Track day broooooooo

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
06/22/2019 at 14:57 • Filed to: None

First track day with the new Miata was a success! All of my weeks of effort has paid off and I have a fully functional track car. Nothing* broke and it performed flawlessly**. I had a great day pushing the boundaries of the car on a track that I was already pretty familiar with and met new people who were great to have conversation with. My alignment felt very good and I was super happy with how the car behaved at the limits. I didn’t quite find grip limits on most of the track just because slicks take longer to figure out (unless you like spinning). But overall I kept getting better every session. I went deeper into braking zones and worked on smoother turns to hold momentum better. It was a pretty uncrowded day so I had plenty of room on track and point bys were plentiful and safe. There were a few cars running in my group that were INSTANT point bys by me since they were fast! But for the most part it was close battles amongst the group so it was well matched.

*The only thing that I broke was my undertray when a civic ran over a cone and launched it into the racing line immediately in front of me. So I ran it over at speed and I’m low enough that the cone ripped the damn thing out. I’ll fix it this week though at some point.

**My low ride height and softish springs meant my tires rubbed holes in my fender liners and the plastic is basically ruined. Will remove those and see if the rubbing is eliminated.

Also this FRS got stuck in the mud at the end of the day. Musta been trying to be a real Subaru.

Overall for $104 it was a great track day. A bit disorganized and there were jackasses doing donuts in the lot at the end. But at least the organizers kicked them out lol. Anyways, it was well worth the cost and safe so I’m happy to do another with them!

DISCUSSION (14)

Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 15:16

I see you have California tags. Where in hell were you able to find a track day for only $104??

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief
06/22/2019 at 15:26

Turn8 track days was offering a track day for $149 and then about a week out (I assume due to low sign ups) they offered 30% off coupons bringing the total down to $104. They are a new group and this is only their second event so I assume it’s a promotional thing to drum up attention. But it worked for me! A couple days before the event they were offering $129 but you also got the next event free! An even better deal but the catch is they haven’t scheduled the next event so who knows when or where or really if, it will happen. Either way, most track days I’ve seen here have been between $150-200. I’ve heard of $85 track days at Streets of Willow but apparently those are super ghetto and way too crowded.

MM54 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 15:38

Sounds like a great time!

I need a car that’s track-worthy.

His Stigness > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 17:12

Ah man you didn’t tell me people got kicked out for doing doughnuts.

I also assumed this was SpeedVentures. No wonder it was a little disorganized.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 17:16

Send your repair bill to the civic driver!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > His Stigness
06/22/2019 at 17:28

Well it was after the event ended but yeah it definitely was not speed ventures. They ran exactly on schedule though which was nice. I just wish they announced when to grid and did a pregrid. I missed a couple minutes of the first session due to confusion. It was a BMW and a BRZ.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/
06/22/2019 at 17:29

Lol its easy to fix myself. I was just glad it didn't Crack my bumper cover.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > MM54
06/22/2019 at 17:33

It took a bit of work to get my car ready but it was totally worth it. Now I’m spending my time obsessing over scheduling track days over the rest of the summer. It was hilarious though having a conversation with a c7 z06 owner. He was saying he needed new brake pads (~$ 1100), maybe rotors ($3k), and front tires ($1k+ ). Meanwhile I was lamenting that my track pads cost $300 and my rotors were $30 a piece shipped. It's nice having a cheap track car.

His Stigness > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 17:36

I kind of hated the pregrid with SV, but mainly because we sat there for so long.

I am not surprised in the least it was a BMW and BRZ. They seem to attract the biggest assholes.

MM54 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 19:49

That’s the route I want to go (cheap fun track car) but at this point that requires buying another car which can’t happen for financial (and space) reasons. I’d track the RX7 casually just to see how it does if it didn’t leak so much oil, but replacing the bad o-ring(s) requires a complete engine tear-down (and it runs so damn well I can’t bring myself to do that).

I have some big plans a utomotive-wise for next year, and have been toying with the idea to get some sort of track/autocross car after that but it’s so far off it’s hard to say.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > His Stigness
06/22/2019 at 21:07

I want at least a few minutes of pregrid. It was basically just watch the clock and show up to the pit whenever to get sent out right away. I like being able to setup my harness properly, set my track addict app up, and just relax ahead of the session.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > MM54
06/22/2019 at 21:12

Yeah an rx7 can be made into a really cool and reliable-ish track car but it's certainly not cheap if you are pushing some power. While id love to have something with more power, it's wild to me seeing people in wildly expensive track cars. The R8, GT3, and Mclarens that were there are notable examples that are unfathomably expensive in my mind, even just for casual hpde use.

mXxxxXm24 /O/ /O/ > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 21:18

Haha it’s the principle of the matter

MM54 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
06/22/2019 at 21:32

Yeah I’d keep it stock for the most part (as it is), maybe a little tighter springs/struts/sway bars. No need for a bunch of power, would just be going to have fun.

I can’t imagine tracking a M claren, but I also can’t imagine affording one so who knows; that may be their beater - the Bentley stays home for track days.