Circuit Preview: Whincup's Lap of the Clipsal 500

He’s won at the grueling street circuit a whopping seven times, more than any other driver in V8 Supercars history, so it’s only fitting current Champion Jamie Whincup take v8supercars.com.au for a lap around the 3.22km Clipsal 500 Adelaide Parklands circuit ahead of next week's event – tickets are available now.

“Off the startline is ok,” Whincup began. 

“It’s actually quite a grippy surface, they resurfaced it a couple of years ago. So getting off the line shouldn’t be so much of an issue – but it’s generally our first start of the year, so we’re always a bit rusty to be honest! So there’s always a few issues.”

“The trouble starts when you get down into the turn one-two chicane. It’s a fantastic chicane, the kerbs are quite aggressive.

“On a flying lap we’ll be in fifth gear coming down into turn one. The gears are a bit different – some people go back to third gear, some hold it in fourth gear, go back one or two gears – and there’s a timing beacon on the right hand kerb of that chicane. So the fastest way through the chicane is to go straight through, but we’re restricted by this timing beacon, we have to make sure we keep at least two wheels on the track. So you go through there as fast as you can without triggering the timing loop.”

Grandstand seating is available for the Chicane Inside. 

**“**And then after that the next corner, if you’ve got a good car should be easy flat, it’s a fifth gear kink to the left, before we head up Wakefield Street.

“The top of Wakefield Street is the hardest place on the circuit to pull the car up. It’s quite bumpy, although it’s been repaired a few times to smooth it out.

“On an afternoon, the sun is right in your face heading up into there. And there’s absolutely no run-off – once you’re committed to the corner, if you make a mistake you can go hard into the tyres. It’s one of the most difficult corners on the circuit to get right.

“You are fifth gear, back to second gear as you tipple in to the top of Wakefield street. And then you hold second gear through the four, five, six, seven.

“Four, five, six, seven are all pretty similar, they’re all 90 degree turns. Hold second gear – if you’re on a really good lap and the car’s really good, you’ll hit the rev limiter in second gear before you break for each section. This is an important part of the track, a lot of time to be gained and lost through that section.

“It's important to make sure you get out of turn seven well that leads on to the big long Brock Straight.

“If you get out of turn seven well, it gives you good speed.”

Grandstand seating is available at Pirie Street, turn 7, as well as on Brock Straight, leading to turn 8.

“And then you come into the treacherous turn eight, the famous turn eight. It’s not advised to pass any cars there – we have a rule at driver’s briefing to sort it out before the 100m mark. On a quick lap though, it’s only a small stab of the brakes. And then straight back on the throttle again.

“They’ve tried several different methods to try and make the corner safer – I believe I could make the corner much safer, but no one’s asked me! We’ve got what we’ve got – and the most important thing is to stay off the inside barrier. All the big accidents have occurred by cars hitting the insider barrier and then firing off into the other side wall and that’s where you see big wrecks over the years.

"Anyway, through turn eight, hopefully cleanly for 78 laps.”

Grandstand seating is available at Turn 8, one of Australia's most spectacular corners.

“Then you’ve got the biggest braking section of the track where you’ve really got to pull the car up from well over 200km an hour – 230km an hour – back to 50km. Which is back to first gear for the hairpin into the back straight."

Grandstand seating is available at the Hairpin and along the back Brabham Straight.

“Round the hairpin, short little acceleration up into the next corner, but you do have to brake, there’s a little kink in the left before it turns hard left. The real challenge here for the driver is pulling the car up for the second left while you’re still turning for the first left."

Grandstand seating is available at turn 10. 

“It’s really easy to lock an inside front wheel there and then run straight on into the gravel trap. Accelerating as hard as you can out of the hairpin, but then not having too much speed where you can’t pull the car up and lock the wheel into the second left hander. I think that’s turn 11. You get the car pulled up, if you do you use a little bit of the ripple strip on the inside of the corner where the car gets a little bit airborne. And then you’re right out to the wall on the exit, the mirrors are nearly scraping on the wall of the exit as you start the run through the parkland.

“The next bit is a great bit of road, a nice sweeping left hand bend and an almost flat right hand bend. Again it’s just a little lift of the throttle, almost flat out and then another big brake in the last corner.

“Once again the car is still a little bit unsettled and gets the kerb on the right hand side, wait for the car to settle and then hard on the brakes for a quite tight hairpin corner at the last turn. 

“Very, very difficult to pull the car up, very difficult to get the front of the car around the apex. Hopefully you’ve got the car around the apex, turn it hard, foot on the gas and down pit straight as quick as you possibly can.

“And that’s my lap of the Adelaide Parklands circuit!”

Grandstand seating is available at the Barry Sheen Straight, after the final corner, and at Pit Entry.

“The best passing opportunities are turn four, the top of Wakefield Street. It’s possible to pass at – we call it the staircase – 4, 5, 6, 7.

“It’s possible – if someone’s got worn out tyres and others have good tyres... but it’s a big move.

"Once again, we don’t want passing happening at turn 8. If someone gets a really bad run out of 7 you can get alongside, but generally no passing there.

"A good pass is up the inside of turn 9 onto the back straight and the last corner. Once again it’s a little bit of a desperado but it is possible to lunge at the last corner!”

Tickets are available now for next week's Clipsal 500, which begins Thursday February 27 – see the event page for more details.