Has anyone been there? How much does it cost and what do I need to do?

 

I take my motorcycle down there quite a bit, but I've only taken my car once. I went with this group:

http://www.hookedondriving.com/hooke...-States-Region

You don't need to do any heavy car prep with HOD...they have details on their site, but it's pretty basic...brakes/tires/bearings/hoses in good shape, fluids topped up and not leaking, etc.

Roebling's an easy track to learn, so it shouldn't take long for you to get up to speed.

 

Right on man thanks. I'm going to try to go next month. Which group did you run with? I'd like to start with the beginners, but I'd really like to go solo. I don't have any track experience.

 

I ran with the beginner group since it was my first time driving a car at that track. I didn't feel bad about it though. There were several guys who had racing licenses, but just hadn't been to that track before who also ran the beginner group so they could get familiar with the layout. And just because it's the beginner group, doesn't mean you'll be going slow!

You’ll have a coach with you, but he won’t be there to slow you down. In fact, he’ll probably be telling you to get on the gas sooner! Really, they just want to make sure you’re smooth and predictable before they sign you off for solo. You might let your coach know your goal is to get bumped up to the solo group, and ask him to help you get there. He’ll probably take it as a compliment.

 

Sounds like the way to go. Would be nice to have a coach. Did you feel the 5x25 minute sessions were enough? Trying to go next month on the 24th!

 

Yeah, I thought the 5x25 sessions were good. I don’t have much experience with car trackday organizations, but most of the bike trackdays I do have a similar schedule…three groups doing 20~25 min. sessions. One group I run with starts out with a 40 min. session in the morning, but almost no one runs the full 40 minutes. People will use that long session to dial in suspension or set hot tire pressures, but they’ll usually run a few laps, come in to make a change and then run a couple more laps to see if their set-up is better.

Driving a car at the limit is actually more strenuous than I expected, so after 25 minutes, I was ready for a break! I think Evos have some of the best seats available in production cars (at least the ones I can afford!), but I was still having to brace myself quite a bit. It was pretty demanding.

I think you’re doing the right thing by just going for it. You’ll never know exactly what it’s like until you experience it. Plus, you’re local, so there’s not a huge commitment in terms of travel costs/time. There are a lot worse ways to spend a day!

 

I'm getting more and more excited! I can't wait! Do you think my wife could ride in the car once?

You ever ran the joint base charleston track? When I had my bike I always wanted to.

 

I'm not sure about the ride along. I think I remember someone saying something about it being allowed in the last session of the day, but it may have been only for the advanced group. I actually took a ride with one of the coaches in his 911, and it was hilarious! We were pretty much sideways everywhere but the front straight.

I had never heard of the track in Charleston until you mentioned it. I looked it up on youtube, and it looks pretty good! I'm going to look for some more details, and maybe I'll head down there sometime.