So you wanna be a racing driver?

Click for more photos So you wanna be a racing driver? So you wanna be a racing driver? Porsche runs a racing driver school that can help determine whether you're a motorsport legend in the making. GLENN BUTLER finds out whether he's top or bottom of the class. Motor racing is among Australia most popular sporting categories, attracting millions of spectators annually to events like the Bathurst and Australian F1 Grand Prix. Every fan wonders what it would be like to trade places with gun drivers like Craig Lowndes or Mark Webber. They imagine themselves screaming down Bathurst Conrod straight at 300kmh, rounding Murray Corner to take the chequered flag ahead of Skaife or Kelly. Or dicing with Schumacher on the picturesque Albert Park circuit to take victory at the Melbourne F1 GP. Really, how hard can it be? Automobiles these days are so powerful and yet so benign, and their electronic safety systems seemingly omnipotent. Surely it child play to take a car to its limits on a racetrack? Advertisement: Story continues below Me, Ive perfected my car control through countless hours on the lounge playing Gran Turismo. Ive driven on race tracks at car launches. I usually manage to keep the car front in front and the rear behind. So, Ive got what it takes to be a racing driver, dont I? There one way to find out. And, with the help of Porsche, I put my questionable motor racing skills to the test against Bathurst champion Tomas Mezera. Nothing like starting at the top... The scene for our David and Goliath showdown is Queensland Raceway, one of the V8 Supercar calendar fastest circuits. Our weapon is the $256,000 Porsche 911 GT3. It powered by the same 3.6-litre, six-cylinder engine as a regular 911, but with per cent more power (3kW v 239kW). Porsche also threw out unnecessary stuff like Rosetta Stone Greek back seats and carpets to make it lighter. The result is the fastest, lightest Porsche 911 money can buy. So, Mano-e-Mano. Butler versus Mezera. Self-proclaimed Sony PlayStation champion and daydream screamer versus a man who has won the Bathurst enduro twice, and has won more races in the real world than Ive managed in the virtual one. Sounds like a fair fight. Okay, Mezera has a slight advantage. He has years of experience in Porsche 911s, and he knows Queensland Raceway. Ive driven a handful of Porsches, but never a GT3 and never on a racing circuit. Before today Id never been to Queensland Raceway. The track is known as the Paperclip. Picture a squared-off horseshoe with two very fast right-hand corners around the outside leading to a hairpin, then two quick-ish left-handers leading to another hairpin. Today were using the slightly shorter club circuit. Mezera takes me on a quickish lap in the Porsche GT3, calling out braking markers, turn-in points and suggested gears for each corner. He driving well within himself, chatting as he goes, but even so his car control is absolute. At one corner he early on the power and the GT3 rear starts to slide despite its semi-slick track tyres. Mezera adjusts the steering wheel to catch the drift almost before it has begun. It now that I start to realise the gulf between my dream and his reality. But a lack of talent is not going to get in the way of a red-hot go, so at the first opportunity I throw Mezera out of the way with a move Jackie Chan last movie taught me. Strapped tight into the five-point harness, it time for my first hot-lap of the day. This is a moment Ive dreamt about for years.

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