|
I'm really interested in getting into some rookie racing but I don't really know how to start.  I've read enough jalopnik articles about track days and rookie rally racers that I'm really getting the bug, but I need some more information.It seems like most racing is reserved for Lewis Hamiltons that started karting at age 2 and are already signed to a sponsored team by the time they're 15 and live as a full-time racer. I have a good career that I don't want to stop but man I'd really love to do some races here and there on the side as a hobby, not full time or anything. But I'm not sure how to start or even if that's possible? There's a track near me (Austin, TX) that does time trials, so I may try to do that. And there's opportunities to rent supercars to drive on that course or at COTA, which is expensive but would be a pretty wild time. But what about actual wheel-to-wheel racing and passing and stuff? I can totally get that you don't want random teenage yahoos coming in with no experience smashing people and ruining races. But so... how do you get started? They have some programs at the track for 'learning racing' but I feel like I'd spend several hundred dollars just to have them teach me the basics and then that'd be that. I need something that's like a proper intro to competition. I'm willing to put in the hours and pay money and take lessons if that's what it takes, but I don't want to just spend money for lessons unless I know its actually building towards getting into races. I'm not naive, I know I'm not anywhere remotely ready to just show up to the Pirelli challenge or something. But what else is there? It seems like there's a huge gap between karting and time trials and actual GT racing. Do I just have to do kart races first? Even in kart racing, it seems like there's a huge gulf between "tiny restricted karts for kids on weekends" and "proper fast karts that cost tons of money and race each other". Also looking to purchase some old car as a project / track car and kit it up, although that makes me question what races or leagues or anything I might potentially be qualified for in the future, and if so, I'd want to get a car or build a car that fits the regulations of whatever league. So I kinda want to get an early idea of where to go and what options I have before I start throwing down serious cash. There's a rally course not too far outside Austin that seems to accept basically any car and doesn't require a roll cage, so I may just do time trials on that rally course and avoid actual racing. But it would be super awesome to get into some real races on a track someday. E: Like if I kit up some Miata, are there rookie leagues I could race in? If I'm not qualified yet, what would I have to do to get qualified? X hours on a track? X hours with an instructor? What are the requirements and what kinda races should I be looking at? Zaphod42 fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Apr 4, 2018 |
#
¿
Apr 4, 2018 19:01
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 01:37 |
|
|
BlackMK4 posted:https://nasatx.com/ loving ace, thanks. E: Yeah this is exactly perfect. Starting with no passing and instructors in cars, moving to passing on straights, then eventually moving to solo driving and passing. That's exactly what I was hoping for. Zaphod42 fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Apr 4, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Apr 4, 2018 19:27
|
|
|
Crustashio posted:If your goal is W2W, do not build. Buy something when you are ready and have found an organization/class with good local attendance. Good used racecars sell for 25-50% of the build cost. Interesting! I also kinda like the appeal of working on my own car, but can't say I could complain about skipping most of the hard work. I didn't even consider that, a used racecar. Wouldn't know where to shop for one, but I guess if I start hanging around with the track guys I'll find some options. I drive a BBW posted:I race with NASA TX and we have a race coming up at COTA May 5-6. It’s open to the public and free to get in and spectate. It will be a great chance to look at all the different cars and classes that are available. Drop me a PM if you want some more info. I've been going to COTA a lot lately so I'll probably be there, sounds like good times.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2018 06:00
|
|
|
KillHour posted:Thanks. The website says helmets are optional. Do I need to go out and get one? Do I run with windows up or down? I think you run with windows up unless you have a net. I'm also looking to get a helmet, any good recommendations goons?
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2018 00:09
|
|
|
mekilljoydammit posted:Trying stuff on really does help - head shapes aren't universal. I may be spoiled by having auto racing suppliers local though. Yeah I guess I need to find a race shop to go try some in person.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2018 00:38
|
|
|
I put in some volunteer work this weekend at COTA during a track day event (and ended up getting paid) and made some cool connections! I'm dying to get some real track time, looked at a few cars last week since I don't want to track my daily, but nothing was quite right. I'm looking at another car now that looks promising, hopefully I can check it out this week. There's a time trial event next weekend local to me on a real simple circuit which I think would be a decent way to get started, but may not be enough time to get a car and make sure everything's in proper order.
|
|
#
¿
May 21, 2018 01:57
|
|
|
BraveUlysses posted:lmao this is a comedy of errors, count how many stupid things happen after that crash Yeah everybody stopping and getting out of their cars is some weird poo poo. I mean good on you for being concerned but how do you not understand how this works.
|
|
#
¿
May 21, 2018 05:12
|
|
|
gently caress, that's an STI? I can't even tell from the body or the... lack of headlights.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2018 04:09
|
|
|
I just bought my first racing helmet, a SA2015. It looks kinda big and goofy on me but its definitely solid stuff and fits perfectly (tried on a few before picking one). My M3 is almost back from the shop, but it probably won't be ready for the rallycross event this weekend. I'm not even sure if I want to rallycross the M3 since its pretty low to the ground... but rwd would be fun. I also have a new WRX that would be fun to rallycross, but its my daily so I'm not sure I should. How stupid am I, goons? I was gonna buy a cheap shitbox so I wouldn't feel bad if I dinged it up rallycrossing, and instead I got a fairly nice M3 for tracking. But I still want to do rallycross events. A. Rallycross the WRX and if it gets dinged up in the paint, I can always get it re-painted or something? No huuuuge deal. The course doesn't have any trees or boulders that would do serious damage... B. Rallycross the M3 and slide around in the dirt? I wanna go sideways, and if I ding up the paint on it I wouldn't care too much either... C. Show up and spectate and watch other people in the dirt and wait for the next track event instead... D. Race both of them because they're my drat cars and who cares if I smash it and ruin the resell value? 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2018 03:15
|
|
|
kimbo305 posted:Your wheels and fenders are gonna get lots of chips if you run on gravel. No gravel, just dirt on this course. Ironically the city ripped up all the roads near my house and laid down new gravel but haven't paved it yet, so I'm being subjected to that whether I want it or not. A piece even got stuck in my caliper and started making AWFUL screeching noise until I fished it out.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2018 14:50
|
|
|
Yeah, but I don't know if the m3 will be finished by this weekend. Prob still in the shop till next week. I think I'm gonna put mudflaps on the wrx and take it out to the dirt. Its what it was meant to do. Then I'll get the m3 back and track it, maybe take it out to the dirt too. gently caress it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2018 16:26
|
|
|
KillHour posted:Once you get a door ding in the parking lot of a supermarket, you'll stop caring. Now I just have fun with my cars (except the one that's leased) That's the thing, I already scratched the wrx pretty bad and haven't bothered fixing it yet so gently caress it Ordered some mud flaps and a gopro 
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2018 17:23
|
|
|
Sex Weirdo posted:Are you looking at going to the one at I96 in lake odessa? I'll be there on sunday. I don't think there would be too much damage to your car, but expect it to get extremely dirty. Nah I'm down in Texas. Its supposed to be a pretty clear track though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3GU6s0xAX0 A few people with pretty new cars mixed in with the beater shitboxes. One guy drove a brand new STI so I shouldn't stick out too much.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2018 18:00
|
|
|
First rallycross was a success! First round I was super slow, tried left foot braking but while I've done it in my simulator, I haven't actually tried left foot braking my WRX IRL and the pedals don't really have much room, so I struggled and lost tons of time. Also decided to intentionally start slow and build up pace rather than push it and spin out or do some real damage to my new(ish) car. The track was pretty clear, no thick trees or boulders or anything, but there was still some serious bushes or mesquite trees that while wouldn't smash your car would scrape it up pretty awful if you went off-track. Wasted another couple laps before I got the bravery to turn off traction control, which was killing my starts. I figured I'd want it off for rally surfaces, but I've seen people say if you're new to racing its stupid to turn off. But I've got a good feel for the WRX and I've done lots of dirt racing in the simulator at least, so I have some idea how the momentum works. At the end of the day I was still a bit slow but very much close to the other cars in my division, faster than a couple and only a second behind the next up. I put in a time of 59 seconds where my first lap of the day was at 78. (Which came right down to 65, then 63, and so on) Zero damage done to my car, mudflaps did their job well and protected the paint from any small rocks. I could be a lot faster, really just have to be brave and push it harder and I can bring my lap times down more. But considering this was the first time I've ever really driven on a dirt surface in real life, I'm pretty dang happy with the day. Plus just had a super fun time going fast on dirt and getting sideways for a bit. And through all 10 runs I did, I didn't hit any cones. Maintained complete control over the car. Just gotta go faster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF5xzUglqJw It was hot as hell out there working corner duty, I'm exhausted.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2018 05:15
|
|
|
Sounds like we had pretty similar experiences  (Although I was on dirt)Residency Evil posted:Any good helmets available on Amazon? There are, but you really want to try helmets on and see how they fit you if at all possible. Sizes can vary and you want it to be snug but also comfortable for long periods of time. I'm a pretty skinny dude but I have a fat head so I need a large helmet, I wouldn't have guessed that.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2018 21:38
|
|
|
Residency Evil posted:How hard is autocross on a car, out of curiosity? I'm assuming it's mainly pad/tire wear, but how much more quickly should I expect to go through stock pads/tires? You'll definitely go through tires and pads faster than street driving, but how much autocross are you doing? Like 5-10 laps isn't that much, so how often you go to autocross matters. If you spend hours at a track day you're gonna wear tires pretty fast but a day of autocross probably won't even make a noticable impact.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2018 16:36
|
|
|
Did another rallycross today at another track, goddamn drifting on dirt at full lock is fun as hell.  Also, I had the fastest lap! Good loving times!
|
|
#
¿
Aug 4, 2018 20:34
|
|
|
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2018 03:59
|
|
|
I drive a BBW posted:Anyone going to NASA national championships at COTA? I'll probably come out and watch
|
|
#
¿
Aug 27, 2018 17:15
|
|
|
BloodBag posted:When I spun at my last two autocrosses, 'when you spin, both feet in' went through my head both times. Clutch and brake? Or let both feet off the pedals?
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2018 00:12
|
|
|
Got to drive on COTA last weekend  It was just the back half of the circuit they weren't using for Rallycross, but they were doing test drives in VWs and Subarus, and I got to have some fun in a Golf-R and an STI. I think you weren't supposed to go very fast but I told the ride-along instructor that I had a little experience and he basically just let me do whatever the hell I wanted. Man, rounding turn 10 at WOT is unbelievably fun, almost thought I was gonna lose it. Also shooting down that long back straight at full speed.In other news, this happened at Hallet recently, holy crap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w5ukQqHJBM Supposedly a brake failure. Going so fast he shoots right over the tire barrier and into the trees  supposedly he walked away from it, banged up but otherwise fine.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2018 23:46
|
|
|
BlackMK4 posted:That is some sick runoff in a high speed spot, bravo Yeaaaaah somebody should go beef up those barriers holy poo poo
|
|
#
¿
Oct 2, 2018 00:04
|
|
|
Dave Inc. posted:Of course, I didn't want him behind me. He immediately ran up behind the guy in front of me and did the same. It was only through a chicane at Barber, he came up on me through it and I pointed him by at the exit. "momentum car brah" These people are the worst
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2019 02:43
|
|
|
Took my M3 to COTA, had a loving blast, managed to get up to ~135 on the back straightaway. Mostly went fantastic, and my instructor really helped me improve my braking and make sure I was hitting all the apexes just right. Picked up a ton of speed from my first laps out to the end. Was only a short session, but I'm gonna have to go back out in a couple months. Had a real fun moment where my brake fluid overheated on the back straight and I lost brakes going into turn 12.  managed to stop her right before the gravel, thank god there's a loving huge runoff area there. The rest of the session it was fine, guess the tires heated up or I was braking better or something, but I'm definitely going to drain and replace the brake fluid before my next track day in a few weeks.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2019 19:29
|
|
|
Its a carbon fiber ceramic hybrid. What do you recommend?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2019 19:54
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4ZmolZCnX8 Hahahahaha good lord
|
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2019 07:11
|
|
|
Went to Harris Hill for the first time today, and it rained pretty hard. Got humbled in my first session when I spun the car for the first time In my defense, it was wet, and I was coming down turn 5, off-camber downhill turn, got on the power a little too early towards the end and slid the rear around.We were spaced out pretty good so no real worries there. Kept it pretty solid the rest of the day, started to slide the rear a tiny bit around 7 when it was raining more later in the day but I managed to counter-steer and save it. I was worried as hell about driving in the rain for the first time on track, but it was a blast and honestly probably taught me a lot. Really had to get a feel for the weight load and traction at all times, and it was really cool seeing where puddles would form and how the ideal line would shift as part of the track would get wetter and you'd want to find grip in a slightly different line.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2019 06:06
|
|
|
jamal posted:I have heard claims that castrol srf, which is like $65 per 500ml lasts longer than, say, motul rbf600 to the point of breaking even on cost but that is a lot of money for fluid. Doing a bunch of track days on the same stuff seems iffy to me especially if it's a long time between them. I think changing a less expensive fluid more often is probably the way to go as it makes sure the brakes are always well bled and the fluid in the calipers is fresh and there's less water in it. If you can't afford $60 for brake fluid how can you afford track days? I heard that SRF was the way to go and you don't have to change it very often, so that's what I did. So far so good.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2019 23:54
|
|
|
BlackMK4 posted:Watch this from 50:05 to about 50:20 Oh boy I sure am lucky all these cars slowed down, great time to pass! E: Oh wow, he actually gets defensive about being chewed out by race officials. Holy poo poo dude. "That was a teachable moment, and they messed it up. I wasn't going that fast, I didn't touch nobody..." Oh gently caress no. E2: Oh my god gently caress this guy. He then goes on about how he's friends with Henry Ford the 3rd and "they didn't know all the people I knew I would bad-mouth them to after being mean to me" rich people are the worst. Zaphod42 fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Apr 23, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2019 02:22
|
|
|
BlackMK4 posted:so this has blown up a little bit in the past few days gently caress I came here to post this This is up there with https://youtu.be/0xAHhfhHR8A
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2019 20:25
|
|
|
~ drama ~ https://tiremeetsroad.com/2019/05/31/hpde-drivers-allege-rearden-racing-monopolized-open-session-left-frs-wrecked/
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2019 18:17
|
|
|
https://streamable.com/rfcyd?fbclid=IwAR0knI_cob_MxwIG_ULRS98yPRIFN7jglVcRVAiKKka3KeNvHhKki5PWFIA Jesus christ
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2019 04:12
|
|
|
Fuzz_83 posted:I don't like to talk bad about organizers of events, but what the actual gently caress. The type of idiot passes both the Porsche and Mustang were doing should have earned them a Black Flag and then a 'Pack your poo poo up' speech. Yeah watching it again I'm confused. I thought it was just like an open passing session, but there are totally several cars giving point-bys. So.. what the hell is going on when he's just blowing past cars in the corners?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2019 09:00
|
|
|
PaintVagrant posted:I've done at least 10 HPDEs and have never had my pads looked at during tech. I guess depending on the sanctioning body your HPDE could be different though. Same. Heck at my last HPDE I ran one of my pads down to the metal, and I was a little concerned if I should go out on the last session or not. They told me to send it lol. But definitely take the time to replace your pads if they're low before you get out there.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2019 21:55
|
|
|
Fuzz_83 posted:Don't let someone else tell you what's good or not. Learn to do your own nut and bolt check, ask a friend to tell you what thing are to look for etc. I did do my own check... Thanks guy but I'm good.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2019 15:27
|
|
|
Crustashio posted:Turns out even autocross wheels can be consumables. Could be worse. Guy in my local group posted this  These are 6ULs. WTF.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 3, 2019 04:17
|
|
|
track
|
|
#
¿
Sep 3, 2019 04:19
|
|
|
Ganondork posted:Question for the track day experts: can you recommend a tire for HPDE/autocross/ backroads driving?  What up fellow E46 M3 HPDE newbie? I just got to where I'm driving without an instructor sometimes. I have Michelin Pilot Sports on mine right now and they're pretty solid, did me especially well one time when it rained hardcore. But I also feel like they could be better? Zaphod42 fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Jan 15, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jan 15, 2020 01:51
|
|
|
drat that sucks
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2020 02:11
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 01:37 |
|
|
I honestly don't know what you could do wrong to a brand new high quality diff to cause it to explode in 100 miles. Except like, install it wrong? Even if you just fully raced the engine from completely cold, I would think the diff would be able to cope just fine?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2020 02:42
|
|