Words with Cam Waters: Back to Work

The last time I actually raced at Hidden Valley, it was in a Formula 3 car when I made a one-off appearance in Australian F3 back in 2012. But in terms of more recent experience, I took part in practice last year in Chaz Mostert’s car.

The track isn’t that difficult, so I’d say I know it reasonably well. However, at the end of the day this is the first time I’m heading there as a full-time V8 Supercars driver – so there is still going to be plenty to learn.

I’m looking forward to it. It’s a cool event, because the whole town gets behind it. There’s a great atmosphere. And even better, it’s a great chance to leave Melbourne’s terrible winter weather behind for a few days.

Fresh Batteries

With the new compact calendar, the first part of the year was pretty full-on. By the time Winton came around, I was looking forward to a bit of a break… but that didn’t last long. After a week or two out of the car, I was already thinking about getting back in it.

The biggest advantage of having the little mid-season break is that it gave us all the chance to sit down together and have a good chat about how things are going. Myself and the engineers could take the opportunity to reflect on what’s happened and see how we can learn and improve from it.

That was a good process. You’re only as good as your last meeting, and at the last meeting I finished fifth in the last race.

We reflected on a lot of things; driving, what we’ve done with the car, the relationship between myself and my engineer Brendan Hogan. The first five events of the year has seen us build on all of those factors, and sitting down and looking at them all in-depth will help us even more throughout the rest of the year.

Even just going through that process has left me really excited to get back into it and get stuck into the next part of the season.

Top End, Top Grip

In terms of this weekend, I’m expecting it to be a lot like Winton in terms of grip level.

The Hidden Valley circuit was re-surfaced last year, so there was a lot of grip and there wasn’t really any tyre degradation at all. But now, 12 months later, the track might have cured a little bit.

So we may well see a bit more degradation. I don’t think it will be huge, and I think Winton will be a good form guide, but it might be a little different to last year.

I think that the package I had at Winton will work well this weekend – although that’s a dangerous prediction to make. I’ve said that before and the car’s been out of the window when we’ve rocked up! So it’s something we’ll really have to wait until Friday to see.

I’m excited to get there. I’ve got a few things that I want to try, and some things I want to build on with my driving style.

Strategic Options

With that really long front straight, there are two ways of going about making speed at Hidden Valley.

One option is to work on having a car that flows through the back section of the circuit and not worry about being quick down the straight. Or you can concentrate being quick down that long chute and not worry too much about the rest of the track.

Even just having those two options helps provide good racing. It should be a great weekend.