Has anyone tried road course racing?

Gmachine

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
I bought an old M3 & I'd like to try my hand at a road course. Everything I've seen is quite expensive ($250)compared to drag racing or trail riding ($10-30).

Any thoughts?
 
I have a few customers that do it. They do the 24 hr races in bmws... I can get you contact info, they are cool guys.
 
Most of the people that I know that track wind up spending about $500 a weekend to do it - tires, brakes, entry, gas, etc.

Where are you located? NCCAR (http://nccar.us/) sometimes does events that are a lot cheaper than going to VIR, etc. They just had one the other weekend.
 
I'm in Hickory. I'd like to do an Autox, but I think winding curves & slight elevation change would be more fun than a flat parking lot.
 
I have some Hankooks on my car that aren't going to take much abuse, but it handles really well on the street & I'd like to push it harder without threatening anyone else's life.

CMP I believe is the closest course to me. Looks like $260 is about the cheapest. I'm guessing the insurance is crazy high compared to a 1/8 drag strip.
 
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Ain't nobody got money fo dat!
 
Gmachine said:
I have some Hankooks on my car that aren't going to take much abuse, but it handles really well on the street & I'd like to push it harder without threatening anyone else's life.

CMP I believe is the closest course to me. Looks like $260 is about the cheapest. I'm guessing the insurance is crazy high compared to a 1/8 drag strip.
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Insurance isn't the real issue, a drag strip will have a lot more people (both paying to watch and to run) at it then a road course in most situations.

Some AutoX stuff is on slightly bigger courses and can be fun. If one is close to you, try it out.
 
Expensive is relative. $250 for a half day of racing is pretty cheap if you compare that to other racing venues.

I grew up racing SCCA and can tell you if you have never done an autocross, start there. It will be plenty for you as far as a slinging the car around and getting your adrenaline fix. Win a couple of those (they are only like $25 to $40 bucks each) then spend some cash on a track day. Paying for a track day at a nice course is not worth it if you don't know how to drive your car, autocross events will be a huge help in learning how to read lines, feel out your braking, and know how to visualize a course.
 
I've never gotten through a weekend for less than $500 between entry and consumables. Its an expensive sport but which one isnt and a weekend spent on track with an instructor is something I would recommend to anyone that gets a performance car. You don't need a bunch of fancy upgrades to run an HPDE (High Performance Drivers Ed) day as most of them you have an instructor with you and the speeds are a little more conservative. Out of the box an E36 M3 is a good car for HPDE's and what I did my first one in and drove for a few years. I'd recommend stainless braided brake lines, a different set of brake pads and rotors than what you run on the street (Loved my Carbotech pads and stock blank rotors) and a brake flush with something like MotulRBF600 or another high temp brake fluid. My old roommates dad is an instructor for TurnOne at CMP so I can put you in touch with him if you are interested.

I too will be one that votes for running a few autoX events before jumping to a track. But if you want to check out some SCCA Club Racing and see what you could be doing someday go out to CMS this weekend. There is a double SAARC regional event this weekend. I'll probably be there on Sunday crewing for a Spec Miata team and just hanging out.
 
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My wife would kill me if I spent $500 on a track day! We've got a second child on the way & the fact that I bought this car as a sedan barely squeezed by the practicalit meter. Thanks for the suggestions! Maybe I'll give a local autox a try then. I know they do some at Zmax with a decent sized course.

I'll check on what pieces have been upgraded on my car as well. The previous owner did a great job on the maintenance, so there should be little needed.
 
Expensive is the first 6 letters in racing.
If you want to race, you want to spend money.
If you don't want to spend money, take up badminton.

The cost of racing isn't what it takes to start ... it's what it takes to keep going.

That being said, SCCA or AutoX is a good place to start to decide of you want to keep spending the money on it.
Take your wife along and get her involved.
If she likes it, the money will be easier to spend.


Matt
 
I was doing wera on my race bike for a few years and when the economy tanked all the big names pulled out and now you can even break even unless your number one use to be you could show up and as long as you placed in the top 10 both days you made enough back to cover your costs well those days are long gone for local racers
 
Lizooki said:
Expensive is the first 6 letters in racing.
If you want to race, you want to spend money.
If you don't want to spend money, take up badminton.

The cost of racing isn't what it takes to start ... it's what it takes to keep going.

That being said, SCCA or AutoX is a good place to start to decide of you want to keep spending the money on it.
Take your wife along and get her involved.
If she likes it, the money will be easier to spend.


Matt
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She's pregnant, so I don't think that's happening. Maybe racing is the wrong word. I'd just like to push my car a bit harder than I can on the street. It's by no means fast, but handles corners well.
 
If thats what you are looking for and don't want to break the bank, then AutoX is probably the way to go. There is a class for everything and everyone and I have yet to be to an AutoX where people don't go out of their way to help a newcomer.
 
Not sure if this is what you are looking for or not but the road course down in Kershaw has a few open days a year and you can go out for like $50 and burn laps for like 2 hours I think.

Granted its been a couple years since I went and you may have to rent the whole thing now or some crap...but its a fun day
 
Gmachine said:
My wife would kill me if I spent $500 on a track day! We've got a second child on the way & the fact that I bought this car as a sedan barely squeezed by the practicalit meter. Thanks for the suggestions! Maybe I'll give a local autox a try then. I know they do some at Zmax with a decent sized course.

I'll check on what pieces have been upgraded on my car as well. The previous owner did a great job on the maintenance, so there should be little needed.
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The best thing you can do is stop while you're ahead if money is of any concern. There's an old saying:
"The best way to make a small fortune racing is to start with a large one".

Go hit Deals Gap/Shady Valley/NC9/NC80/NC181/NC226 in no particular order and you'll have plenty of fun, even at reasonable speeds.

karatejosh said:
I was doing wera on my race bike for a few years and when the economy tanked all the big names pulled out and now you can even break even unless your number one use to be you could show up and as long as you placed in the top 10 both days you made enough back to cover your costs well those days are long gone for local racers
Click to expand...
I also raced Wera for a couple years, and even on a cheap bike with cheap tires, it was hard to stay in it. When gas prices doubled around 2008, I was done. Did my first trackday in 5 years at VIR earlier this month and realized how rusty I was...
 
jeepinmatt said:
The best thing you can do is stop while you're ahead if money is of any concern. There's an old saying:
"The best way to make a small fortune racing is to start with a large one".

Go hit Deals Gap/Shady Valley/NC9/NC80/NC181/NC226 in no particular order and you'll have plenty of fun, even at reasonable speeds.


I also raced Wera for a couple years, and even on a cheap bike with cheap tires, it was hard to stay in it. When gas prices doubled around 2008, I was done. Did my first trackday in 5 years at VIR earlier this month and realized how rusty I was...
Click to expand...


Yeah, maybe you're right. I need to give the good public roads a try & plan for one autox event. After seeing the cost I may be better to buy a kart for the back yard & wait for the dew to settle.
 
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