Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Discussions related to SCCA Road Racing, Time Trials, and PDX.
User avatar
integra55
Posts: 1808
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:04 am

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by integra55 »

yeah … forgot to mention that … if you can't afford to leave it there all wadded up … you really shouldn't be on track with it …. ESPECIALLY if you're still making payments
“The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.”

walter jones
'91 civic CRX, Ford F150, '14 Chevy Sonic

828-686-3245
thrdeye
Posts: 14085
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:31 pm
Location: Lenoir City

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by thrdeye »

I had toyed around with the idea of taking the WRX to a couple of track days. Track day insurance is surprisingly not that expensive. I think it was something like $250 per day. I would certainly have paid that had I done it.
Chris Harp
2009 Mazda RX-8 | 2018 Toyota Tundra | 2011 BMW M3
User avatar
integra55
Posts: 1808
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:04 am

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by integra55 »

yeah … again the aging brain … forgot to mention track day ins :)
“The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.”

walter jones
'91 civic CRX, Ford F150, '14 Chevy Sonic

828-686-3245
John Brown
Posts: 8798
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 11:05 am

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by John Brown »

Ted..that video!! those are THE tunneled visioned , seeing red, wanna bees I was referring to right there!! lol :)

now, put 200 more HP and some sticky tires on em.... they can hit shit a lot harder! lol
ETR Pro Class Champion-2002-03-10-11-12-13-14-15
BMW/CCA D-Mod National Road Racing Champion-2011
Pro-Solo Prepared National Champ-2004
Pro-Solo Prepared National Champ-2005
2016 Dodge Challenger SRT 6.4L CAM-C
joe henslee
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 11:03 am
Location: Knoxville

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by joe henslee »

I started autocrossing in 1967 at Chillhowee Park. Autocrossed thru the years in a Cortina GT, TR6, then Bmod and Cmod. Transitioned into old Solo I (comp to PDX for you younger members). In 86'/87' went to a couple of SCCA drivers school in a FF. raced SEDIV SCCA for ~ 4 years. Regained my comp. license in 2001 and have been running SCCA SEDIV since in IT7, ITA, STU, FE with plans to have FF ready for SCCA comp soon. Feel free to contact me if interested in an OFD point of view.
Last edited by joe henslee on Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joe Henslee
Henslee Scorpion 2.0L Ford BSR-U2 CanAm (vintage) / Prototype 2 (SCCA) / BM(Solo)
Zink Z10 FF / CF (SCCA &vintage) / CM(Solo)
Reynard SF-84 2.0L Ford, Formula Continental FC / CFC (SCCA) / Formula Libre' (vintage)
USDRRT on eBay ....
thrdeye
Posts: 14085
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:31 pm
Location: Lenoir City

Post by thrdeye »

If the schedule ever works out for me I'd love to crew.
joe henslee
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 11:03 am
Location: Knoxville

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by joe henslee »

BTW, Thank you to John B. and Walter J. for pointing out the intent/necessity for red tape rules/regs to possibly reduce the need for catastrophic ins and to thanks to SCCA for providing it in the occasions were necessary.
Joe Henslee
Henslee Scorpion 2.0L Ford BSR-U2 CanAm (vintage) / Prototype 2 (SCCA) / BM(Solo)
Zink Z10 FF / CF (SCCA &vintage) / CM(Solo)
Reynard SF-84 2.0L Ford, Formula Continental FC / CFC (SCCA) / Formula Libre' (vintage)
USDRRT on eBay ....
User avatar
PushinTheLimit
Posts: 841
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:02 am
Location: Crossville, TN

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by PushinTheLimit »

I started off doing test-n-tune drag racing in an 04 Mustang Cobra back in 2007. A friend of mine told me I should come check out ETR's autox at PSTCC because I would probably like it. So late in 2007, I took my Cobra and ran my first autox... and loved it. So much so that I decided to sell the Cobra for a Z06. I did most of the ETR events in 2008 and that's when I found out about track days on road courses. My first event was with the Music City Mustang Club held at Nashville SS. I fell in love with that and decided I would rather focus my time on Time Trials with the thought of eventually going W2W down the road.

Since it was going to take quite a bit more money to prep my Z06 for W2W, I decided to sell it and buy a race prepped Z06 with a cage already in it. In 2010 I finally bought one and ran with Nasa to start working my way up the HPDE ladder as some have already mentioned. I progressed fairly quickly because I only had a total of 8 days of on track experience when I applied for my Nasa racing license. But I had run with a Nasa qualified instructor at VIR beforehand that vouched for me that I was ready for W2W to the powers to be at Nasa-SE.

I ran most of the Nasa-SE schedule in 2011 and had a blast doing it. I met alot of great people and many of whom I still stay in touch with today. At that time, the class I ran had a decent field of cars to compete against (usually no less than 5 cars and sometimes up to 15-20 cars) and that made it that much more fun to compete in. Unfortunately I wrecked my car at the last race of the year at Road Atlanta and that really put a damper on the 2012 season. Also, there were alot of rule changes taking place and I wasn't really sure which way to go as far as classes. The rules were allowing some very expensive mods that you must have to compete for wins, which also meant more expensive to fix if you had an off or contact with something/someone. On top of that, the car count in the classes I wanted to run were dwindling which meant less contingency money too.

In the middle of rebuilding the car, I decided to move on to dirt track racing in a late model. So I finished up the vette, ran it one last time at CMP to make sure it was ok and sold it to buy a dirt late model. 2014 was my first full year in that and I'm really enjoying it so far. It requires more maintenace and setup than I ever did in road racing, but I'm able to race much closer to home with a chance to win some decent money (I'm racing at a few races this year paying between $2,500-$5,000 to win and one will be a $10,000 to win. It's tough to win, but when you do... you've beaten some really talented drivers. I hope I can find victory lane for the first time this year.

One other thing about DLM racing is that my dad has been able to help me out crewing for me at the races and at the garage. With the tracks being closer together and mostly on Saturday nights, he's able to be there most of the time. With road racing, it was a little harder to find someone to go with you because it usually meant staying somewhere an entire weekend from Friday evening to late Sunday night. But road racing can be done with one person as I did it a few times myself and it worked out ok. I would always invite a friend to come along and they were able to help some which was I was very appreciative.

From what I've seen lately, the best fields of racing in Nasa right now would be Spec Miata, Spec E30 and Thunder Roadsters when it comes to car counts. It no fun to be out there racing and be the only car in your class. DLM racing takes most of my racing hobby time now and I'm really trying to focus on becoming a better driver, but I don't regret going road racing first at all. I learned alot and still apply some of those lessons on the dirt track. If I had the time and money, I would love to go do a couple track days a year with Nasa (HPDE only) with a street car and enjoy the social aspect of it as well as the driving experience.
Image
Michael Smith
C5 Z06
ST2 #10
User avatar
EliseAutoXr
Posts: 1629
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2004 3:34 pm
Location: Knoxville, TN

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by EliseAutoXr »

If anyone want's to join, I'm signed up for the SCCA Track Nights event at AMP on April 7th. Should be a blast and relatively low cost at $150.
Bradley Allen
STM 7
06 Lotus Elise (some stock)
thrdeye
Posts: 14085
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:31 pm
Location: Lenoir City

Post by thrdeye »

I can't do that one, but may do an AMP event later
User avatar
Scoob
Posts: 740
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:18 pm
Location: Kingsport
Contact:

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by Scoob »

I may attempt one of these later this year after I've heard some feedback. Looks like a good deal, but 4+ hours to anything close means a full day off and lots of driving to and fro.
Scott Boito
#68 CAM-S C5 Z06
SEDIV SSS

BetterOffRacing
User avatar
EliseAutoXr
Posts: 1629
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2004 3:34 pm
Location: Knoxville, TN

Re: Your experience taking it to the road courses.

Post by EliseAutoXr »

I'm doing the SCCA Track Night at AMP again this Tuesday if anyone want's to join! Here is a video from my dash last month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xllh1EkSTTQ
Bradley Allen
STM 7
06 Lotus Elise (some stock)
Post Reply