Any Track Rats Still Active?

[jay745]

My girlfriend got me a track day at mid-ohio

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[brobst]

That's awesome

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[1ashchuckton]

Originally Posted by jay745

My girlfriend got me a track day at mid-ohio

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You will love it. It's a great track.

[Ronnie_B]

I try to do 2-3 trackdays a year. This was at VIR Grand Course with Trackdaze last November. I'm not yet solo'd on the Grand Course, so I had an instructor this event. The first video I was following a friend in his 425hp mk5 GTI.

https://youtu.be/4EQpPStRjUk
https://youtu.be/sa_WoomUAOw

I'll be going back in April to do the Full Course.

[SteveInLA]

I did my first track event last December. It was Buttonwillow Raceway's Performance Driving Clinic. I had my a$$ handed to me by several Porsches and came away feeling like I had no idea what to do on a track. Instead of giving up, I did the clinic again yesterday and had a very different experience. No change to the car other than replacing the valet setting with one for 100 octane on the APR tune and using 101 octane gas. The class was smaller and the course was CCW instead of CW. I had a blast! I don't know that I have the stones to do a competitive event, but I definitely want more. Buttonwillow is a great track too.

[madbikes]

Being on a hiatus from reaching the limit on stock brakes a few years ago, I saved up for some mods that will do the job. Out of Thunderhill, Laguna Seca and Sonoma, I enjoy Laguna Seca the most so far. Sonoma is interesting but too crowded for the group I went with. At least I had an awesome instructor that day and try out the big brake kit for the first time. Laguna Seca is the most fun because of its interesting blend of turns, but more importantly I found out the difference between stock and some bolt on suspension mods with different tires is more significant than initially expected. Haven't went back to Thunderhill yet, but I feel like I need more power to make it a more fun drive as it has lots of straights. Probably won't head home with a soft pedal if I do go there again.

[who128]

Originally Posted by madbikes

Being on a hiatus from reaching the limit on stock brakes a few years ago, I saved up for some mods that will do the job. Out of Thunderhill, Laguna Seca and Sonoma, I enjoy Laguna Seca the most so far. Sonoma is interesting but too crowded for the group I went with. At least I had an awesome instructor that day and try out the big brake kit for the first time. Laguna Seca is the most fun because of its interesting blend of turns, but more importantly I found out the difference between stock and some bolt on suspension mods with different tires is more significant than initially expected. Haven't went back to Thunderhill yet, but I feel like I need more power to make it a more fun drive as it has lots of straights. Probably won't head home with a soft pedal if I do go there again.

You don't need power to be fast. All you need is drivers mod and good handling parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK04i605t1A

[GreyGti1990]

I'm just starting to get involved in the autox/track day scene.

Really loving autox right now. My local club does 3-4 track days a season but I don't think i'll run my car on the track this season. I feel like I should do a full season of autox first. I am going to try to volunteer as race control for some of the track days this season though. Hopefully get a ride along with someone and just learn all about the track.

Think next year I'll look to get my car on the track. Hoping to be K04 by then too.

Think the tracks they are looking to do are Thompson Speedway, Poncono Raceway, and Palmer Motorsport Park this year.

[jay745]

Originally Posted by GreyGti1990

I'm just starting to get involved in the autox/track day scene.

Really loving autox right now. My local club does 3-4 track days a season but I don't think i'll run my car on the track this season. I feel like I should do a full season of autox first. I am going to try to volunteer as race control for some of the track days this season though. Hopefully get a ride along with someone and just learn all about the track.

Think next year I'll look to get my car on the track. Hoping to be K04 by then too.

Think the tracks they are looking to do are Thompson Speedway, Poncono Raceway, and Palmer Motorsport Park this year.

Awesome! Autox is a great way to get started. You can really learn how the car handles and push it to the limits on autox whereas on a track you want to dial it back if youre new. I did two seasons of autox before starting to track and think that's a great path.

Being at the track and talking to corner workers is also a great way to get a leg up advantage being new. Learn subtle tips from them. I was fortunate enough to have a driving instructor the first few times I went on the track. Learning things right away that a rookie might overlook such as "Look at the tire marks on the track, if the tire marks are going into a wall you might want to give that corner a bit more respect than others" There's so much to take in it's very easy to overlook stuff like that until someone points it out to you.

[GreyGti1990]

Lol good point with the tire marks.... definitely don't follow them if its leading to a wall. But you have to react so fast at a track that can be overlooked.

But yeah, this is my daily driver so thats exactly what I'm afraid of. I don't want to wreck it. I want to get involved with autox and track days with my daily because I want this experience. I want to race. And I plan to get a track car in the future (something rear wheel drive and probably v8) but I want to gain this experience now so I am ready.

[DASVDUB]

O wow yeah. Love me some track days. 10 days til Gingerman

[Injen1us]

Originally Posted by GreyGti1990

I'm just starting to get involved in the autox/track day scene.

Really loving autox right now. My local club does 3-4 track days a season but I don't think i'll run my car on the track this season. I feel like I should do a full season of autox first. I am going to try to volunteer as race control for some of the track days this season though. Hopefully get a ride along with someone and just learn all about the track.

Think next year I'll look to get my car on the track. Hoping to be K04 by then too.

Think the tracks they are looking to do are Thompson Speedway, Poncono Raceway, and Palmer Motorsport Park this year.

As a big fan of K04 and track days i would be remiss if i did not mention that the K04 is not the best use of 2500 bucks if building a track application.

Ive been absolutely skull drug at buttonwillow raceway by a forum member here who has one hell of a drivers mod and better brakes and tires than i was running at the time.

Once you gain the extra power of the k04 youre going to need even MOAR tire and MOAR brakes to make it useful. This is still a problem i have now running 595RSRR tires and stoptech st-41s. Though admittedly at this point the bigger issue is lateral G's creating oil starvation.

Originally Posted by jay745

Awesome! Autox is a great way to get started. You can really learn how the car handles and push it to the limits on autox whereas on a track you want to dial it back if youre new. I did two seasons of autox before starting to track and think that's a great path.

Being at the track and talking to corner workers is also a great way to get a leg up advantage being new. Learn subtle tips from them. I was fortunate enough to have a driving instructor the first few times I went on the track. Learning things right away that a rookie might overlook such as "Look at the tire marks on the track, if the tire marks are going into a wall you might want to give that corner a bit more respect than others" There's so much to take in it's very easy to overlook stuff like that until someone points it out to you.

Track days are loads of fun and super humbling when youre a rookie like most of us. There will be guys out there slugging a big saloons around corners faster than you thought they could go... and little 1.8 NA motors running circles around you. Youll never see a better example of what a "drivers mod" can do until you go to a track day.

But when all else fails:

[Ronnie_B]

Originally Posted by GreyGti1990

I'm just starting to get involved in the autox/track day scene.

Really loving autox right now. My local club does 3-4 track days a season but I don't think i'll run my car on the track this season. I feel like I should do a full season of autox first. I am going to try to volunteer as race control for some of the track days this season though. Hopefully get a ride along with someone and just learn all about the track.

Think next year I'll look to get my car on the track. Hoping to be K04 by then too.

Think the tracks they are looking to do are Thompson Speedway, Poncono Raceway, and Palmer Motorsport Park this year.

I definitely would hold off on the k04 until you at least try out a few hpde track days. There's a misconception you need more power to get on track, and I'd argue that power is the last thing a novice track enthusiast needs. Invest the money in seat time, an LSD, and some sticky tires instead, because power without traction coming out of a turn is so frustrating.

[Injen1us]

Originally Posted by Ronnie_B

I definitely would hold off on the k04 until you at least try out a few hpde track days. There's a misconception you need more power to get on track, and I'd argue that power is the last thing a novice track enthusiast needs. Invest the money in seat time, an LSD, and some sticky tires instead, because power without traction coming out of a turn is so frustrating.

agree