I’ll be in Germany. To show my spirit, I’ll try and do a 150mph pull on the autobahn on Monday the 11th :). It should be easy to rent a BMW right?
I know anonymity rented a BMW and had it tuned while he was in Europe just for the fun of it…
Now, that is a good idea!
mike how did you like the new addition at Gingerman
Wish I saw this before last weekend…would have stopped in quick. I was there Saturday and had a blast. Sucks it’s the end of the season because I’m definitely hooked now.
How’d you end up doing?
---------- Post added at 07:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 PM ----------
What group is that with?
I finished racing at black hawk yesterday. That track is a blast. It is really hard on brakes though as it is very technical. I melted down a set of ford pads in 6 session. the last session I had sever fade that almost resulted with me going off course. While these were not the most agressive pads in the world I had logged 120 miles at gingerman with them with no fade issues at all. black hawk is just a different beast. tons of fun though. There were 3 run groups 7 20 min sessions. lunch was provided. lunch was good too.
The owner of the track showed up for lunch and brought his ZR1 out. words cannot describe the sound that car makes. he was taking people for rides in it and everyone that got out was in awe of the powerfull brakes. “i’m going to have to glue my eyes back in my head now” were one of my favorites.
I am going to hit home depot and get some dryer duct to make some brake ducts for road america. Talking to a few people They don’t think I will have brake problems after seeing how well the car preformed at black hawk. But it certainly will not hurt. The guys were saying that black hawk is known for eating brakes. The last session of the day I had to install my first set of back up pads. Hawk HT-10. They worked very well no fade. I did change my driving style a bit with them though because I have two more trackdays this weekend so I want to see how they hold up at a larger track.
Damn. Sounds like a fun trip so far :tup:
What kind of licenses are required for this sort of thing?/What is involved in obtaining them?
Costs of licenses?
Costs of actually running? (Approx.)
Safety setups needed?
We have auto-x every now and then down here but nothing is required other than a normal tech inspection/helmet/fire extinguisher I think
+1 I will be eventually doing this stuff!!!
the event was 225 for this track. no special licence is required just your normal driver licence. tech is the same as AUTO-X they kick a tire and shake you batery and say ok your good. as long as you have good brakes and good brake fluid go have a blast. If you have raced auto-X you know what it takes to keep a car running. roadcourse is a true test of everything though. fresh engine oil, keep a eye on your tires for proper pressures… the usual stuff.
safety is just a helmet no fire equipment. every track is a bit different. i encourage you to check it out if you like autoX. onyx use to organize some really cheap events for us to run at that are close to home. hopefully we will see some stuff next year.
Well unfortunately, I’m never at home (NY) with my camaro anymore even though I’d like to participate with ya’ll. I’m in FL the majority (90%) of the year so I was just trying to see generally.
Thanks for the info!
Niagara PCA.
somedude it sounds like you’re having fun. Where’s black hawk?
Safety is the same as an autocross for most groups that offer lapping days and HPDE’s, but you’ll need to confirm with the group you’re going to run with.
Driver’s license only unless you’re talking about wheel to wheel racing.
Cost of running would include (I’m probably forgetting some things):
time (away from work etc.)
gas
tolls
other travel expenses (rental of truck and/or trailer, or towing service if necessary)
tires
brake pads
brake rotors
cost of track time itself
fluids (engine oil, transmission fluid, rear differential fluid, brake fluid, coolant, power steering fluid)
labor for service on car
cost to repair/replace anything that gets damaged
food and water
safety inspection before each track day
spark plugs
I’m not including tools and other equipment involved in doing any work yourself.
I don’t change all the fluids for every track day, but I do change my engine oil for each one and rear differential fluid every couple. If your fluids haven’t been recently changed, I’d just change them all before the first track day and then only change some of them frequently from there. Each car is different.
I change my spark plugs every track day, but some don’t. This is car specific.
How often you change brake parts and tires depends hugely on your driving, your car, and what parts you use, but a few things are a given. Higher power and heavier vehicles will wear everything more quickly than the same vehicle would if it was lighter or had less power.
As an example of how different drivers, cars, and parts last varying amounts of time I ran 4 track days this year on a single set of brake pads and they have life left to start next season on them again, but I wore one set of tires out and used a second set a bit. One of our customers wore his pads down into the metal backing plates in a day and a half, but his tires lasted considerably longer than mine. His brake pad compound doesn’t last like mine does, but our tires would wear at about the same rate on the same car. My front suspension setup and all the wheelspin I get out back killed my tires.
The cost of these parts varies heavily from car to car. I chose a platform that offers very inexpensive replacement brake parts and a wheel size that allows me to purchase used race tires in common sizes to keep costs down.
Make sure your car is 100% mechanically sound before going to a track day. I recommend using track pads rather than your street pads. There’s a lot more to prepping a car for track days, especially if it’s older or modified, but I’m trying to stick to session to session costs.
that just means you get to race all year. i fail to see a problem
15538 Prairie Road
South Beloit, Illinois 61080
PH. (815) 389-2000
it is about 9 hours from buffalo. I will let you know how road america is this weekend. Black Hawk was a awesome track. Not one you would want to go off course on though because there is a lof of stuff to hit but the track flows really well. slowest corner for me was 45mph top speed was 92-95 depending on how bold I was with braking on turn one. keep in mind my car is slow. People out here have a lot of money. lots of porsche and new body M3’s out here 3 lotus, a insanely fast G8, very cool and diverse car lineup. There was a really mint 944 that was giving it hell there. completely stock. his brakes are FAR superior to my car but better handling and slightly more go had me passing him once ever session.
tire update.
azeni 615 (old compound). many are famaliar with their handling on the track. great autoX tire really fun street tire but on the road course they get slick if you run them too hard because they over heat. warmup on these are minimal
put on my new kumo XS same size as the azeni’s and they hold up to high temps much better than the azeni. They take about two laps to come upto temp though which is a bit of a drag but not too bad. They are very predictable at their limits which is nice. Overall grip is very close in comparison. they are about 25 bucks cheaper than the new compound azen. The seem to be wearing well. I only have 4 session on them and wear is as expected for a track event
For LeMon’s knowing Ulysses S. Grant will net you a license that is good for one year.
For SCCA regional racing:
LeMon’s costs are about $2000+ a race weekend including a tow vehicle and 2nd vehicle to deliver extra parts, tools, drivers, go on food runs. Our average consumption is 2~3 tires a race, a little less than one set of front brake pads, rotors every other race, 80 to 120 gallons of 87 octane “race” gas, an oil change, usually some whiny driver will beg to have a wheel bearing changed or some other nickle and dime item pops up, and way too much money gets spent on a bad paint job and 3-D themes.
Cheap personal safety gear: http://yhst-14891464457018.stores.yahoo.net/
Here is a clip from the PCA DE last wk
what is PCA DE
niagara region Porsche club of America Driving Event
you would have changed it at some point
good times standing in front of the 20 ton press… blocking the 40’s ford with super nice paint with my body while turning my head, covering my junk with one hand, and cranking the press handle with the other hoping for the best.
I just realized that I never posted a update from Road America. I have a new favorite track. I was there for a saturday/sunday event. it rained all saturday and the first half of sunday was really hard rain. I did get two sessions in the dry though at the end of sunday. I learned so much about driving in the rain on a race track. I had no idea what a “rain line” was before that event and I am in no position to say that I mastered it but there was only 3 vehicles that I was not passing in the rain. part skill part superior vehicle (given the conditions of course) Audi S4 quicker in the straights and exiting corners, EVO same story, and a Nissan GTR. I could out brake, out turn and power on before he could. his car was sliding all over the place. This is no surprise because he is running monster tires compared to my 245’s. I got a nick name of rain man. It was really entertaining to me to pass vetts, camaro’s mustangs, neon’s, mazdaspeed 3. The track is extremely well cared for and flows very nicely. once the track dried up I really got to drive the car as hard as I could.
one of the most entertaining parts for me was the carousel. I was able to maintain a higher speed than most of the vehicles out there which really surprised me. I guess that is a advantage of FWD is also when I could put power down about half way between 9 and 10 the rear end would begin to slide out and this is corrected by increasing throttle. By the beginning of 10 I would be full throttle and the next time I would lift was at turn 12. The map does not show it well but 11 is a nasty high speed turn that would have the tires roaring. By turn 11 I would have 92-94mph keep in mind I would never lift for this turn. coming into 12 there is a slight left That I have to start braking in and that upsets the rear end so there is a hell of a lot of me trying to keep the car going in a straight line while killing enough speed to make the 50mph right hander. 13A would be taken without lifting which is hair raising because it is a blind corner with elevation change.
oddly the highest speed section of the track was between 11 and 12 for me. You would think between 14-1 would be but it is up hill and my car does not have very much power. The Hawk HT-10 pads worked amazing on this track. I have cracked front rotors now but fade was minimal and was only at turn 8 when i was really pushing super hard trying to out run 89CRX’s S4. I pull him in the corners and i can out brake him a tad but in the straights he could rip by me. One of the corner workers came over at the end of sunday and gave me props for pushing so hard and keeping it on the track for three days. I said 3 days? she said oh yeah i was at black hawk on wed when you were running. She also said you really need to fix the hood and fender it makes us corner workers think that you are not afraid to put it in a wall haha and she drove away.
To my surprise the mazdaspeed 3 had nothing on the SHO. a tad quicker in the straight. maybe pull 3 or 4 cars then i had batter grip and brakes. I always thought they would be killer on a track.
I definitely want to go in the spring if anyone is adventurous enough to join. track was awesome, super cool group of people. even was 225 per day i think. tech was lax.
fun fun fun