National Track Day 11 May 2024

On a wet, cold, wet, rainy, wet, Saturday (did I mention it was wet?), eleven brave TOCA members (and a plus one, making twelve in total) headed to Pheasants Wood Race Track in Marulan for the second TOCA track day.

An early start at 8am on the track meant early wake ups for most. With two attending from the ACT, nine from Sydney, one from Griffith and two from Queensland, the ones that got the most sleep were the Queenslanders who opted to stay in Marulan the night before.

Four Sydney attendees met up for a much needed coffee and charge at Exeter before making their way down to the track together, meeting other attendees there.

With battery packs full of electrons and bellies full of warm coffee from the on-site coffee truck, the team at RaceAway gave everyone a quick rundown of what to expect out of the day. At the previous event, this included a pleasant walk in the early morning sun around the track with the RaceAway team talking everyone through corners breaking points and racing lines. Given the rain (did I mention it was wet?), RaceAway opted for the warmer (and more sane) option, of jumping in our cars for an initial few laps for everyone to get a sense of the circuit.

After the initial familiarisation session, the rest of the day was run with alternating sessions with another group of cars. This gave us much needed time off the track to absorb everything from the previous session, and prepare for our next session out on the circuit.

As the day progressed, the initial nervous energy soon converted to big smiles as everyone started learning more and more about their cars' limits, and their own, out on the track. Once everyone started getting in to it, the conversations shifted from how to mentally prepare to being on a race track, to how to apex their corners better, or what lines everyone else was taking.

With lunch approaching, charging talk soon took the place of lap times and racing lines. With each car at different charge levels, attendees split off at different times to the BP at Marulan for a 75kW charge (or a 25kW / 50Kw split if the CHAdeMO side was being used simultaneously), only a short 5 minute drive away. Timings worked out well, with people heading off and charging at different times, whilst simultaneously having lunch at the roadhouse as well. Everyone got back to the track, with some opting to skip a session in favour of staying dry and a warm meal (did I mention it was wet?).

A healthy rivalry started to develop, with everyone pushing their limits to keep improving. Interestingly, even with all the rain (did I mention it was wet?), times continually kept inching down as the day progressed. A testament to how keen everyone was to keep learning car and personal limits. RaceAway continued to support us, with instructors spending time in people's cars whilst they were out on the circuit to provide guidance and help everyone keep getting faster and better, all in very challenging weather and circuit conditions.

After something like 8 or 9 total sessions, each lasting close to twenty minutes, the end of the day approached. By this stage, all attendees were smiling ear to ear, having learnt so much about car control, their Teslas and themselves, in such a short space of time. Without a doubt, everyone that attended will recommend that you attend a track day at least once to really put yourself and your car through its paces.

A big thank you to Ross Hetherington for organising another fantastic track day, and for RaceAway's continued support of TOCA and EV Motorsport. The commitment of our two Queensland attendees also needs to be commended. Without their attendance, we wouldn't have met the minimum numbers, so we appreciate them making the effort. We're all looking forward to the next one, and we hope to see more members new to motorsport or who simply want to test their skills on the track in attendance as well!

More photos: Photos (teslaowners.org.au)