Racing in 2012?

Hey all, I've been doing HPDE and autocross the coupe of years and was interested in taking things up a bit next year. Would love your advice or ideas on how to do some wheel to wheel racing but on a budget (yes, I know, that's an oxymoron. Or just a moron.)

Goals: (1) Continue to improve driving skill/technique; and (2) Participate in some form of wheel to wheel racing, even on a limited basis, mainly for fun and to develop racecraft skills (passing, starts, drafting etc).

Alternatives:

(1) Continue to do HPDE: This would be just fine but I think it would be less motivating for me next year to just focus on let’s do a 1:xx at such and such a track. I need a higher goal, i.e., don’t embarrass myself in a road race, to motivation me and make decent progress;

(2) Indoor or outdoor karting: This seems to be a bit cheaper than road racing and I’ve enjoyed indoor and outdoor karting a lot and stil plan to continue to use karting as an adjunct to personal coaching and traditional seat time. The stupid reason this isn’t appealing to me? I think a kart looks like a toy; it’s not racing a real car; or

(3) Autocross: After one-on-one coaching sessions with my driving coach this, I had the most “a-ha” moments at an autocross driving school, including effective use of vision and going slower into corner entry to be faster down the course. The problem I have with autocross is lack of seat time: Half a day or more spent over what amounts to less than 10 minutes of seat time.

So this seems to leave some form of road racing.

Parameters:

Time: From March-Oct I averaged about 2 track days or autcrosses per month for a total time commitment of about 16 days.

Money: From December 2010-October 2011, it looks like I spent approximately $10-$12,000 for repairs on my track car, service, upgrades, track day registration fees, schools, coaching etc.

I would not mind renting a car for some limited races. In fact, my preference would be not to have to build a new racecar (I’d like to keep my current track car (a Miata) and don’t want to have to store/tow/trailer a fifth car) but I am receptive to any ideas you have on this. I have also done a few Chumpcar races which have been a blast. The concern I have is (1) I do not have the technical ability to put together my own car/team, and (2) I have been fortunate to run with a team that is extremely well organized but their involvement in future races is iffy.

Thanks in advance for your feedback, even if it's to tell me my parameters are impossible. (My spouse would love you for saying that.)

/Rich

Here is what you need: Seat time.

That's it. Seat time. Do whatever you can to get the most seat time for your $. If you want time on track, then go for it. HPDE is usually pretty reasonable if you have a car that can take it, but I think you are on the right track with Chump/Lemons, especially as you seem to be bored of HPDE.

Getting on a Lemons/Chump team with a car already prepared, or buying arrive and drive seats will get you a lot of seat time for a reasonable amount of $. While it may seem to be more than HPDE, I think it is similar once you count the cost of consumables, tires, etc, and if you car is something that you would be upset to wad up on track (looks like a Viper on your avatar, and that would be a shame to crash), then crapcan racing means you aren't risking something expensive if you run out of talent. Racing wheel to wheel is also more exciting than the sheltered world of HPDE.

I would also suggest some good driving instruction. I learned a ton when I've done Evolution schools, and they travel around the country, so I'm sure there is one in your area. I've been through PhaseII, and picked up a lot from that.

Rich,

Shoot me a message on FB man, we need to talk ;)

Seat time is definitely going to be a biggy.I would definitely suggest some rent-a-races.

try to find a karting league to hop into, either indoor or outdoor (outdoor preferably, more like a real race and the karts tend to be slightly faster/handle better in my experience), definitely do the rent-a-race stuff (chumpcar/LeMons) and maybe try and do a Skip Barber school if you can swing it? also, iRacing might be worth looking into, even though it isn't actually real life racing. if nothing else, it's something fun to do if you're snowed in in the winter

In reply to Sonic:

Sonic, agree completely with the goal of seat time. My only concern with Lemons/Chump is that I have seen a fair number of teams with cars that fail fairly early on in the race, before some of the team members even get in the car. I know that's racing but I would love to connect with teams that are organized and have a car that's relatively reliable.

I also agree with the instruction piece. I actually did Evo stage I this past summer at Packwood and it was incredible.

Slyp_Dawg wrote: try to find a karting league to hop into, either indoor or outdoor (outdoor preferably, more like a real race and the karts tend to be slightly faster/handle better in my experience), definitely do the rent-a-race stuff (chumpcar/LeMons) and maybe try and do a Skip Barber school if you can swing it? also, iRacing might be worth looking into, even though it isn't actually real life racing. if nothing else, it's something fun to do if you're snowed in in the winter

Slyp dawg -- I've been doing indoor karting fairly regularly and that has been very educational in terms of car control and racecraft. I will continue to try to make it out 2-3 times per month over the winter months. I've also done the Skip Barber 3-day race school and their advanced car control clinic, both of which were fanatastic. Next on their curriculum woud be the 2-day advanced racing school, but at this point, having done only a handful of races, I am not feeling "advanced."

Javelin wrote: Rich, Shoot me a message on FB man, we need to talk ;) Seat time is definitely going to be a biggy.I would definitely suggest some rent-a-races.

Javelin -- thanks and done.

Having just moved to W2W racing last year, I can tell you a couple of things. It's a big, big change from HPDE. There is so much more happening on track, especially at the starts. It's a form of controlled chaos. And it's extremely addicting.

I don't know where you are, but I'd suggest racing in a spec series so that you can gain an idea of where you stand with your personal skill level without the car being a factor. These guys are great: Drive Gear Racing Probably as affordable as you'll find for a rental and cars that are capable of being in the top five in the right hands (and have even won). The cars are simple to adapt to and easy to drive for a noob to the series, and you'll be racing against a bunch of guys who respect each other and don't use other cars as a pinata. Racing is very expensive, and you'll find your HPDE consumption budget will quickly be bypassed even with forgiving cars like the ones we race. But if you get into a good battle, HPDE becomes a fond memory.

buy a cheap dedicated SCCA Improved Touring race car

If you live in the north, ice racing is a great way to work on car control. We have SCCA and dirt track racers say how it helps.

Good thoughts. Here's another - time trials. What they used to call Solo 1. Lots of seat time like HPDE, but it adds the competition aspect of autocross. Instead of just doing a 1:xx at such and such a track, you're trying to beat so-and-so for the event or season.

When I finally bit the bullet and went racing I did everything wrong. I spent years doing time trials, HPDE, instructing... and building a really fast car that didn't class up very well. When I finally went racing - I still didn't know much of anything except how to drive fast in clean air. Here is how I should have done it:

• Buy a cheap POS racecar with a log book for series with solid reliability and big fields. SpecE30, SM, or SRF/FF come to mind immediately. You can buy the car for what you paid to maintain your current car.
• Go over it and update / replace all the safety equipment as per series rules.
• Make it reliable as an anvil and bring spares. There is nothing worse than paying $400 for a race weekend and putting your car on the trailer after practice. Do not futz with the car any more than is required to keep it safe and running and never try new hardware out at a race weekend.
• Practice leaping out of it. No kidding. Practice unhooking yourself and jumping out until you can do it in less than 10 seconds with your eyes closed.
• Take a wheel-to-wheel racing school from SCCA, BMW, NASA, whatever... to get your license and familiarize yourself with starts, re-starts, fighting for an apex, and driving with 4 wheels in the dirt. DE seat time will not prepare you for any of this unless you want to get kicked out ;)
• Get a predictive lap timer that logs GPS and accel data. Learn to read the graphs.
• Sign up and go race. As much as you can. You are going to suck at racecraft so don't bother trying to make the car any faster until you learn some. Just race as much and as often as you can afford. The best practice for racing is more racing.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: When I finally bit the bullet and went racing I did everything wrong. I spent years doing time trials, HPDE, instructing... and building a really fast car that didn't class up very well. When I finally went racing - I still didn't know much of anything except how to drive fast in clean air. Here is how I should have done it: - Buy a cheap POS racecar with a log book for series with solid reliability and big fields. SpecE30, SM, or SRF/FF come to mind immediately. You can buy the car for what you paid to maintain your current car. - Go over it and update / replace all the safety equipment as per series rules. - Make it reliable as an anvil and bring spares. There is nothing worse than paying $400 for a race weekend and putting your car on the trailer after practice. Do not futz with the car any more than is required to keep it safe and running and never try new hardware out at a race weekend. - Practice leaping out of it. No kidding. Practice unhooking yourself and jumping out until you can do it in less than 10 seconds with your eyes closed. - Take a wheel-to-wheel racing school from SCCA, BMW, NASA, whatever... to get your license and familiarize yourself with starts, re-starts, fighting for an apex, and driving with 4 wheels in the dirt. DE seat time will not prepare you for any of this unless you want to get kicked out ;) - Get a predictive lap timer that logs GPS and accel data. Learn to read the graphs. - Sign up and go race. As much as you can. You are going to suck at racecraft so don't bother trying to make the car any faster until you learn some. Just race as much and as often as you can afford. The best practice for racing is more racing.

Snorklewacker: Sage advice. After a rookie season in Spec Miata, I went back over your post and it was like checking boxes (yup, driving in the dirt, yup, reliability is key, yup, yup, yup.

Get a kart.

$3000 will cover about ten events in Briggs World Formula or Yamaha KT100, which will be the right pace for a rookie.

$5000 will do the same for the rest of your life in TaGs or shifters if you race locally and regionally.