Broadford Road Race Circuit - MX5 Track Day

My first time driving my 1999 Mazda MX-5 NB8a at Broadford Road Race Circuit.

For those that don’t know, Broadford is a small track located in Victoria, Australia. The Broadford facility comprises of several tracks including road and dirt and are primarily used for motorcycle events. Luckily, the road circuit is also available for various car clubs to host track days.

Being my first time at Broadford I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I had watched some videos online of people driving the track and it looked like a good mix of the straight and twisty stuff. Upon arrival I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the track has a unique characteristic generated from its elevation change. After a few laps I found that whilst the circuit looked fairly straightforward to start, it is actually quite technical given the tight corners and combination of corners that tie into each other. All in all, the track was a blast to drive and provided a good challenge.

Above is a video of one of my better laps for the day. Unfortunately this was my first time using a GoPro to record and it looks as though the position I mounted the camera resulted in terrible glare off the road - we can also blame the Australian sun for that. As well as my first time at Broadford this was also only about the 3rd or 4th time I had ever driven on a track. As such, I am aware that there is a lot of scope for improvement and my lap times were by no means close to setting any records.

I was reasonably pleased with my performance on the day and improved my lap times relative to the fastest in my class compared to my two previous track outings. As you may have picked up at the start of the video I had one ‘moment’ for the day were only a bit of dumb luck saved me from spinning off the track! On the day I was really struggling to shift down into 2nd hear on this corner as a result of not blipping the throttle enough during my downshift. This was unsettling the car and took my concentration of using the correct line through the corner. I therefore oversteered and dropped the back of the car off the circuit. After an initial save I let go of the steering wheel which shot the car into full lock which then culminated in several moments of panic! Letting of the steering wheel is a bad habit I’ve developed from road driving and is definitely something I need to work on.

In the end I had a great day and learnt some valuable lessons which I’ll use to improve my driving. I have three focus areas for my next time back at Broadford:

1 - brake harder and later
2 - work on getting a better flow through the chicane section of the track
3 - improve my line through the last two corners onto the pit lane straight

If you’ve made it this far all I can say is thanks! Maybe my writing isn’t as dry as I thought! If you have any advice or tips for improving my driving please feel free to comment here or on my Youtube video.

Car:
1999 Mazda MX-5 NB8a
Stock wheels
Bridgestone RE003 tyres
EBC brake pads
Car fitted with Brown Davis Roll bar, Sparco Sprint V race seat and RPM 6 point harness