REQ: Advice for a Noobie to Track racing

[jj808]

As the thread title states i am welcoming all experienced and sensible advice for a Noob to Track racing. I plan on getting into it when i move to San Diego, California next month. Ill be using the LGT unless someone can come up with a reasonable arguement backed by experience against using it. I have been dying to get into this sport for years now but there is a marked lack of available tracks in Hawaii. So please lay all your advice, tips, warnings, experiences on me pls. Thanks in advance.

[RobY]

Yeah,

 

1) dont crash.

 

I know this sounds stupid but alot of peeps push WAY too hard thier first time out. Take it easy the first few laps till you have a hang of the course.

[rporter]

As the thread title states i am welcoming all experienced and sensible advice for a Noob to Track racing. I plan on getting into it when i move to San Diego, California next month. Ill be using the LGT unless someone can come up with a reasonable arguement backed by experience against using it. I have been dying to get into this sport for years now but there is a marked lack of available tracks in Hawaii. So please lay all your advice, tips, warnings, experiences on me pls. Thanks in advance.

 

I am assuming by "track racing" that you mean DE (Drivers Ed) type events as opposed to wheel-to-wheel SCCA-type racing.

 

If you can do a driver's school first, that would be great. Many of us never have, so we have learned as we go. if you can hook up with a club that is renting the track for the day, they will usually have instructors to give you a hand in learning the track, as well as some basic techniques.

 

Some very basic thoughts are:

 

--Enter a curve/turn slow, then accelerate out, doing the following:

 

----Brake in a straight line, not when the wheel is turned (don't even think about trail-braking yet!!)

 

----Accelerate through a turn or at least have neutral throttle with the wheels turned.

 

The shortest way around a course is by having the wheel turned as little as possible. Except for long sweepers, more wheel-turning for a shorter period is better than less turning for a longer period. This gives more time for accelerating.

 

The rumble strips and cones on a course are your friend, use the cones as visuals, and in most cases, hitting the rumble strips is the best line.

 

Other than that it's just a matter of getting out and trying it. I serve as an instructor for newbies on occasion. the biggest errors that I see are:

 

--Entering turns too quickly.

--Using brakes while in the turn.

--Not turning enough in the early part of the turn before the apex.

 

There are also very few tracks, and sections of tracks, where driving in the middle is the proper line. if you find yourself there often, chances are you are doing something wrong.

 

I am of the "brake as an on/off switch" school. I brake late & hard, and I turn in hard. I'm probably not as smooth as I could be, but then, not many people in my run groups pass me, either!

[rodan]

Are we talking roadrace or drag?

[Xenonk]

I am assuming road race, Hawaii has a drag strip last time I checked.. it's like a small motorsports park that they use for drifting (Club4G I think is the name).

 

Before you can get into any kind of road racing, you will need to attend HPDE's (High Performance Driving Events) where an instructor will guide you along the track and teach you how to control your car at higher speeds.. I have been told that West-Coast is crazy and just send 1st time students out on the track and they give you tips and instructions from track-side AFTER your make run sessions.

 

It's best to get yourself into a car-control course, something that can give you a simple "101" on braking, rev-matching, heel-toe, knowing what the "traction circle" is all about, etc. You will need fundamentals first.

 

Once you get to that point of knowing that much about how to control the car, it's best to buy a cheaper car to fix and work on and something that you can afford to total.. I have seen PLENTY of students (including myself at one point) where I totalled my WRX over it.. I didnt roll it, but hitting the concrete wall of over 60 mph is not fun. Safety will come into play so you'll need a car with good safety parts (such as a roll bar in case you go off and dig into the gravel and flip the car).

 

Join other car clubs (such as BMWCCA, or Audi Club, etc) to get better instructions and deals on track time.. and no, you dont need to own a car that the group is comprised of (unless you own a Porsche, you wont be able to be part of PCA). It will take some hours of seat time before you can drive by yourself on the track.. and it will take you more hours to get your racing license (either be a NASA club racing license or SCCA club racing).

 

Since you are in the West Coast, you can do Bondurant's Racing School and aim to get your SCCA license there. Here is the link for the info on that.

http://www.bondurant.com/pages/licenses.html

Currently, I will be applying for NASA and eventually SCCA racing license sometime next year or two. I will be competing in SpecE30 racing ( http://www.spece30.com ) which is a part of the NASA classes you can run in.

 

You can still track the Legacy GT around for light practice (learning the lines and understand a little bit more car control.. I do from time to time with mine), but I wouldn't do anything more than that unless you plan to put a cage and get it track-prepped only and give up the car as a daily driver. If you plan to race with the GT in wheel-to-wheel, you would probably have to fall under T2 rules for SCCA run-offs or something like that for USTCC (US Touring Car Championship).. the Legacy will fall under the same rules as an STi, so wherever you plan to race your car, just look for where an STi would run in... good luck as you will be at a huge disadvantage with the GT from the get-go.

 

If you need more info, just keep posting and asking. I'll find the answer for you..

[Xenonk]

I am of the "brake as an on/off switch" school. I brake late & hard, and I turn in hard. I'm probably not as smooth as I could be, but then, not many people in my run groups pass me, either!

 

You won't be able to do that too long if it was an endurance race or when you are at a road course that doesnt allow that kind of driving.

 

You dont need to be that hard on the brakes all the time. You'll eventually find a happy limit of knowing your entry speed and start carrying more momentum into a turn.. it's a more advanced techique to teach because it requires more "programming" of the brain to know what to feel for in the car.

 

You might want to read up on some of Ross Bentley's books (just goto http://www.amazon.com and do a search), it should help you understand of what you can do without the need of over exerting yourself and the car. "Same results, different approach.. " and your "results will be better once you kick out some old fixed habits.. driving is dynamic, so should your brain and the way to think".

[rporter]

You won't be able to do that too long if it was an endurance race or when you are at a road course that doesnt allow that kind of driving.

 

You dont need to be that hard on the brakes all the time. You'll eventually find a happy limit of knowing your entry speed and start carrying more momentum into a turn.. it's a more advanced techique to teach because it requires more "programming" of the brain to know what to feel for in the car.

 

You might want to read up on some of Ross Bentley's books (just goto http://www.amazon.com and do a search), it should help you understand of what you can do without the need of over exerting yourself and the car. "Same results, different approach.. " and your "results will be better once you kick out some old fixed habits.. driving is dynamic, so should your brain and the way to think".

 

Sounds reasonable.

 

FWIW, I've been doing at least one (and now 2 or 3) track events a year since '96.

 

For basic DE events (especially the last couple with the LGT on stock pads), I take it easy on the long track straights to save the brakes for the "good stuff". With better suspension and brake setups on my SHOs (Porterfield ads were my pad of choice) I could go deep with hard braking and not have the pads go away thoughout a session.

 

For as much as I like acceleration (and dragstrips), good brakes are a lot of fun, and do more for better track times than more power.

 

FWW it was a different learning curve in getting away from FWD to the LGT on a track (I never ran my 911 on a track). Acceleration points needed to be learned, and as I got more familiar with the LGT, the car became more neutral.

 

I have become a track proponent, as there is a lot to be learned in doing track work WRT aggressive street driving. On other forums (as well as this one) i recommend that folks get sometrack time before messing with suspension setups (particularly bigger bars).

 

I had done a Skip Barber driving session back in '94 (at the Texas Stadium in Arlington....not the best), and i got Vic Elford's book back when I got the 911, but have not yet done the Bondurant School (which has been on my "List Of Things To Do"). Nonetheless, track events are a lot of fun and I recommend them to every car enthusiast.

[jonklein611]

The track near me even have cars you can rent to track. it's not too badly priced either.

[lawl]

one piece of advice that i followed. might have taken it too literally but things have turned out alright.

 

ignore the other guys. you're focusing on making yourself faster. once u start chasing the other guys you start getting sloppy and thats when bad things happen. ask how i know

[wpmarky]

Hey everyone,

 

I just got back from my first track event and had a blast! This was my first time pushing it in an AWD car, so now i know I need some tips on how to take big sharp 180 turns with a AWD car.

 

I've seen the pictures where the turn entry point should be in the middle of a RWD and FWD car. How true is this? My friends tell me that with AWD, you can brake late into a turn, turn sharp, and mash the gas as you push out.

 

There were a couple occassions where my tail slipped out (I don't have a rear sway bar, just springs), but I later learned that is corrected by more throttle pushing more weight to the rear tires. Could this also maybe be attributed to too much tire pressure in the rear? I wasn't braking at the time.

 

I'm also curious how our subies react to too much throttle during a turn. How do you guys make up for understeer?

 

Comments and critiques extremely welcome, I can't stop thinking on how I can get my times down, looking forward to getting bout out there.