I had very little sleep (3-4hrs) but was feeling AOK. In the morning we caught up with Jared from Downshift (QLD) who landed at midnight last night.
Mix Master Alain at it again, this time en route to Calder Park.
Calder Park has to be one of the most run down circuits I’ve ever seen. Mad Max comes to mind. Post Apocalyptic!
We were greeted by the cars we were going to be driving. WRX’s and Golf GTI’s on the new Bridgestone Adrenalin POTENZA RE003’s as well as competitor tyres.
Still don’t like this car. It’s just so stylistically awkward.
I was so looking forward to driving the GTI.
Lightning bolts! Love the tread pattern and square semi-slick like sidewall.
Into the WRX I get, and boom! The Fox!
Patina.
Our group hit the wet slalom first. Whilst the competitor tyre was fun as I managed to get the car to lose traction and get into a four wheel drift, this wasn’t what we were here for. The Potenza was the clear winner with much more direct steering and much smaller steering input (much smaller steering wheel adjustments).
The next test was dry slalom where we got up to much higher speeds. The competitor tyre was awesome, and predicable, but it scrubbed off speed on each direction change whereas the RE003 didn’t. Both winners on this test I thought, though the RE003 definitely won the test (and had the WRX showing off much more body roll due to more grip).
The last test involved a fast 80km lane change which made for some pretty crazy sideways action with the competitor tyre (smashing cones down like bowling pins!). The RE003 smashed the competitor tyre in this test. Definitely the biggest difference out of all 3 tests on the day, and definitely the most fun too.
We were asked not to use our driving skills to avoid hitting cones, and instead hit 80km/hr and literally yank the wheel as hard as we could, thus simulating avoiding kids running across the road for example. After this we were treated to some heated track battles on the full circuit between the competitor tyre and the RE003. This had everyone on the day truly appreciating how awesome the RE003 was, and also how amazing the Golf GTI was. The MK7 just feels so fast, fun, playful and light (IE: It shat all over the WRX).
We wrapped up the day with some filming, and at the carpark we spotted this amazing Honda Beat owned by Grant from Gripshiftslide.
So good!
As wide as 3 license plates. Check the lines on the ground, that’s a standard car park space!
So rad, and still a work in progress.
We smashed a few drinks with the Full Boost boys, then we were off for more drinks at the airport.
Landed in Sydney. I’m SO over planes. We almost missed this one, getting in trouble with the people at security check for being so late and literally running our asses off onto the tarmac to board the plane (lol).
PS: Yes. I had to buy a set of RE003’s for my Golf. I’m almost down to the canvas and have been meaning to get new tyres for ages! I’m really looking forward to getting these babies on my car ASAP!
This article read more like product placement by a VW fanboi then anything informative or objective.
Read what you like Matt! I write how I see it and I sure can’t pick or change how people interpret my words. I can confirm that I was not at all endorsed by VW in any way, shape or form for this feature. I was paid to review a tyre, and sure, I ended up praising the car the tyres were being tested on. At least it’s an honest article where I am just being me and allowed to have an opinion. IE: I didn’t just paste in the brochure specs for the tyre which you could just get online or by reading other reviews of the tyre online).
Well i have the new WRX (6 speed manual) and i don’t totally disagree with some of the subjective driving comments by all the testers. And that is all these reviews are good for and where it ends! Why? 1) All these tests are purely subjective. 2) No control tyre and driver and why not reveal the competitor tyre like other proper tyre reviews? 3) No mention of tyre sizes for either car. 4) Why is the WRX running 18s? Is the 18inch RE003 tyres better than the 17inch Dunlop OEM tyres that came with the car? If you could even compare them like that. So this whole thing is an obvious joke.
There are just way too many variables and unknowns so for those reading the RE003 reviews, i wouldn’t read too much into it. Nice cars though :) And regarding the subjective feel of the GTI vs WRX, the Golf is physically smaller and lighter hence would naturally feel more agile through driving tests like these. The CVT WRX in lazy mode probably didn’t help either, so it doesn’t mean the GTI is the better car (again subjective) or that it has better performance than the WRX. Just slot both cars with the same RE003s and time it around ANY track with the same competent driver behind the wheel and then we shall see which car shat over which. Otherwise just buy a Golf ;)
100%. You are stating the obvious though. IE: Yes it’s all subjective (like most reviews are as they are written by one person most of the time, right?). It’s MY personal review of the day, which was about tyres and NOT about cars! Me being me though, I chose to review the entire day, the people, the cars as well as what I was being paid to do (test tyres).
But calling the entire thing a “joke”? I’m not sure I saw the day as a joke at all. I just saw it as a day where Bridgestone invited a few of us out to test tyres, and we had a great day, and the experience sure beat reading a catalog, brochure, or someone else’s review of the tyre!!!!! IE: We got to thrash these cars and we had a great day out!
Obviously you love your car, that’s a great thing, but thinking that it shits on another car because it’s faster around a race track is a little shallow in my opinion. Faster around a race track isn’t always better. I own a track spec R32 GT-R, but personally I love underpowered cars like the MX-5, and even the new 86. Being able to drive at 90% of my ability on a race track in a balanced underpowered car is, in my opinion, way more fun than driving the GT-R at only say 70% of my ability.
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