For those interested in performance cars any chance to drive on a racetrack is a good thing. Throw in the opportunity to receive instruction on the finer points of car control from professional racing drivers and it becomes a great day out. Getting the chance to do both in someone else’s current model Maserati – that’s the ultimate.

The day begins with an obligatory drivers’ briefing where the order of events is outlined along with a clear, no nonsense explanation of the procedures used to make sure that everyone has an exhilarating but safe experience. After the best coffee you will ever get at a racetrack, a look over the cars and a chat with some of the other 20 or so lucky people it’s down to business.

The morning is spent with the three small groups rotating through different exercises on various parts of the track. Cornering, braking and slalom – sounds easy when you say it fast but for most it proves to be just a bit trickier than it looks when the instructor does it. That last point could be as much to do with the quality of the instructors as the difficulty of the exercises.

Trofeo Team Principal and GT3 racer Rod Wilson is joined by Luke Youlden, Paul Stokell, Dean Canto and Dean Evans to pass on what between them is several decades’ worth of top level car racing experience that has captured several national championships.

On this particular day the back section of Eastern Creek raceway is dedicated to the cornering exercise. Participants were driven around this abbreviated course by Dean Canto three at a time in a menacing black Grand Turismo S, just to give people an idea which way the corners run and what the car feels like when it’s turning hard.

Then each driver has two laps with Canto in the passenger seat giving helpful advice on when to turn, when to brake and where to look ahead down the track to give yourself a chance of doing a better job next time round. The car is neutral, agile, seriously fast and, most importantly, forgiving. The combination of a missed apex, soft braking and hurried steering had more than one driver grateful for the dignity saving intervention of stability control.

Next is the braking exercise and it was an eye opener in more ways than one. Firstly because of the revelation that a long and comparatively heavy car as a Maserati Quottroporte can stop so quickly and change direction accurately at the same time, and secondly because having your eyeballs surge forward in their sockets under massive deceleration will force your eyes wide open even if they weren’t already.

Cones were laid out half way down the main straight to form a box of not much more than four metres wide and 15 metres deep. There was a small gap to allow the car to swerve left into another such box immediately at the end and to the left of the first. The procedure was to drive steadily down to the cones with your foot remaining on or over the accelerator, only applying the brakes when the front of the car was level with the first cones. 

“Applying” is such a gentle word to describe what is actually jamming the brakes on as hard as you possibly can in a desperate attempt to wash off speed before swerving hard left and then hard right while the ABS is still going nuts. Crazy, yes - but, it works. This exercise replicates a panic stop and avoidance situation such as a child appearing suddenly in front of your car.

Each driver has three runs, one each at 60, 70 and then 80km/h. The hardest thing is persuading your brain to let you keep your foot off the brake pedal until reaching the cones. It is reassuring to know that 1800kg of Maserati sedan can be slowed, turned and stopped from 80 km/h in under tens times its own length.

The Slalom is a less intense but equally valuable exercise. Accelerating from a standing start into a course of eight cones laid out at the bottom of the straight allows the driver to get a feel for the Maserati 4.2 Automatic’s steering and to practice deftly turning in, unwinding the wheel and powering on after making the apex. Changing the car’s balance via the throttle works a treat with such a responsive engine.

The lesson here is that people tend to steer where they focus their vision. The advice from Luke Youlden is to look ahead and see as much as you can, and then judge the balance between steering and throttle input to ensure that the car emerges from each turn in an ideal location to steer into the next.

A U turn at the end of the first pass requires patience, patience, patience until the car is lined up at the cones and then it’s back on the throttle again, left, right, left, right - missing the final two cones to accelerate hard before another full brake pressure stop into a car space sized box of witches hats. “That’s how hard you need to push the pedal when we tell you to brake out on the circuit this afternoon,” says Youlden.

Next on the agenda is a tasty lunch, taken sparingly by those who have experienced race car generated G force before, and a reminder about what the day is all about. No lap times are recorded, there is no pressure to go fast - but no pressure to go slow either. Drivers are simply asked to listen to their instructor and to do as they ask, but most of all to relax and enjoy themselves with the magnificent cars at their disposal on a safe track with no speed limit.

Lapping the full circuit gives those freshly educated in the art of driving a chance to string together everything learnt that morning, while going for a hot lap in one of Trofeo’s GT3 race cars gives a rare seat of the pants insight into the aggressive world of the professional racing driver.

The well-mannered sophisticate that inhabits public roads can become an intense screaming devil on the track, and that goes for the cars as well. The raucous bark of a Maserati V8 working hard will not soon be forgotten. Nor will the poise and balance of a large powerful car making the most of the predictable grip of its Pirellis.

The ubiquitous orange witches hats have been positioned to indicate braking, turn in points and apex’s, giving even novice drivers an even chance of picking a respectable line around the track. Get it right and you are rewarded with a smooth exit and a higher speed into the next braking area, get it wrong and the instructor is politely but firmly on your case.

It’s amazing how even those a little hesitant beforehand quickly warm to the task, clipping apex’s and gently sliding up to an exit ripple strip, holding their foot flat on the accelerator while enjoying the raw surge of power from a screaming Maserati V8 before standing hard on the Brembo brakes yet again.

The fact that Maseratis handle well and go fast should not be a surprise to anyone with even a passing interest in cars, nor should the notion that they stop well too. But the fact the three Maseratis used at Eastern Creek stopped so well all day, corner after corner, lap after lap was very impressive – especially when you realise that it was the standard road going brake package being punished so hard.

Being strapped into the passenger seat of a Maserati GT3 race car certainly captures your attention. Spartan interior, roll cage, frame hugging seat and a full harness, this is the real thing. These cars run what is essentially standard but very well tuned Maserati drive train in a purpose built race chassis, and they have been to Jenny Craig in a big way with several hundred kilos of weight stripped out of them compared to a road going car.

Less weight means more speed and slick racing tyres offer unbelievable grip. Combine that with some aerodynamic assistance and the skill of a professional driver and you have recipe for a fast and exciting ride; and that’s exactly what it was. Every time the car was straight the driver was either hard on the brakes or the throttle. The G forces involved are dramatic even when you know they are coming, and the side loading through corners is just as forceful. Feeling the driver balancing the car on the throttle, right on the edge of adhesion through a very fast corner is close to the ultimate thrill on wheels.