Hidden Valley Tracking Guide | Come with us for a 2.8 km

Your Guide to the Hidden Valley

The looks are deceiving the beauty often hidden underneath, and that’s a fitting analogy for the Hidden Valley circuit.

From outside the Hidden Valley doesn’t seem all that special. Unlike Phillip Island, where even from the outside, it’s clearly a mind-boggling race. Hidden Valley only appears once you’ve ridden it.

With the extra long straight hairstyle with the hairpin at the end combined with the hairpin getting even tighter at half-turn intervals, with a few corners to link it together, one can forgive thinking that there isn’t too much. rank.

Going on the road to explore the character of the corners firsthand will soon offer a hugely different perspective.

The Hidden Valley has a short distance of 2.8 km, but it is extremely demanding; Precision, commitment, fierceness and courage are the requirements for a good lap that many riders consider one of the best asphalt ribbons in Australia.

The heat adds another dimension, being able to maintain the same speed at full intensity over the track, while managing your tires, knowing that heat and humidity will also affect they.

Many people relate that pulling off the starting line to take a turn, so far over long distances through the heat haze, can be exhilarating.

Sitting on the starting line, the heat reflected on the runway, the heat rising from the engine, the sweat dripping from the eyes, running down the back, smeared with skin, looking at the red start light, silently begging the starter motion. to ‘Start the Bloody Race!’

Then you leave, the hot air flowing over your skin and taking a long time to turn one person, elbow out in a drag race and hopefully everyone will pass one by one.

The 1km main straight line begins the flying challenge on the track. On last year’s DesmoSport Ducati, Oli Bayliss registered 301 km/h with the V4 R turning 16,000 rpm in fifth gear before bravely braking later at the crucial bend. That’s right, despite the miles of road, Oli never dialed the highest number in the Hidden Valley.

There are several different lines through this important angle; you can create a very late vertex or give it an angle of double vertex, with some other options depending on the race situation.

Whichever route it is, the exit after picking up passengers from an average angular speed of 80 km/h determines the run and top speed through the uphill sections to Turns 2, 3 and 4, which is a chalk run To encourage, click the gear and hold the throttle wide open as you change direction from left to right to left then blast for a short while before slamming into the grip to line up at the right T5 corner.

The bike turns 45 degrees to either side as you pull through 2-3-4 and reaches a top speed of 225 km/h before hitting pick on the fifth turn.

There’s a great pass chance in the run to T5, but if you make the mistake of going too early or too tight, you can lose momentum by running too wide at the exit blocking the way into T6. It also helps you stay on track when entering the road to avoid brake collisions caused by tin tops and keep the bike more stable as you swerve. Top speed on the fifth turn is 88 km/h with a top speed of 172 km/h between the T5-6. Oli clicks third right before T2, then backs second to T5 and holds second all the way back towards T6.

The T6 is another heavy brake place and a good passing chance, but it helps you not to focus too much on getting over here too quickly because of its simple braking but getting in is too hard on its own, if you do. , it is very easy to run wide and cram the entry into the T6 hairpin. This is one of the slowest turns on the calendar with top speed even with Oli on a record lap of just 57 km/h.

From the hairpin in the second part of the starting lap, from lap six slow and shift into second gear to run towards the fork, or ‘Ducati’ as the locals call it after a local Destroy his red steed on the exit. You can’t see the exit until you hit the top. The more you go on, the better you can make that cone. The Oli hits 141 km/h before shifting to seventh gear and the lowest speed is 124 km/h through the 7-8-9 complex when shifting to third gear between the T7 and T8.

The lap then plays out in another dimension with the run up to step 10, after agreeing the right and left bend of the T8 and 9. Here Oli hit the 206 km/h mark before T10.

Turning 10 is one of the most exciting spins in Australia. A real moment in the mouth when you put it in. We’ve seen a lot of determined passes in this position and it will certainly come into play this weekend.

This is extremely important as it prepares you for the final part of the lap, but it is very easy to misjudge and run out of bitumen. Take a wrong 10 and you can easily go wide because the road is a bit off track and widens the car, which means you have to slow down, instead of increasing the throttle to charge down through the next three corners, which is almost possible. can be ‘lined up’, before the last tight left hitter is at T14 to get you back straight on the ‘drag track’.

Oli dropped as low as 103 km/h through the T10 and T11 and accelerated to 160 km/h on the next turn before entering the final corner, where he dropped right down to 84 km/h before starting a straight down one kilometer .

Then it’s time to breathe as the fun begins again. If the ASBK boys participate then a time of under 66 seconds will appear on their dash as they cross the starting line to do it all again…

Special thanks to Shane at DesmoSport Ducati for going through Oli’s data trail from his record lap last year to provide us with information on speed, gears and lean angle. to help us try and get it right.

ASBK Darwin Tracking Schedule
Half an hour added to the time for East Sea AEST

Friday
Free practice 1: 8:50 am (30 minutes)
Free practice 2: 11:45 am (30 minutes)
Free practice 3: 2:55 pm (35 minutes)

Saturday
Eligibility 1: 9:10 am (20 minutes)
Qualifying 2: 9:35 am (15 minutes)
Race 1:1:10pm (16 laps)

Sunday
Race 2: 10:00am (16 laps)
Race 3: 1:55pm (16 laps)

Hidden Valley ASBK TV Fixtures

The slightly different format of the Hidden Valley event – where there are three races instead of the usual two – also has slightly different broadcast and broadcast timings.

In 2022, Fox Sports Australia will broadcast nearly all sessions on track plus all races.

As has happened in previous years, Channel 7 will broadcast races one and three live alongside regular Supercars TV programming.

Following the event, ASBK TV will work with TV production partner AVE to create a special replay edition of ASBK Round 4 – Darwin. This special edition will air on SBS – Sunday, July 3, 1300 – 1500 AEST.

As the race is always epic, this special edition will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes action, colorful stories and all the thrills and thrills from one of the great rounds of the race. any season; Hidden Valley, NT.

ASBK . live broadcast information

Fox Sports Australia
Friday – Free Practice 2 and Free Practice 3
Saturday – Qualifier 1 & Qualifier 2, plus Circuit 1
Sunday – Race 2 (Fox Exclusive Live) & Race 3

Channel 7
Saturday – Race 1
Sunday – Race 3

SBS
Sunday, July 3, 1pm – ASBK Darwin Show

Check the Event Schedule and your local guide for exact times

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