C43 Coupe. In terms of attitude this car has it all; great audio, flat stance and a fast engine. The time is a respectable 1:01.558.

“One thing about this car is it has a million gears [Ed: nine actually, but we know what you mean Luke], but [at the track] it never feels like it is in the right one,” Luke laments.

“It is labouring too much and then it revs too much. Even the shifts labour too much, like the clutch is slipping.

“It is a fast car and it’s a fast time absolutely, but a couple of little things detract from it.”

And then there’s the S5. It’s got all the presence of a brown cardigan compared to the edgy, aggressive C43. But it’s also faster, by more than 0.2sec (1:01.327). This is one car that has definitely translated road-going prowess to racetrack times.

“What a car. Unbelievable,” says Luke.

“It does everything well. It is an all-wheel-drive car so you’d expect it to push [understeer] but it actually has slight turn-in oversteer and then goes to a neutral balance.

“It has got plenty of grunt. I absolutely can’t fault it. It’s the sleeper in the pack. It’s going to figure on a few radars after that lap,” he added.

Tyred and emotional
The capability of the Audi is underlined by its time being not much slower than the Ford Focus RS hyper-hatch, a car that entered this event as one of the favourites.

Like everyone else though, Luke battled with the car’s sky-high seating position. Also, like everyone else, he loved the Twinster all-wheel-drive system’s effectiveness.

“It does everything right apart from sitting you five feet too high in the car,” Luke grimaces.

“It really does turn well; it puts its power down really well -- I really liked it… There’s no understeer which is unusual for an all-wheel drive. And once you do get it pointed, you can get on the gas much earlier than you can in any ‘normal’ car. You can feel the set-up working, they have done a phenomenal job.

“But,” he admitted, “I thought the time would be better.”

Again, that’s potentially because of tyres. The RS can be optioned with semi-slick Michelin Cup tyres and they undoubtedly would have made a difference.

Luke knows that from our hyper-hatch comparo last year when the RS trounced the Mercedes-AMG A45 and the Audi RS 3 Sportback. Frankly, we don’t understand Ford Australia’s decision not to equip the RS with the very best rubber for ABDC.

>> 1st - HSV GTSR W1
>> 2nd - Porsche Cayman S
>> 3rd - Ford Focus RS
>> 4th - BMW M140i
>> 5th - BMW M3 Competition
>> 6th - Audi S5 Coupe
>> 7th - Mercedes-AMG C 43
>> A sideways glance at ABDC
>> 8th - Volkswagen Golf GTI 40 Years
>> Stats never lie – ABDC by the numbers
>> Not ranked - Alfa Romeo Guilia QV
>> All the ABDC FAQs
>> 10th - Abarth 124 Spider
>> Quarter-mile bragging rights
>> Meet the judges
>> 11th - Nissan GT-R

>> In search of Australia's Best Driver's Car 2017

Tumbling times
From this point the times tumble under the 1:00.00. That underlines the speed of the updated track and the high quality of our contestants. Previously, only one car had ever beaten the minute barrier, the Porsche 911 Carrera S in 2016.

The GT-R looks jet-fast in a straight-line to set a 59.098, but is all over the place as Luke manhandles it through the bends.

“Man that’s ugly,” he confirms.

“The biggest drama with it is it understeers like a demon. Even in the fast corners I cannot get the front to turn. But it has this initial oversteer set, then it pushes, then it’s jumping and bucking and transferring torque and it just doesn’t know what it is doing.

Luke pronounces Godzilla as: “hard work.”

It’s the same story in the M3, which on its worn Michelins (wear that Luke contributed to prior to ABDC… but that’s another story) proves a real handful, yet still capable of fourth fastest time. This is a car Luke knows well and likes a lot, so his disappointment at not being able to go faster is palpable.

“I just couldn’t put a consistent lap together,” he says.

“The car has come with tyres that are stuffed… I’m a little disappointed to be honest.

“If you want a wild ride, this is the car. It’s loud, it’s stiff, it’s edgy, but it just doesn’t have the rear grip. It’s fun but I’d be reluctant to send any one out there who didn’t have the skill to cope with it!”

The reborn Italian stallion, the Giulia, shows its potency with third fastest time, but it too has to be managed to get there and we have outlined. But it sounds great, howling like a banshee and banging through the gears as it accelerates.

“There’s no doubt it’s fast,” says Luke.

Precision v Power
Which leaves two cars to run. The Cayman S and the W1.

The Porsche is first and it’s the very opposite of the M3. No wrestling here, just fast and fluid times from a fantastic car with superb balance.

From the pit wall it looks fuss-free. A 58.227sec is the result. It’s the fastest time ever set here in ABDC competition, pipping its big bro Porsche 911 Carrera S, which was 2sec faster than anything else 12 months ago.

Let the 911 v Cayman arguments commence!

“That car is exceptional,” says Luke.

“I have pulled 1.72g in that car – and it’s a road car. To put that in context, that is proper racecar g forces from 10 years ago.

“That car epitomises grip and balance. I cannot think of one thing that I would change.”

Then he corrects himself: “It probably needs more power!”

Well, consider that problem solved with the 474kW HSV GTSR W1.

Our final runner is set for the challenge. All week it has impressed the judges with its poise and balance, even in streaming wet conditions. Here, in the dry, with its semi-slick Trofeo R tyres and racing-sourced Supashock suspension, it is expected to be good. But how good?

HSV is so keen to ensure our pre-production W1 puts its best foot forward it has sent technical officer Darren Webster to Tassie to give the car a check over before it runs. HSV is the first OEM to request permission to check over its car and we’re comfortable to extend the courtesy.

As a precaution, Darren changes the front brake pads (from the road car he drove from Clayton (Vic) to Baskerville), checks the tyre pressures (Ed: as a matter of course we checked and reset every car’s tyre pressures before testing), gives everything the once-over and then delivers the thumbs up.

Time for Luke to do his thing. With the death of local manufacturing, it’s the last outing for an Aussie-built car at ABDC. It’s a special moment.

That's why the big bucks
And the laps are truly memorable. Luke is leaving nothing in the toolbox.

The big sedan booms up the straights then turns-in and slides across the apexes with amazing agility. This is a display of ferocious speed, handling dexterity and complete commitment.

And at 58.061sec it’s measurably the fastest car we’ve sent around Baskerville during ABDC. The Aussie muscle-car has defeated the Germans!

And just to back up Luke’s effort, Cricky sets his fastest time of the day in the W1 as well.

“It’s great and you can tell a lot of it is the tyres,” Luke says.

“You expect this car to be a handful but it’s not. It’s an absolute dream to drive. It puts its power down well, it’s not edgy at all. It’s really user-friendly and its crazy-fast.

“It’s just a shame it’s the last one. It’s going to end on a high-note that’s for sure.”

That’s one ABDC hoodoo busted. In a few days we’ll know if the W1 is in the hunt for the big award as well.

Stay tuned.

ABC track test times – Baskerville Raceway:

2015 (wet)
Mercedes-AMG A45 – 1:07.5
HSV GTS – 1:09.5
Nissan GT-R – 1:12.4

>> In search of Australia's Best Driver's Car 2017