Passed my OLT! WOOHOO!!

[Shane001]

Passed my OLT down at Wakefield today. I'm now a bonafide CAMS approved (provisional) race driver :) WOOHOO!!

Was a bit of a sloppy run though, spun out on the first lap, ran a PB on the second lap, then was a bit all over the place working my way back through the field (inconsistent lines!) But they passed me :) So racing here I come!!

Some words of advice for anyone else who is ever going for their OLT. LISTEN TO ALL THE GOOD ADVICE BEING OFFERED, THEN TAKE THE ADVICE!!

To be honest though I did listen. I was told to take it easy, just concentrate on consistent lines and keep it smooth. Which I was going to do, honest...

Problem was, sitting in the car in the marshalling area after our driver breifing, I got to thinking about the other 4 cars I would be 'racing'. Are they faster cars, will I have a clean track to do my thing, will I be passing or being passed, and what about the Capri sitting on P1 next to me on the grid, should I gun it and try to take him on the outside into turn 2, or is his car quicker than mine...

Well suffice to say that by the time the warmup lap had finished and I'd pulled up alongside on the grid, there was no way in hell that Capri was gonna beat me into turn 2!! ;) So I gunned it, passed him on the outside fairly easy, leading the 'race' out of turn 2, now my brain decides I better put a bit of a gap on incase that big Falcon bringing up the rear decides to start gaining ground... So pushed it pretty hard over the hill, then coming down into turn 8, changed down into second and whadya know, compression lockup (haven't mastered heel/toe yet...) and around she goes :headbang:

No worries, most important is the recovery, had to let the field pass then back on the track bringing up the rear, put in my fastest time for the next lap then caught the back of the field, managed to get round the Porsche the next lap (he waved me by, think he was a bit scared ;), then the youngun in the little white U2L car (he was hanging around to race over the weekend, pretty good kid :) after he had a moment into turn 10.

Now time to chase down that Capri again (Falcon by now was well out in front), onto the main straight right behind him on the final lap, wound up the turbo and just pipped him at the finish line to steal second!! WOOHOO!!

So my advice to anyone else who is ever going for their OLT, the above is NOT the way to do it. Think I was a little over exhuberant and a little too enthusiastic... hehe. But I passed. Now I need to get some more practice in me thinks :)

First day out with the Supra yesterday though was the best fun I've had for a long time!! Looking forward to Oran Park :)

[seedyrom]

wow, what a great story and terrific write up!!!

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

a guy at work just got his full cams license. On the day of his final testing race, his race car poo'd its pants. So he was allowed to use his 2-tonne Mazda Bravo work ute (and tow car).
They started him at the rear, and he took a porsche off the line, but was quickly passed again. He still got his license, as you say, because they are interested in lines and consistancy.

Well done to you, drive safely

[Shane001]

hehe, thanks mate, gotta remember:

lines and consistency
lines and consistency
lines and consistency
lines and consistency

:)

[lautray]

Well done Shane. Great story.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is OLT? Open Licence Test? And when do you need one of these ie what racing class?

[Febs]

Congratulations!
So where does this sit in the CAMS licence range? ie: I know there's one you can just pay for and obtain...but obviously this one's a bit higher than that. ;)

Cheers,
- Febs.

[lautray]

I know there's one you can just pay for and obtain
That's the one I am applying for: Cams L2S... for SuperSprints this/next year :D.

[FatBoy]

Well done Shane. Great story.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is OLT? Open Licence Test? And when do you need one of these ie what racing class?

Observed Licence Test Erik...

It's for the old C3 spec licence - to get your "P's" and race at State level this is the minimum requirement. Then you need 5 signatures to get an upgrade to C4 (they have actually renamed them, buggered if i can recall what the new name is though, and my CAMS licence is at home...) and get off your P's and onto a "full licence" so to speak...

For track days and supersprints you won't need to do an OLT... :)


Shane - Congrats mate, but why didn't you hang around and race over the weekend ?? Wakefield is a great place to do your first race meeting - plenty of run off areas !! :)

Cheers,
Paul...

[Shane001]

Paul, would have loved to hang around, but I was already scheduled onsite this weekend for some server updates for one of my customers. Gotta pay for this racing gig somehow :(

It was a bit of a rush to get it done this week as it was. I didn't realise until 2 weeks ago that CAMS only do about 6 of these a year, and if I missed this one I'd have to wait until the end of October. So it was a mad rush to get to Wakefield, I didn't even have a race suit and helmet until Monday!!

Erik, Paul is spot on. The new names are Provisional Circuit (PC - which I've now passed) which gives you access to all CAMS events up to State Championship Circuit races, then once you've done 5 race events (supersprints don't count) and one trackside official event, you then qualify to upgrade to National Circuit (NC), allowing you to now compete in National Championships and at Bathurst! (They won't let you race at Bathurst at any level unless you have NC). Then the next step up is an International licence.

For Supersprints and club days all you need is the L2S...

[Shane001]

On another note, I should also add a big thanks to the CAMS licence testers and observers on the day. They were all very helpful with their feedback and also very fair in their approach to passing me for my licence. I'd only done 1 full day of testing in the Supra before doing the test, so I do need a lot more practice. And it showed! So thank you to Neil and the CAMS observers :)

[lautray]

Does the OLT have to be done in a proper "caged" racecar or can these be done in "road" cars?

[Shane001]

No, doesn't need to be a fully CAMS compliant racecar, there was a guy with his road going Porsche, no roll cage, he did fit an extinguisher though, so there are probably some minimum requirements for the car.

Best to talk to your CAMS state office for further advice.
http://www.cams.com.au/
State Links are listed on the left hand menu.

You do need a helmet but not sure about full race suit.

I was fully kitted out in my new bright red race suit and red and orange graphic'd ERG helmet :) Everyone knows red goes faster right!!

[FatBoy]

Does the OLT have to be done in a proper "caged" racecar or can these be done in "road" cars?

Road cars are fine Erik, but they expect you to drive them at 100%...

When i did mine a couple of guys desperate to get their licences had flown up from Melbourne and did their OLT's in hire cars... :lmao:

[lautray]

Road cars are fine Erik, but they expect you to drive them at 100%...
Dude, it may not look like I am driving 100% on in-car vids, but trust me, I'm not too far off ;). Was just looking at an old vid of Hazza & Dunc going hard at Wakefield last year... if you see Haz on the in-car, he's driving at 150% :shock: , & that's no word of a lie. Will try & youtube that one for all to see :).

Its good to know if I want to go the next step after L2S. But I think the most my car will allow is SuperSprints. Not exactly going to be putting a cage in this one as its my daily driver.

Having said that, what is the OLT cost?

[Y2kGoofball]

out of curiosity ... they would have a medcial test and stuff?? whats involved with that?

Just the questions you've always wondered but never known who to ask whose going to give you an honest answer

[lugenpopper]

I did my OLT at Oran Park. Best day ever. You don't need a medical certificate to do the test but need one before you get your actual license. You can do the test in any "sreetable" car (doesn't have to be registered, can be a race car). We had to do five laps within 5% of each other, once we could do this we had a massive 6 lap handicap race based on our consistancy timed runs. Unfortunately for me my Cortina cought fire in the last practice session so I had to do the consistancy and race runs in the XR6. There were about 15 cars all up, diesel golfs, clubbies, 350Z, Charger GroupNc racer, STI's. Around lap 3 the quicker crs started to catch up and we wer going 4 wide under brakes into turn 1. It was awsome, no dickheads and no damage to anyones cars (except mine - because I was a dickhead and didn't fix my fuel cap or exhaust pipe). Still, best day I've ever had at the track, haven't got around to actually paying the licence fee yet though...

[FatBoy]

Dude, it may not look like I am driving 100% on in-car vids, but trust me, I'm not too far off ;). Was just looking at an old vid of Hazza & Dunc going hard at Wakefield last year... if you see Haz on the in-car, he's driving at 150% :shock: , & that's no word of a lie. Will try & youtube that one for all to see :).

Its good to know if I want to go the next step after L2S. But I think the most my car will allow is SuperSprints. Not exactly going to be putting a cage in this one as its my daily driver.

Having said that, what is the OLT cost?

Sorry mate, i didn't mean you weren't trying - and i haven't watched your vids so i'm not sure what you mean ?? I was going to watch it last night but the lure of the missus' freshly cooked lasagne dragged me away... :)

What i meant was when i did my OLT course i had a near new VT II SS (complete with jelly like standard brakes) and was being a little gentle with it - and the intructor told me in no uncertain terms to pull my finger out of my ass and not back off 50m before the end of the straight !!

To answer your question re the OLT, there's not really much point doing it unless you intend stepping up and racing at State Championship level mate... If you really enjoy your circuit racing (and it seems you do !!) i'd urge you to do it properly and build a track only car. Street cars will always be a compromise (no cage, not enough camber, cranky brake pads, full weight etc) and nothing beats lining up on the grid with 30 or 40 other maniacs all determined to be first into turn one !! :bow:

But yeah, the OLT was around $600 from memory, that includes a two day course with Luffy and the actual OLT. Then it was $400 or $500 for the actual CAMS licence and $100 or so for the medical...

Cheers,
Paul...

[lautray]

No offence taken Paul :). I knew what you meant. I generally don't look too busy, but if you want to see someone having an uber busy time "in the office" when his tyres are past their best-by life whilst being harassed by a certain red munro, take a look at this: http://www.trackchat.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=1429 :D. Hazza working his bunghole off :shock: .

[Shane001]

the OLT was around $600 from memory, that includes a two day course with Luffy and the actual OLT. Then it was $400 or $500 for the actual CAMS licence and $100 or so for the medical...

Cheers,
Paul...


That's if you do a 2 day course with Luffy or Findlay or similar. To just do the OLT test on a CAMS day is $66. The medical is around $100 and the actual licence is $355. I decided to put the $600 into a couple of race meetings. Probably look at doing the 2 day course over xmas though, by then I'll have some experience in the car and should be able to get a lot more out of it, just in time for next season :cheers:

[MY Racing 221]

I'll echo what Paul said here, there's not really any point getting your PC licence unless you plan to go racing. You can do as many supersprints as you like on your L2S, which is a whole lot cheaper and easier to obtain.

CAMS are also in the process of changing the medical test procedure where they are (very simply) making it more thorough, but less regular. Being the big girl I am, I'm not looking forward to having to go through a number of blood tests etc to renew my licence at the end of the year. The up side is that I won't need to go through the process again for a number of years unless there is a significant change in my health.

I've said it before elsewhere Shane, but I'll say it again here - well done on passing. I know it can be nerve wracking, but heaps of fun! Wait until your first proper race start!!

Erik, you will probably find that if someone was driving at 150% in the OLT they would end up failing. They tend to view over driving in the same light as under driving. They benchmark they use seems to be 'would I be happy to be on the track racing against this guy?'

However, I'm not sure how tough they are on some competitors. I had a disasterous weekend at Wakefield where my sump developed some terminal fractures during qualifying - ending my weekend of racing, so I decided to help out at a flag point on Sunday. There was one particular competitor (nameless) in a class (nameless) who seemed to have trouble completing one lap without coming off the track (no exaggeration necessary!). How he passed his OLT is just beyond comprehension. It was great entertainment for us at the flag point however, as we absolutely pissed ourselves laughing at this poor guy who obviously couldn't drive a knife into soft butter.

Anyway Shane, I'll end rant here... good luck mate, I might get out to OP to have a look, otherwise I'll catch up with you at the final round at Eastern Creek - I'll be on a mission to make up some points that I missed at Wakefield.

[Shane001]

Thanks mate, yeah definitely come over and say gday if you're out there. Keen to meet up with all the IPRA crew :)

Also, the point about using the benchmark 'would I be happy to be on the track racing against this guy?' is spot on. This was the key thing they said they pass or fail on. You have to drive fast, you have to be consistent, but above all else they want to know they would be happy racing with you on the track...