Hello everyone

I know there was a post "evo as track day car and daily driver" but I can't find it anymore and it might not have answered all my questions.
I been thinking about this a while since I started hearing more about time attack events and track days and people saying to each other "don't race on the street, go to your local track". Well - I would BUT
First of all how many of you actually go to their local track and where is it? In my area (one hour north of Philadelphia) that would be only the Pocono Raceway and that is not exactly in the neighborhood either and I would imagine those tracks are not open to the public just like that. (I am from Germany and we have the Nürburgring which is open to the public, unfortunatley I never saw it as my enthusiasm for cars started to grow once I was already in the US ).
How do you afford to do track days? It wears out the car much more than driving on the street. I'd think you need (special) tires more often (very often) and also brakes and probably the clutch and other parts too. Or do you guys have a car mainly for the track? I only can afford my one Evo and it is my daily commuter car and is driven in any weather condition and season plus it is stock. I would think if you go to a track your car is heavily modded (?).
Just trying to understand how you guys pull it off to go to a racetrack.
The only track days I do (cause I am a geek and hopefully will never grow up) are on the PS3 and the 360 in Gran Turismo 4 and HD and in Forza Motorsport 2.
I know...its pathetic ... but I like it .

have a good day everyone and stay safe.

 

Well, if you cannot afford to buy new tires, break pads, rotors, etc then I wouldn't suggest going to the track on a regular basis.

No, your car does not have to be heavily modded to go to the track. Most people cannot even come close to the potential of their car in stock form let alone modded. Going to the track for me is not to impress others, but to improve my skills as a driver. There is no track that is right in my neighborhood. I have to drive about 30 minutes to get to the closest track for drag racing. They have specific nights setup where you pay a flat fee and can run as many times as you'd like until they close. There are also local autoX events that are held in various large parking lots around the city.

 

Your tires and brakes are going to take the most abuse. Be prepared to change them frequently.

 

Driving your car at 10/10ths will wear out your brakes and tires 10X faster than driving at 7/10ths. Since you've never been to the track, 7/10ths will be educational, fun, and make you feel like a race car driver. If you go once, you aren't likely to wear out your tires and brakes on your first time out, since your coach will let you know when you're pushing too hard. Listen to your coach and you'll be fine. Just rotate your tires and change the oil after your first track day, and if you're tired before the last session, go home and end on a good note. That's my two cents. I did five track days over 2 years on a single set of tires, with my Evo being daily driven about 50% of the time. I did replace my pads between day 4 and 5, but that was it.

Also, track days are not necessarily that hard on your clutch, depending on the track, you may only shift a couple times per lap (especially since as a beginner you'll be VERY focused on steering and braking). Try to do a driving event that has coaches in the car with you, even with the video game experience, having an expert show you the ropes is invaluable.

Bottom line- going every month is expensive, especially as you improve and push your car harder. Going once or twice a year is not too bad. You will see your car in a different light and be a better driver once you get your car on the track.

EDIT: I am talking about track days that involve laps on road courses. I have no experience with drag racing but I imagine that it's much harder on clutches and tires and less hard on brakes.

 

Im from NYC and I track my Evo. Its not my daily driver tho. I go to Pocono, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen. Next year they will open a new track in NJ , Atlantic City area I believe. To get access to the track you have to go with an Auto Club that hosts the event. There are planty of them around NE. Usually track days cost anywhere between $200-$400. If you are a member of the auto club, you may get small discount, but there is a yearly membership fee.

This year I bought a hitch for my evo, and early next year I will by a small light trailer to carry my R-compound tires. This way if its raining I can always use my stock wheels. As for brakes and wearing stuff, it all depends how hard you are pushing your car. You don't have to be all out all the time. Drive the way you feel comfortable. Most Clubs have classes, novice-experianced, so you can be on the track with people close to your driving skill level.

If you feel track days are too expensive, try AutoX.. Its cheap, quick, and fun. But Track days are totally different experiance.

 

Alright, so, I had my Evo for 3 years, track driven and daily driven all 3 years. So let me chime in with my .02, or .03

First: That's something I'd post in your region section of EvoM asking where the nearest tracks are. Almost ALL tracks have some way or other for the public to get on it, whether its sanctioned events through SCCA or NASA etc or just open track days. I'm lucky enough to have Miller Motorsports Park 20 min from my house.

Second: Forget tires and brakes, if you don't push it too hard, you won't wear them out... On top of that if you get race pads and longer lasting R-compounds or race slicks (especially "take off" [used] slicks, like I used to get) then you really don't have to worry. A set of 100/tire take-off slicks and 350 dollar race pads would last me a whole season of 10+ track days pretty easily usually. The REAL expensive part of tracking, is gas (usually I got about 4-7 mpg on the track, and filled up the tank at least once the whole day...) and maintenence. If you're constantly taking your car to the track, you SHOULD be constantly changing fluids, TC, tranny, oil, brake fluid, and checking anything and everything else. Its better to prevent failure than to fix failure.

I had 52k miles on my car and the stock clutch was still gripping strong, other than that and random Mitsu crap build failures that weren't related to the track I never had a single problem. Other than eating through street pads when I switched to slicks from r-compounds.

My Evo, like I said, was my DD, it was hardly modfied: TBE, tune, MBC, coilovers, tires, pads, that's it. And I could keep up with 911 TTs and C6 Z06s.

So pulling it off ONCE for fun at 7/10 or less like someone said hardly stresses the car at all. I took the Porsche out near the end of last season just for kicks and afterwords other than being much lower on gas you couldn't tell I had had it out, pads were fine, fluids were all fine, tires didn't wear out hardly at all... So its just a matter of how much you do it and how hard you push it.

Oh, and Autocross is a GREAT way to get started and get a feel for the car during high speed maneuvers but IMO after you've gotten used to the car unless you plan on becoming pro at Autox it is a waste of money. Dunno about other regions but our's charges 35 dollars for basically a total of 4-6 min of "track" time. The rest of the day is spent volunteering running around picking up cones... A track day through SCCA (same people who usually do the Autocrosses, and from my example) costs 150 (50 if you instruct the day before for the beginners ) and you usually get at least 2 hours total of track time. With no running around picking up cones or crap like that.

 

thanks.
yeah thats what I meant...driving on a road course with turns and all...a normal race track. I did not even think about a drag strip - maybe cause I am european .
I should have made myself more clear. thanks a lot though.

 

thanks a lot everyone!

So its like I thought...you need time, quiet some money (I could not even afford to spend the fee to do a track day) and it is wearing out your car ( of course) although apparently not as much as I thought.
Interesting. Now I am a good bit smarter.
I guess I just have to accept that I had the time and chance to do all these things when I was younger. Unfortunately I just go the Evo now (almost one year now) and I am not single anymore (which made the Evo possible ) and a family is planned. Money is just going somewhere else where it is needed more.
Thanks again and have fun out there on the track .

 

Am I right that to have a track day with SCCA or NASA, you have to have their license? Which requires attending racing schools such as Skip Barber, etc. and more. I just finished my 3 day school at Skip....yeah probably another good 90% of people who own an Evo probably don't even touch the limit of the car.....in a right way that is.

Anyone want to chime in on how to get in SCCA's track day?

 

Read this
http://www.pdadrivingschool.com/inde...id=5&Itemid=81

In a nutshell:
- Make sure you have a good running car.
- Good tires (stock are great)
- Good brakes and fluid. Stock brakes are ok for a first timer; just make sure they have enough meat on them.
- Sign up for an event near you, cost about $250-$300 a day (you will get 1.5-2 hours of track time)
- Fill up the tank.
- Have fun.

When you show up there, they will inspect your car, put you into a 30 minute class going over flags and passing rules, and you will be assigned an instructor.

Remember, it's not racing. It's "High Performance Driving Events "

 

My dad was at that school if it was the one at Laguna Seca. I was supposed to be there, but Skip Barber is so unorganized when it comes to cancelations that they didn't find out until the day of that someone wasn't showing up... But I was first or second on the waiting list.

SCCA and NASA and any other "HPDE" require only a state issued driver's license. They're not a "racing" event, so there is no racing license required. Even NASA time trial (last I checked, which was like 2 years ago I think) doesn't require a race license.

If you want to go actual wheel-to-wheel racing then you need a license but you have one now. Or should...