sykikchimp

Have any of you ever done anything like this?
http://www.autometricsmotorsports.com/lapping/index.htm

Seems like a great chance to get a lot of seat time, to practice things I've learned. Any thoughts? pros/cons?

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adey

Yup!
http://www.speedtrialusa.com/ is like that, only there's no "race license" class.
Passengers are allowed, passing zones, full course access (usually), whole day (8 - 5 usually) driving with groups alternating every hour (you drive 20 mins for every hour, usually getting about an hour and a half of seat time) for roughly $150 depending on which track. Some are more, some are less.
This is about $100 cheaper than the link you posted, and may very well be a more friendly crowd! (I've met very few "jerks" in the two speedtrialusa events that I've participated in, and virtually no jerks driving in either of the 2 drift events I've participated in...)

Or do you have something against STUSA which is why you're looking for alternatives? (granted, STUSA doesn't hold as many events in the east/midwest as they do in the west)...

AKADriver

Well that's exactly it, they don't hold events out here, so we can't go to them.

I guess they used to, but I haven't seen one since I've been looking for them. Of course their animated track map graphic shows a map of VIR...

sykikchimp

SpeedtrialUSA doesn't hold events in the east anymore..

They say most people get about 2.5 hours of track time on one of the "lapping days" I would be beat down after 2.5 hrs of fast driving on a track.

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DamnedButDetermined

were do you find all of these track days?

I think we should have a sticky poste at the top of the motorsport forum, with all of the available track days that anyone can find. I know sykikchimp knows of good places, tnord, dsc and a few others know a good bit about this stuff so please share the dates of track days with us.

thanks

HippoSleek

Take a look at some of the other schools in the region (I good list used to be at Tar Heel Sports Car Club website). There are other groups that offer more time than NASA, w/o racing going on at the same time. Many have the same instructors. There are also a lot of groups that give maximum seat time, w/o an instructor (although you will have to have a certain number of events with other groups).

sykikchimp

http://www.trackschedule.com

it's ALL here.

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DamnedButDetermined

thank you!

sykikchimp

Have you ever done one of the full day things? I've seen a couple types.. one was one run group all day.. you pull in when you want, you go when you want. There is an hour for lunch..

then there's the type I posted above where 2 classes (racers, and NON-racers usually) alternate on-track every half hour.

I'm wondering if it is beneficial to do this? I don't think it would really be worth it personally, unless I had an instructor. (some of the days don't include them) But I'm wondering if 2-3 hours in, am I gonna be so exhausted that it's worthless? or even 1-2 hours in?

I don't know.. Fatigue, and wearing out parts are my main concerns...

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HippoSleek

I haven't yet, but I should have. Around here, once you do a FATT or two w/ BSR at Summit, they can sign you off to run in the other things.

The drawbacks, as I see them are:
a) fatigue - I'm generally too tired of driving after 4 sessions - do I need more than two hours?
b) wear and tear - my car has always felt like sh!t by the end of a day - I don't know how good it would be to keep going.
c) lack of instruction - I trust my line, but going faster often requires help. While I might not want an instructor every lap, it would be nice to have one available. Particularly in a school with a lot of mismatched cars (like most that aren't run by a make-club (i.e., BMWCCA, PCA). Also, while some schools have classroom, others don't. If I were that good