Australian Tarmac Challenge 2010: Round 2

The 2010 Australian Tarmac Challenge (ATC) series is about to hit Sydney for the Eastern Creek 8 hour event, and the Carsales Team will once again be in contention.

Formerly the Dutton Rally, the ATC kicked off its 2010 season earlier in the year in Victoria in rain-soaked conditions, but despite the inclement weather it was an adrenaline pumped weekend, particularly as our Nissan 370Z was capable of some most enjoyable (and controllable) powerslides. But with the Sydney round almost upon us, a few things have changed.

As usual we've been training hard for the event, trying to slim down to race weight by eating fried chicken only for dinner (breakfast is out) and taking the stairs to our level-one office instead of the elevator.

I'll be driving a new car, with a new team mate -- fellow scribe Matt Brogan -- and it should be an interesting round, as this time the event will be a single day affair, stuffed with motorkhana, circuit sprints and dragway runs designed to push drivers and cars to their limits.

The Carsales Team has joined forces with Mazda to field a 2010 Mazda3 MPS, the front-wheel drive hot hatch outputting 190kW/380Nm from its turbocharged 2.3-litre DISI four-cylinder engine, figures Mazda say are good for 0-100km/h times of just 6.1 seconds.

Priced at $39,690*, we're hoping its combination of high torque and relatively light weight will give us an edge against much more expensive competition such as the $400K+ Ferrari F430, Porsche 911 Turbo and Chevy Corvette Z06 that will be lining up at Eastern Creek.

In stark contrast to the Nissan 370Z we ran in trying conditions earlier this year at Winton and Broadford, the new hot hatch sees us praying for rain, its dynamics well suited to wet tarmac (anyone who saw how the Mazda3 MPS performed at Targa Tasmania will be nodding in understanding).

Some of our closest rivals will once again be the omnipresent Porsche Cayman of David Boucher, with whom we've vied on several occasions, a handful of RX-8s, an HSV Maloo, an SS Commodore, and a BMW 335i.

Although we've been participating in the ATC for almost two years, the 8 hour event at Eastern Creek is shaping up to be a corker, and with such a wide variety of cars all pitting themselves against the clock -- and the weather -- the likelihood of an adrenalin charged day is an understatement.

Check back next week to see how we place.

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