Need help deciding. please help
 

I’ve been racing on the canyons for some time now. I used to practice drifting up there too but, I like road racing. I sold my car not to long ago it was an 88 rx7 se model with a few mods. I just bought a new car which wasn’t different from my old one. Now I have a 88 rx7 se model with t2 full swap. I wanted to get advice to which I should set my car up for drifting or for road racing. I was thinking for Willow springs for road racing and I live pretty close to irwindale speedway they have lots of drift events.Thanks:)

If you want to learn how to "road race" then go find an HPDE with a decent organization, pays your fees, get to the track, forget everything you think that you know about driving at speed, and listen to your instructor

As a friend of mine was fond of saying: Sign up, line up and shut up.

Get yourself a good helmet - SA2005 rated.

Take care of the basics on the car. This has all been covered in this forum before - use the search. Good alignment, street tires, fresh fluids all around, and a full tech inspection by a good mechanic.

And don't forget to have fun. :)

Good luck,

-bill

Well put!

I can reinforce those thoughts. First of all, what you call "racing on the canyons" isn't racing at all, and will only get you a stern lecture from anyone who is a legitimate racing instructor. If I were you, I would tuck that way back in the closet with everything else you should be ashamed of and do yourself the favor of not mentioning it when you go to the track for real. Put aside all of your preconcieved notions of what you think you know, and get out to a HPDE of some kind and find out what it is really all about. There are tons of sanctioned track days all over the country for anyone with a relatively safe and properly maintained car to explore advanced vehicle dynamics in a controlled environment. Almost all of them will require an experienced high performance driving instructor to ride with you until you reach a point that they feel you can participate without being a danger to yourself and others. You can get a tremendous amount of info from most of these instructors in a relatively short time, and will soon be driving and understanding your vehicle at a level you never even imagined, so sideline the ego for a while, open up your mind, and soak in what they have to offer like a sponge.

If you are truly interested in expanding your skills and seeing if you really have measurable talent, then you are making the right decision to get off the public roads where you are endangering innocent peoples lives and getting out onto the track where that kind of driving belongs. Good Luck!

For track racing / HPDE, you can attend NASA events at the California Speedway (in Fontana) also. It might be a bit closer than Willow Springs.


I haven't taken my car to a 'real' track with concrete walls yet, but I've been autocrossing for about 4-5 years and it is so much more fun than running canyons. Having a clock to tell you if your times are improving is great, and I really love being able to push the car to the limit without worrying about damaging it: cones are a lot easier on your bodywork than guardrails.


The local autocross club is www.solo2.com , check out their Calendar section for info on events. You can PM me for more info if you'd like.

-s-

Buttonwillow is up by you as well. Check out the LA chapter of the BMW CCA. They have an event coming up there in the next week or two. Top notch instruction and some of best organized HPDE and I've EVER had in 20 years of doing this.

Thanks Guys