I'd love to take the GC out on a real track at least once.
Your purse on the front seat? Or is that one of those "trendy" european hand bags?
Don't jank, I've gotten a new hand bag since then.....much trendier.
:rofl:
^^Worth every penny, the GC on the track is hella fun!
^^OH SNAP!! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
+1.......but be warned, you will be addicted after just one time & it is a hella expensive hobby.
Wow, that is hardcore, thanks for that write up and pics. I had no idea a track day was so organized or large and put together like that. How long do you actually camp waiting fo your turn (change of clothes lol)? Do you mean for spending the night in a hotel in route becuase it is far? Though unless you have brake pads and rotors or some coilovers I really don't see the point in the jack or stands. Do you take your exhaust off for the track?
I never thought you would see this..... at a track day lol
And you have two people in your car? The fiance riding along? The cars looks so close to each other, what happens if you spin out or go faster, seems you are stuck driving that speed?
Headlights removed for more ram air?
It is hardcore & worth every penny! Thanks...they are very organized & it's best you be too, because you are going from class to track & back all day long with
very little time in between.....it's balls to the wall all day!
The events last all weekend, so I try to show up Friday & set up camp, because it all begins bright & early about 7am on Saturday & you better be prompt if you want to make your 1st session.
You want to be able to change into a clean clothes after sweating all day in those driving clothes/race suit.
Most road course tracks are far enough away, you will have to stay in a hotel or camp. I camp when its nice enough to save $$ & I enjoy camping along with being able to wake up, suit up & head for the track 1st session. For me the 3 closest tracks are Road Atlanta (3hrs away), Roebling Road (4.5hrs away) & CMP (6hrs away).
After a hard day of driving 4 sessions at 20 mins each throughout the day, 3 classes of 30 mins each in between the track sessions, inspecting your car & adjusting air pressures throughout the day, squeezing in food/water here & there, you are pretty wore out & are ready to crash. Then Sunday it starts all over again & by the end of the day Sunday, you are so tired you start to lose focus & dread the drive home.......but its all worth it.
BTW the drive home sucks, because you are back on the road with idiots after spending all weekend with people that are paying attention to what they are doing & are respectful with regards to driving etiquette.
You definately want jack stands, jack & tools for swapping brake pads if nothing else. I would never go to the track w/o at least an extra set of brake pads. Rotors are nice to have too since all of the heating & cooling that occurs from on/off track causes them to crack due to the change in temps. Jack & stands come in handy when you need to inspect the underside of your car, repair a leak, etc. You will eventually go off track if you push hard enough & you need to be able to inspect the underside of your vehicle to see if you caused any damage if this occurs.
I don't take my exhaust off at the track. The passenger that is riding with me is actually my instructor which are required to ride with you during NASA HPDE1 & you need to be able to communicate with them, so the quieter the exhaust the better during HPDE1. They normally have transponders (headphones/mouth pieces) that slide up into your helmet so you can communicate much easier, but still loud exhaust is not helpful.
My fiance' is not allowed to ride with me according to NASA rules. She can only ride with a licensed driver or someone in HPDE3-4. She has ridden with one of my instructors, the one at Road Atlanta in the above pic (bald white heavy set guy) in his Acura Intergra & she loved it. I've ridden with all of my instructors in their cars to get a better feel of what its like to go 10/10ths on each of the tracks. The last Instructor I had last year at Roebling road was a blast to ride with in his Miata & he holds the track record at that track in that Miata for his time trial class TTD. He has been racing over 20yrs & you can tell. I've also allowed all of my Instuctors to take my car out on the track to see what she can do & everyone of them were blown away by its performance capabilities in stock trim. That is when I knew I had made a smart choice for my race car. The only instructor that refused to drive my car was the last one at Roebling Road that I was just speaking of, because he simply said he pushes it too hard on the track & didn't want to be responsible for wrecking my car. I do purchase supplementary insurance for every track event (~$165/weekend) that covers my car if it ends up in a ball, but there is a $2500 deductable that I let the instructors know will be their responsibility if they do wreck her.
The cars are pretty close & that is why you better be on your toes, because if someone spins out (it happens), you had better be able to avoid it & try to determine which direction they are going to shoot of to. BTW, when someone does spin out in front of you, your butt cheeks will clench so hard you would swear that you could make a diamond from a piece of coal if it was in there.
The better you get & you move up to HPDE2 etc, the closer you get to other cars & the more passing zones are opened up for you to pass in. During HPDE1 you are only allowed to pass on the long straights. You always have to wait for a hand signal from the person in front of you to signify to you that it is OK to pass during the lower HPDE events. The idea is that slower traffic lets faster traffic pass as that is beneficial to both parties for making better lap times & that is what you are shooting for in time trials anyhow. Sometimes a train will build when everyone gets behind a slow person that is too nervous to pay attention to their rear view mirror & see what is going on behind them. Eventually each car will get by, but I find it is better just to pit & let the traffic go on for a minute, then get back out where there is plenty of room & I can open it up.
Headlamps are removed so they don't get damaged from rocks & other debris getting kicked up by spinning tires.
OMG, u bring all that stuff at the track lol. All I bring is a chair and cooler. But the Quart of oil is smart.
You can never bring enough, because you never know what you are going to need & when you thought you had brought everything, you end up needing the one thing that you did not bring...LoL
At least with NASA HPDE SE (southeast) everyone is super nice & will loan you whatever you need. You can leave all you stuff lying out w/o having to worry about someone stealing as well, which is welcomed considering my jack cost over $300.
this will come in handy soon enough
so wait..all that other stuff is just so you can relax? lol
Some of it is for relaxing, which you don't get to do much of 'til the end of the day..LoL
6
15
21
10
9
2
