Went to watch a practice day at my local track

.. and have a few comments about it! 

• Pulled up to race car sounds. I haven't felt giddy like that in a long time. 
• Community is super friendly. I'm on the shy side, but I spoke first to a few people and it was like we had been friends for a long time. 
• Apparently we have a track-run drivers school. Awesome! 

I didn't get to stay for too long but I am already hooked. Not even the main season and got to see spec Miata, vintage racers, and a little of everything from a Panemera to a Focus. There was also an old caged Forester absolutely cooking. 

Am I on the tipping point? How did y'all get into this?

In reply to EchoTreeSix :

Mine was a multi step process. When I was 5 my cousin had just been to the New York Auto Show. He andmy brother announced they wanted to be racecar drivers, naturally I follwed suit.

When I was 10 my brother took us too see a double feature at the Akahi theatre. The films were Endless Summer (surf movie) and On Any Sunday. I was instantly captivated by flat track and road racing.

Jump forward 6 years and I saw video of Kenny Roberts riding.

It took me 8 years to save up enough money to be a race bike. I raced motorcycles till around 1989 when some local SCCA members invited me to an event. I've been a member ever since.

I'm a fan of NASAs HPDE program. 

EchoTreeSix said:

Am I on the tipping point? How did y'all get into this?

In 95 I bought my first car of my own (previously I had a hand-me-down Taurus), it was a Probe GT.  Joined the Probe mailing list, heard about autocross, went by an event at Jack Murphy Stadium (before Qualcomm bought the naming rights).  Took a ride with someone in a Miata, thought it was awesome, but didn't drive myself.  That was like 97 or so.

In 98 I traded the Probe in on one of the first NBs, and in 99 I went to a Miata HPDE (although the term hadn't been invented yet) track school at Thunderhill.  That was it, I was hooked.  Did track days for a decade, then autocross for 5 years, then back to track days, then got my race license a few years ago.

I did autocross on and off from time I had driver's license, and one day just decided "why have I not run on track?" Asked a friend of a friend of a friend who was into road course stuff where to start and he suggested Chin, HOD or one other group that I've forgotten as a good place to start. Paid my money, ran what I had at the time, loved every second, and now have a caged car and an angry wife.

Everyone has their $0.02 on which group to start with, run with, stick with... My $0.03 would be to just go a few times with whomever. You'll decide what you like and dislike, meet people, etc. Maybe you'll jump to a different org, a different car, etc. But step one is just get on track. 

In reply to Spearfishin :

It's odd around here compared to other places I've seen. Locally, it's the P-car club for autocross and track days are run by the track. Used to be a different org before some tensions rose between the new track owners and them. SCCA runs about 3 hours away near the Colorado/ 4 corners area. If the car makes ya happy, she can't be too angry! 

You are correct about step one. Gotta get out of my own head :)

I started with a drag race weekend at a little track in the middle of PA. It was the last weekend of the season, so I had to wait all winter to try again. I ended up going to an Autocross event the following year, and got into that. Then Friday At The Track (an instructional High Performance Driving Event) at Summit Point Raceway got me into road racing.

Look for an HPDE at your local track. Check motorsportreg.com for events.

Yes, you are hooked. Congratulations!

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

That's really cool. I haven't heard of or seen a Probe in a very long time. What does a race license enable you to do? 

In reply to Tom1200 :

Racing motorcycles sounds intense. You ever miss it? 

In reply to confuZion3 :

The fun part was seeing the variety of classes that exist here and learning about the power/weight ratio classes for non-spec races. I need to follow through on the helmet purchase and at least go through their driving school and go from there. 

What kind of driving school is it?

In reply to confuZion3 :

That is a good question. I couldn't locate much information on it but it seems to be pointed towards track etiquette and intro to the track / safety. Driving school may be a generous term. 

EchoTreeSix said:

In reply to confuZion3 :

That is a good question. I couldn't locate much information on it but it seems to be pointed towards track etiquette and intro to the track / safety. Driving school may be a generous term. 

Sounds like you're describing a "HPDE" (High Performance Drivers Education), or, colloquially, just "A track day."     Most organizations will have various levels of experience running in 20 to 30 minute sessions.  The novice group should get an instructor who will ride along and teach you how to conduct yourself on track, the intermediate group are generally the "signed off to go solo" group, and then after swimming in that pond for a while you'll get signed off to go to advanced.  Some groups have a 4th level of instructors and racers/long-time-advanced drivers, but the majority just have the three groups. 

Motorsportsreg.com is the easiest way to find a track day near you.  NASA, SCCA, HOD, PCA (Porsche Club), BMWCCA, etc. are the main national groups that do track days, although there's a ton of more regional ones.  Serious groups will have good book keeping and drivers logs to control advancement, but more casual groups will be more self-reporting and a relaxed atmosphere.  Find what fits your personality.

This is a good guide on how to get started yourself: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/8-easy-steps-get-track/

But seriously, just go out and play.   Make sure you have enough brake pad and fresh brake fluid and your car is in good shape.  Don't worry about whether you have your dream shocks, the right tires, a professionally set up race alignment or anything like that.  Just get a SA2020/SA2025 rated helmet and go have some fun!

What track were you at?

EchoTreeSix said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

Racing motorcycles sounds intense. You ever miss it? 

I don't miss the racing but I do miss riding my road racing bike. The open wheel cars I raced come close but still can't replicate the experience on the bike.

I still ride off road ride and was doing some vintage motocross up until about 5 years ago.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Gotcha. I did see two people in each car during the "school" run, makes sense there was an instructor with each driver.

Need to install the new rear pass/rotors. A little worried about the minor leaks from the trans and diff, but those can be topped off. No drips on the ground, just a little wet underneath. 

Track is Suika Circuit / Sandia Speedway

What kind of car(s) do you own?

That looks a cool track, have fun when you go!

If it was a track day check if the organizers allow ride-alongs. Some HPDE organizers do it for a fee and have loaner helmets.

you'll get a feel for the speed and see if you can't get enough of it.

After reading about Lemons on Jalopnik(rip) in 2009 my friend and I waited until we had enough money and gullible friends to build our own car. Wasn't too hard at first. Two or three broken cars later it's a bit harder, but I love it still.

In reply to confuZion3 :

The car I'm planning on taking is a 96 BMW 328i. Not my daily. Now that I've slept on it, I'm not sure I'd be ok if it met a wall. Maybe I'll stick to autocross when it kicks back up in the Spring. Or maybe that's just the paranoia kicking in. I understand it's a possibility.. but so is driving off of a cliff on my favorite mountain road. 

In reply to buzzboy :

Lemons always sounds fun when I read about it. RIP Jalopnik indeed. Autopian is good, but not the same. 

In reply to j_tso :

Good call. I know who the main organizer is.. I'll hit him up. 

EchoTreeSix said:

 

• Pulled up to race car sounds. I haven't felt giddy like that in a long time. 

 

Yeah, that part gets me every time

EchoTreeSix said:

That's really cool. I haven't heard of or seen a Probe in a very long time. What does a race license enable you to do? 

The short answer is that a race license lets you go race. :)

Track days have minimal entry requirements -- a normal driver's license, a car, pay your money and sign the waiver.  They manage that by being non-competitive, limiting the situations under which passing can happen, and generally keeping the aggression level low.  At the driver's meeting in the morning you will usually hear someone say "This is not a race, there are no trophies given out today".

Race organizations *do* give out plastic trophies, but also usually have some more stringent driver requirements.  Some newer "low buck endurance" racing organizations such as Lemons, Lucky Dog, ChumpCar, etc simply require you to self-certify as having developed a certain level of skill, but other orgs (generally "old school" ones like SCCA, NASA, BMWCCA, etc) require that you get a race license to enter their races.

The usual way to do it is to go to a race school to get a provisional/rookie license and then complete a certain number of races without incident to get signed off.  Race schools often try to focus on teaching racing techniques that are difficult to learn in a track day environment, things like driving through corners side-by-side, a green flag race start, how to drive defensively to prevent someone from passing, and how to overcome someone else doing that.  Most of these organizations will accept each others' licenses as guest drivers.

EchoTreeSix said:

In reply to confuZion3 :

The car I'm planning on taking is a 96 BMW 328i. Not my daily. Now that I've slept on it, I'm not sure I'd be ok if it met a wall. Maybe I'll stick to autocross when it kicks back up in the Spring. Or maybe that's just the paranoia kicking in. I understand it's a possibility.. but so is driving off of a cliff on my favorite mountain road. 

The way I drive my race prepped Datsun and th way I drive a street car on track are very different.

In the Datsun I drive every inch of every lap 100%.

In a street car at a track, if there is plenty of runoff I will drive 98%, in places that don't have runoff I drive the car about 80%

I should also mention my 100% is having the car skate out to the exit curbing to the point it just stays on track. I use the curbs to catch the car.