I know this isnt tech related but I just HAD to share

Well, I took my car to the track today

Not a drag 1/4 track.... no no, not an auto-x cone course.... ohh no... a real ROAD COURSE track !!

Don't remember the exact mileage but it was an 8 or so turn track. There were LOTS of cars and people there it the weather was PERFECT|, overcast and about 76*F.

Being as I am a complete n00b at this, I had to get a "Check-ride" and they followed me around the course. The instructor said he liked my lines and that I was one of the better drivers (of the noobies) he's seen all day .

So after that, I got about 12 laps on the big, real track and 21 laps on the smaller, inner track. Top spee on the little track was about 70 and top on the big one was about 100. The big one had a 3/8 mile straightaway BUT they cut it in half and put up chicanes which made you have to slow to about 40 in the middle of it..

The car handled REALLY well (I was keeping up with a S2000 in the corners... but he passed me in the straightaways ). Very predictable... it was like an extension of my body. Once though, at about 50mph in a S-turn, I gave it a little too much throttle and nearly spun but I just ended up kinda drifting and swinging back but regained control . Braking was AWESOME, I've never really had to brake from 100 to 40 before and I'd brake too early sometimes and loose time. IT was really cool because the turns where banked so you really stuck on the road. Exit speed of the last turn was ~80-85 mph. My left foot got tired b/c I was using the 4th pedal as a brace during cornering .

The mini-track was really fun. The road was only wide enough for 2 cars so they spaced the cars out by time (no passing or more than 2-3 cars on track at a time). The average turn speed was 35-40 mph there and the back part has some gravel/dirt on teh road so I almost lost it a couple of times... but luckily I didnt. It was about 10 turns and you never got above 65-70 on the straightaway. It was lots of fun though cuz there were a few "lane-change" type curves and you really got thrown around in the car (again, more left foot soreness action) .

Ok ok, sorry about the long post.... but it was just so much damn fun! Now I know why they say these cars were built for the track... because they ARE!!

Cliffs Notes : Me race car on track good. Me like. RX-7 good on track. Almost lost control a few times. 2 tracks there were. One small, one big, small had 70mph max and big was 100mph. Me likey much, me do again next year.

 

sound's like you had a ball. ive only had track driving experiance in a simmular way.

if anyone is thinking of doing it, just do it!!!!

 

Where have I heard this story before? Somewhere...

 

next year? why not next weekend?

 

Sounds like a TON of fun, I can't wait for my first track day... :sigh:

Steve

 

B/c that was their last even for this year

 

What is the name of this track? How much was the whole day? I want to do a lap day at Mid-Ohio, but its $600 just to get on the track for 4-6 hours!!

 

What about VIR? I know NASA runs at VIR, not sure how far that is from West Virgina, but it can't be that far.

PaulC

 

This was with All American Road Racing Foundation (www.aarrf.com).

It was $60 for the day

 

$60!!! NICE.... I sooooo want to do that.. but my car is at home in my garage, in storage... dammit....

ahh well... someday... and then we'll end up with another story like this one!

 

Don't you just love that feeling?!? And the best part is it never gets old. It's always that exciting.

Are you ready to strip the interior out of your car and put a cage in yet?

Find yourself a cheap race seat and swap it out with your driver seat before the next event. It will save your leg and make you much more comfortable in the car. Then swap your stock seat back after the event.

Have fun,
Mike

 

welcome to road racing, good luck gettin that stain out of your personality.

 

Track season in Minnesota is significantly shorter than other places around the country.

The track is the Minnesota Highway Safety Center track, used for training the state's highway patrol. It is rented out by AARRF and a few other clubs on various weekends throughout the (short) MN summer. It is a short track, just over a mile long if I remember right.

dre, you should join the Northstar Rotary Rockets! Most of our club members are in the Twin Cities area, and a few of us have recently gotten into tracking our cars this year as well. We go up to St Cloud for the AARRF events as well as another (less rice *ahem* fwd oriented ) group.

Too bad you found out about this so late in the year! Although it gives you more time to save $$ for the eventual brake system/rubber upgrades you'll probably want next year...

 

Hehe.. how much does it cost again to join the NSRR?

I will be at the next Mowog (6) in Mpls on sept 29th

But that will be MY last even of the year as I am storing the car for the winter... college .

 

I think our membership fee is $20 if I remember right.

I may be able to make that one, not counting on it though. Moving this weekend, and I still would need to do a little brake work on the car in order to make it autox worthy... However we have got a few members who are big autox-ers who will probably be there.

 

OMFG!

The aarrf site says they are having one last event onoct 13th!!

I dunno if I have another $60 laying around though....

 

Now that you have the racing bug, you gotta JUST DO IT again and again!!!

 

Look what I dug up?

Anyone want to see a reply of some of the action Dre_2000 was talking about?

http://www.aarrf.com/movies/AARRFnaFCvS2000.mpg

Enjoy.

 

Nice little video. Looks like a ton of fun

 

YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT, GO WET YOUR BED

 

huh? *looks around* "you talking to me?"

 

now try it with 30 other cars around you.

 

I just did the same thing! Took my '99 NSX to Willow Springs yesterday and ran with the Porche Owner's Association people. It was fantastic! Now I am looking at my '88 RX-7 daily driver and thinking...what do I need to do to get this thing ready for the track. I am going to have to go through a complete rebuild soon. At times it looks like a crop duster with the white smoke -- other times it runs fine, so I guess the rebuild is not "if" but "when".

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Haha, I love when you find out what your brakes can do. Hey, I can stop 50 feet later. No, I can stop 50 feet more than that. I really liked road course driving too. Autocross is only a quick fix.