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Turn One
Going down the front straight, all you can see under the bridge is ocean and it looks like that’s what you are headed for. You hit the bump/jump just after the start and finish line as you flash under the bridge and it all opens up on the run into turn one. It’s normally back two gears and the big bikes had you grabbing the brakes about the 150m mark, with the 600s at 100m. It surprises you how deep you can go into this turn, since you get the speed sensation with the wind hitting you and it’s always around 300km/h. It’s important not to be too aggressive on the brakes and just get settled so you hit the inside apex where the bumps are close to the inside kerb and after the bumps get straight back on it.

Turn Two
A common mistake here is to pull the bike over to the right too far after exiting turn one. Turn two is a double apex turn so you can pretty much go straight at it from turn one and apex it going in and then drift out in the middle and apex it again on the way out – running down to turn three. A good run out of turn two means you can pass someone before you get to turn three or at worst, be on the inside of them tipping in.

Turn Three
This can be real fun but also a heart in the mouth type of turn. The bikes have picked up so much speed out of turn two and just as you tip into turn three, the track drops away and gets a little bumpy so you can find yourself going in with the front wheel ever so slightly off the ground, the head shaking and the wind trying to push you into Bass Strait. Once you get it in and on the gas it can be so much fun drifting on the exit. This is where the passes into Honda corner are set-up and pretty much done.

Turn Four
This is one of the best overtaking opportunities on the whole track. As important as it is to get the bike working through the fast corners out the back, it also has to be good on the brakes. The thing that can change from day to day here is the braking marker – depending on the wind, it can change from 30-50m. The bike never feels good around Honda and you always feel too slow around there and that the bike could fall over but you just have to tell yourself to get the exit right.

Turn Five & Six
Six is a great corner with plenty of grip and good camber but has a strange entry and a really late apex. If the bike is geared right, you shouldn’t be downshifting here – just leave it in second and brake. You get it on your knee quite early and out wide and apex it late just as you are starting to wind it up for the exit. A tight exit is really important here and having the bike upright launches you into the next fast physical section. 

Doohan said to me once that the most important part of the track is from Siberia to MG corner. It is very bumpy near the outside kerb on the exit and when the front is light, it is a real physical effort to get the bike over to the left before the flick right into the hayshed. There is a big bump right on the inside near the kerb through this left kink, I always found it easiest to let the bike wheelie over that bump and change direction on the back wheel.

Turn Seven
It never really settles until you roll the throttle a little and get it onto the knee and into the hayshed. On the 600, that wasn’t an option because on a good tyre it was wide open all the way through – touching the limiter in fourth. It is a fun turn when you get it right going from the inside white line to the outside white line. It is also one of only two real times you use the right side of the tyre properly. Again, like turn one to turn two, don’t waste too much effort pulling it over to the right for a wide entry into Lukey. Just get it in there.

Turn Eight
This is a really fast entry and you can run it into Lukey Heights hard because it runs uphill and a few lines work. It’s normally back one gear from fourth to third. There is a bump on the entry on the inside and straight after the bump, you need to get back on the throttle to settle the bike and keep it rolling up and around the hill to apex it again at the top of the hill. The run around here and over the hill is super important because you can stop someone passing you or line up someone for a pass into MG. It’s really a knife edge with rear grip around Lukey – drifting over a blind rise that really only opens up once you are over the hill and heading downhill to MG. 

Turn Nine
Depending on gearing, MG corner can be a first or second gear turn. I preferred second as it cancels the short shift from first to third out of MG and it isn’t so aggressive on the side of the tyre on exit. There is a bump out wide if you tip in from there but I never go there as the middle of the track is fine for me. That allows you to really stop it and get a tight exit set up for the next left. Getting out of MG fast is more important than trying to carry too much corner speed because running wide messes up the next corner and your speed down the straight.

Turn 10
It’s a strange turn that never really feels right and feels frustratingly slow. It seems too long to get on the throttle. Between MG and this turn you can accelerate really hard into turn 10 but then the key is to wait a little so that the bike is turned and pointing towards turn 11. Then open the gas hard and quickly on the fat part of the tyre – running it out to the edge of the track. 

Turn 11
This turn is probably my favourite worldwide, tipping in from the outside white line straight onto your knee all the way in. Sometimes it feels like you will never get it into the apex but as soon as you do, it’s straight back onto the gas – heading for the rise and the outside of the track onto the straight. I’m tucked in even before I’m out of the turn and just before I get it out to the kerb, I’m snicking fifth gear as the front is getting light over the rise and there are a couple of dips in the track near the kerb. When you get a great run out of here and hit the outside of the track, it’s perfect and it’s guaranteed your speed down the straight is greatly improved. 

Phillip Island through expert eyes… Words: Andrew Pitt  Photography: Peter Mitchell, Keith Muir

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THE ESSES
Into the Motorsport Esses could present you with a real chance to get past someone even on the first lap, but it was still a bit desperate and you had to lock it all up and somehow get through the chicane and out the exit on the black stuff. 

On a flying lap I took it in third because it was quite a fast chicane and second would have slowed me down too much. Third on the exit seemed a little lazy but the boys assured me I wasn’t losing out up the hill to the finish line.

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TURN THREE
I am going to call Turn three the old Turn one (Honda Corner) up on top of the rise where the grid was when I raced there.

So it was all about braking on the outside of the track and back to second, while tipping in – trying to apex where the track dips away on the inside. This corner has a really nice camber allowing you to pick up the throttle early, driving towards Turn four. You had to watch a little on the exit as you drifted towards the outside of the track when the camber flattened and the rear tyre would step out a little just as you were picking it up.

TURN FOUR 
Still in second for Turn four grabbing just a little brake to wash some speed off and pull it into the apex setting yourself up for a really good hard exit carrying as much momentum into the long fast Turn five.

Exiting Turn four I would grab third gear as the front was going light trying to pull it over to the right for the entry of Turn five.

TURN FIVE
Turn five was where you could really get some time especially on the run in on the front but to do this you needed confidence in your front tyre and setup. I found the best way was to run in quite fast trying not to grab too much brake as washing speed off then meant you needed to crack the throttle early again to get the momentum up again.

It was easy to panic a little getting in there really fast and grab too much front braking on the side of the tyre. I saw a lot front lockups there and bikes cart wheeling through the infield. The trick was to get as far around the corner as you could on your entry speed, then picking up the throttle later just to keep it rolling along.

TURN SIX
The next flick through this section reminds me a lot of the uphill left right over the hill at Wanneroo where you need hold it tight around the left until exactly the moment when you flick it right and try to straight line it through. Though it is a bit easier at Winton because it is flat and you can see the right. Hold third through here and rev it all the way to the limiter on the outside of the track before grabbing the brakes while straightening up, to be able to brake as hard as possible for the Turn seven hairpin.

TURN SEVEN
Turn seven was one of the few passing spots at Winton because it is mostly a one line track but here if you had gotten the previous two corners right you could find yourself with an unexpected chance to jump up the inside of someone. Honestly if you had made a really good job of Turns five and six you could be almost alongside someone before you grabbed the brakes. It was critical to get it stopped here though because if you missed the apex just by a metre then who ever you passed would be back past you.

TURN EIGHT
This next corner was where you just needed to give it a smooth, gentle little squirt from apex to apex and letting it run in and around the corners, trying not to stop/start it too much. This was where Kev was good. I did all this in second thinking it felt slow but actually it turned out to be the quick way through it all smooth and keeping the bike balanced.

TURN NINE
Turn nine had you approaching a bit faster and braking hard into the apex to hit the apex and set up for a run along the short straight and maybe try and get up the inside of someone but when you are racing factory Ducatis on Michelin tyres you’re kidding yourself if you even think you can stay close to them on acceleration. Especially with jockey size Craig Connell on one! Even though Steve Martin had to carry quite a few more kilos there was no keeping up with him on acceleration either. Around somewhere like Winton with all the stop/starts it was the never-ending stretching rubber band game. They would jump away out of the turns and I would pull it all back on the brakes.

TURN 10
Turn 10 was back from third into second again trying to get it stopped because if you missed your apex just a little you lost so much exit speed down the next little straight trying to stay on the track and get the throttle open.

TURN 11 & 12
Turn 11 was exactly the same if you rushed in too fast shifting back from fourth to second you ran out too wide on the exit and couldn’t open the throttle between 11 and 12. So it was a matter of outside white line braking into turn 11, then inside white line apex, drifting out to outside white line while picking up the throttle before 12 and then trail braking into the inside white line apex for 12 to get that exit onto the start/finish straight.

The ZX-7 could stretch its legs slightly more here getting into fourth for only the second time all lap and into fifth for the only time. 

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