Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Thing About Track Days

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The Thing About Track Days

    Perry and I were talking the other night, while we were talking about everything on earth.....he said he still wants to do a road course. It's on his bucket list.

    Well, I've had enough of doing that. When I made that extremely accelerated video of Red running Road Atlanta and saw in fast motion how many times I was getting passed....That's just not safe. It's hard to realize at the time when all the adrenaline is pumping, you really can't accept what's going on. If you went 120 or 130 mph on the highway, you sure wouldn't have to be concerned about who's behind you.

    But at a race track, you DO. Driving in the mirror as much as through the windshield. At Daytona, I was running with a line of cars and we came out of the Bus Stop into Turn3. There was a car up front that was just puttering along about 100 mph, not exactly on the apron. I was going to have to move up closer to the wall to pass him but there was a car behind me coming up like a rocket. I'm looking at the windshield, the mirror, the windshield, the mirror, I've got to make a decision or wreck a whole bunch of us.

    The guy behind, he let off just enough to let me move up, he saw what was going on, he had that much vision and forethought. That was polite. So I let him by when we both got clear of the really "slow" car that was only going about 100 mph.

    No, not any more for me. It's just not safe being an obstacle on a race track. I got away with it, enough times. More than enough times.
    Last edited by pdub; August 16, 2018, 02:47 AM.
    Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

  • #2
    I can see how that would be difficult.....and on a large track like Daytona, momentum is everything!
    Patrick & Tammy
    - Long Haulin' 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014...Addicting isn't it...??

    Comment


    • #3
      That's the beauty of LSR ... it's just you on the track, nobody else to worry about.

      Comment


      • #4
        So..... when the instructor drove Red, was he getting passed like that?
        My hobby is needing a hobby.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by RockJustRock View Post
          So..... when the instructor drove Red, was he getting passed like that?
          No, that was when I was still running with the rookie group and that's when he drove, we just swapped seats. And there weren't that many cars on the track.
          Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

          Comment


          • #6
            You should try racing a lay down kart at over 125 MPH for a real thrill on a road course!!!

            Years ago I did Bridgehampton and the speeds there were around 122 MPH in the class I was racing in.

            Favorite tracks were Summit Point, VIR, and Thompson Speedway and of course Watkins Glen.

            Being only about 3/4 of an inch off the ground with no roll bar or seat belts with just your helmet, neck brace and drivers suit and gloves.

            I have never driven a shifter kart but that is another wild experience and years ago at Daytona when the speeds were around 150+ MPH they decided that was just to fast for a kart to be going.

            Jim Hill

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Jimbo17 View Post

              I have never driven a shifter kart but that is another wild experience and years ago at Daytona when the speeds were around 150+ MPH they decided that was just to fast for a kart to be going.
              Man, that shifter kart.....one of those completely destroyed the record at one of the autocross events I pretended to run at. That made me WANT one. But no, it's better used in more capable hands I'm sure, and I wouldn't know how to work on it.

              The track day events, it's a progression, you have to get into that on purpose. There are lots of operations all over the nation that do that. If you try it and like it, you're in for a long run, if you can afford it. It's a drug. It goes from instructor-led to "you can drive by yourself." And in that next level, intermediate solo, there are folks with stupid-fast cars who have already proven they know how to drive them. I wouldn't entirely recommend taking a 2006 Mustang with a blower in it to that. That's not fast enough, not nearly.

              Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

              Comment


              • #8
                What I keep getting here is you had more fun getting there than you did once there.... And I'm finding it hard to accept more people don't do it with real cars.
                My hobby is needing a hobby.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by RockJustRock View Post
                  What I keep getting here is you had more fun getting there than you did once there.... And I'm finding it hard to accept more people don't do it with real cars.
                  You are very perceptive. One instructor took me for a ride at Road Atlanta in a brand new smells-new Porsche. That thing was FAST of course. REAL fast and the guy was "babying" it because it wasn't even his car. At AMP, another instructor took me for a ride in a Nissan GTR. That thing was a monster of a car, all wheel drive, paddle shift, he was carving through the field, passing them in no-pass zones, he just passed them when he got to them.

                  So yeah, there are some real cars out there with guys who are unafraid to drive them, if that's what you mean.
                  Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    All in all, I'd have to agree with RJR on his statement and say that Red is one of those "real cars", and one hell of a "bang for the buck" racecar in street clothes!
                    Patrick & Tammy
                    - Long Haulin' 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014...Addicting isn't it...??

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      You mean to say the only way you could run was with a track full of Corvettes, Porsches and GTRs? THAT is what I'm having a hard time accepting. I'm thinking of the video I linked of the guy with a Kia at a track day. I ALSO can't imagine guys with supercars going for 180-190 on the straights at Daytona. Not enough balls or trust in even the BEST street tires.
                      My hobby is needing a hobby.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by RockJustRock View Post
                        You mean to say the only way you could run was with a track full of Corvettes, Porsches and GTRs? THAT is what I'm having a hard time accepting. I'm thinking of the video I linked of the guy with a Kia at a track day. I ALSO can't imagine guys with supercars going for 180-190 on the straights at Daytona. Not enough balls or trust in even the BEST street tires.
                        There IS or at least was, a whole nuther thing. "Chump" cars. They were doing that at AMP. I'm trying to remember, it may have been the first instructor I ever had, I think it was. He would ride with me and then scurry back into the paddock area to work on his Chump car.

                        In Chump, in order to get in, you have to prove you paid no more than $500 for the car, bill of sale. And from there you can put all the safety equipment you ever want on it, but you can't upgrade the car from its original mechanical design. No "performance" parts. And they would race them.

                        There were lots of old Datsun sedans, just a whole lot of junk. I never got a chance to see them run, but I'll bet that would be a hoot to watch. Like a baseball game, real slow, not much plot. Definitely a participant sport.
                        Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          No, I mean just ordinary-er cars. How do they group who goes when? To me if you go full junker. Chump Car, 24 Hours of Lemons might as well hook up with Deaf Bob and kill the things, put them out of their misery.
                          My hobby is needing a hobby.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Look into "Time Attack". You qualify alone, go for time in groups of four or five. Passing is discouraged. If someone is slow you drop back then catch up when you go for it. You CAN pass, but if you are fast that just puts you near ANOTHER car to pass. There shouldn't BE any really long straights so if you're doing things really RIGHT in the corners it should show.
                            Last edited by RockJustRock; August 18, 2018, 03:48 PM.
                            My hobby is needing a hobby.

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X