I have had my Evo for a while now, and I know I haven’t even scratched the surface of its ability, especially within the realm of legality. I have always wanted to try road racing, seeing as a strait line never held much appeal, but I have never known where to start.



I figured I would ask you guys. I have read a lot of your, “track day” threads and I ask myself how they got to do that. Did they start with a school or class, or did they just drive up to the local track and say let me on.



So that’s my question, where did everyone start and how did you practice. I hope that this makes enough sense to get an answer. Any advice would be awesome, thanks.

 

You can just drive to the local track and say let me on but you probally will be all over the place. I would recommend maybe a driving school if you're learning how to run the road-course and then test it out on the track. I can't wait to try my first AutoX

 

Local autocross. It's a very social form of motorsport. It's low risk and low cost.

d

 

Most track days are run with clubs that have driver's ed run groups. Just sign up for the lowest group and you should have instructors. The lower run groups are designed for first-timers and less experienced folk. Try NASA.

 

i started with autox. really fun and you will learn a lot before going to the track

 

just sign up with a group like nasa (www.nasaproracing.com), its 35 bux or something for a yearly membership, and 150 bux for each event. you go into group one and an have an insturctor in your car. they give you 4 20min sessions, some people ***** about that not being enough, but for your first event its enough. also since your in socal ask the socalevo boys, they're all a bunch of track ******.

 

Since you are in SoCal, if you want to try HPDE on road courses, I highly recommend the Buttonwillow Performance Driving Clinic.

Here's a link, select "Performance Driving Clinic" for info. There's one scheduled next month. The instruction is excellent and you get lots of track time.

http://www.buttonwillowraceway.com/

NASA stinks. You get very little track time and they are hyper-organized to the point of being a pain in the ***, with mandatory download sessions after every run, etc.

Other good SoCal HPDE organizers with class and track instruction for beginners:

www.speedventures.net

www.redlinetrackevents.com

www.racerfactory.com

www.opentrackracing.com

 

hey thanks alot guys, i dont know why I was afraid of some sarcastic remark...so its nice to get the opisite reaction then what I was expecting. Ill swing by the SoCalEvo bords and ask the same question. Any more advice, or even stories on how you started would be great. Its just nice to hear that it is not INCREDIBLY complicated.

One question tho, what are the average rules regarding the car, like roll cage, racing seatbelts, etc? I just have no idea what to expect thats why im asking.

 

well the average rule would be dont touch it and it'll be fine. with no cage and stock seat belt your fine. if you throw in some cheapo autox harness, or you attach the harness at the wrong angle, then it gets complicated. if the only mods you have are the one in your sig, then dont touch the car and just drive it to the track as is.

 

Auto-X is a great place to start. I starting kart racing when I was 11 years old, and have been progressing into faster classes since. I started tracking cars about 4 years ago at the local auto-x and track days. There are some major differences in how the kart responds vs. the car and as most people will probably agree, you can never stop learning. I also highly recommend picking a local club that has good quality instructors when do go on the track.

 

The only equipment you need for your first track day is a helmet. I got an DOT/Snell approved open-face helmet at a motorcycle shop for $70, and I have used it for about 60 track days in the last 2 years.

If you go out once or twice and decide you want to do more of this (and like most drivers, you will get hooked on road racing), then you can start spending money modding your EVO. Go ahead and run on your street tires the first couple of times out.

Then, the most important mod is good R-compound tires, which I would get as my first mod. Get a set of Toyo RA1 tires, size 255/40/17, which fit fine on the stock Enkei wheels. Total cost will be about $700 installed.

 

I did my first autocross last week and it was awesome. My first times were really bad cause I was too aggressive and so I ended up plowing in every corner. Towards the end when I found the limits of the car and my times improved.

I got to ride shotgun with a stock engine evo 8, just race tires and ohlins coilovers and boy was that fast. 2 seconds away from fastest lap of the day (note that cars with fastest lap are heavily modified non street legal beasts) I never though a 'stock' evo could corner so fast.

 

it is cheaper to go karting though, more laps and costs less (tires, fuel...) though it is always good to know the limits of your car.

 

The one thing to know about the HPDE's is that it is a place to learn, not to race! You do these event to learn the proper driving line and car control skills, getting good instructor is KEY!! You must also realize the dangers of taking your street car on the track, if you wreck it's on you. Most insurance policies won't cover HPDE wrecks, but you should check with yours. As far as first mods, safety first. I would recommend a good helmet and if at all possible a harness and roll bar. It seems every event I'm at someone rolls, just keep yourself in check and you'll be fine. Plus most organizations won't allow you to run a 5/6pt harness without a roll bar for safety reasons.

Another thing I would not advise right away are R compound tires. These are for experienced drivers and they give very little feedback as to what the car is doing. The tend to hide mistakes and when pushed to far they brake away. Very unforgiving. High performance street tires is what I would stay with. I did not change to R compound until I was going for my competition evaluation.

If you want to go and "race" give autox a try.

 

Not necessarily true. I totalled a 350Z at the Buttonwillow Performance Driving Clinic (which I recomended in a post above) in 2004. My insurance company covered the loss and paid me more than I thought the car was worth. The Clinic allows no racing, and has no timing equipment. I had an instructor (not in the car at the time of crash). It is a driving school run by SoCal region of SCCA, which owns Buttonwillow Raceway. My ins. co. talked to the executive in charge of the track. He explained that they teach car control, braking, steering, etc.

If you go out to the track with some fly by night internet group, and use a transponder, the story might be different.