Racing tution or Track days

[linux44]

Hi guys,

I am new to this forum and wanted to get a suggestion about what I should do with my spare money

I have been thinking of doing a track day with my car but I am not sure if my car can handle it. By this I mean it has few problems which means I won't be able to rag it on the day.

So I have thought of few other options which are:

1.Racing tution couse by racing schools such as clubMSV. They do some advanced ARDS course for £400 .

2. Driving experiece, such as lambo or ferrari. I have thought of every man racing. However I do not like this much as you only get few mins behind the wheel and there are no tutions. So it is only the supercar experiecne that attracts me

3. finally, track days.

if you were me which one would u have picked and why.
please also if you have any suggestions about a specific course, do give me some information.

I should say that I most like the race tution but they are a bit expensive.there is a course in silverstone, barndshatch and many more


Thanks in advance

[mountainstar]

Personally from my experience, which I run a lot of road cars on track, I would not do so with your daily car. The strains of doing fast track driving will wear a regular road car down quickly and cause plenty of maintenance issues. Most regular road cars are not built to take such abuse without degrading quickly. Cars built as sports cars, maybe not as much. Especially since you mentioned you already have maintenance issues.

The Ferrari/Lambo thing, I have a few friends in the UK that do those days as instructors and it is what it is, you drive a Ferrari or whatever, but you wont be caning it to within an inch of it's life.

I think you are better off getting good instruction first about some basics. To me you can never have enough instruction and it will help you get the best out of yourself and you'll be safer for it. To me any track driving can involve personal risk, so learning some basic vehicle dynamics and line theory is a good start.

[NJH]

Well what got me hooked on the idea of going racing was not track days but doing a couple of go-kart events such as the GP type events done at many indoor circuits on a regular basis or the endurance events done outdoors.

Best fun I have ever had on 4 wheels was doing one of those indoor GP events, get a few good battles going and you will be buzzing for days.

Otherwise like the previous poster said I would add that a car you can't drive hard will be phenomenally frustrating to drive on track almost to the point that I reckon it would be a complete waste of time. Stuff like the brakes have to be in tip top shape or you will be back in the pits game over after a handful of laps. Could it be possible to get a cheap track car, like a secondhand hot hatch or similar to do some basic prep into a reliable track day car?

[linux44]

Hi mountainstar,
Thanks for the replay. That is what I have been thinking but the down side to race schools is that I already have a good experience in driving and have race few times before moving to the UK (weekend racer).
I won't say I am perfect but I am good enought at racing to come to a good position, however due to problem that I have here, I can not continue with this sport.

Most of them offer things such as heel and toe, cornering and racing line which I may know it better than them so that is where I am not if I can gain anything from it.

I have just missed racing and want to do something which gets me back to that mood. I may start racing in the next year or so

I should also point out that I spent hell lot of time on simulators which has a close physic to real world.

do u know of any good course?

thanks for ur advice?

[NJH]

Originally Posted by linux44

I have just missed racing and want to do something which gets me back to that mood.

Last year there was an outfit or two doing arrive and drives in the new Mk3 MX-5 for a grand all in (google ma5da racing). Bit of a bargain that, if I didn't have a race car I would definitely be going that route if like yourself I had raced before but didn't currently have a track ready car.

[bendy]

Superkarts!! They would certainly get you in the mood!

Here is a link to a track in Derby that offers an experience day in a 125 Gearbox... http://www.longcircuit-racingkart-cl...choolgift.html for just £150.

If you dont know what Superkarts are here is our website http://www.superkart.org.uk/

and an example onboard video of myself at Snetterton 300... www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUXVLivRyPk

[linux44]

Originally Posted by bendy

Superkarts!! They would certainly get you in the mood!

Here is a link to a track in Derby that offers an experience day in a 125 Gearbox... http://www.longcircuit-racingkart-cl...choolgift.html for just £150.

If you dont know what Superkarts are here is our website http://www.superkart.org.uk/

and an example onboard video of myself at Snetterton 300... www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUXVLivRyPk

cheers mate for ur suggestion. I used to have a rotex and it was a great fun but they are no where as close as to cars in terms of fun

at least for me so I sold it

[bendy]

Yeah but that was a Rotax that does about 80mph on short circuits. Superkarts can do about 150mph on long circuits and can assure you are more fun than cars! And a LOT cheaper. It's not so much the top speed where we are so quick but the ridiculous cornering speeds and incredible brakes.

[MagnetON]

Just bear in mind that for quite a few circuits it's karts of some description that can hold the outright lap record, especially on a more "technical" (e.g. bendy!) circuit.

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by bendy

Superkarts!! They would certainly get you in the mood!
............and an example onboard video of myself at Snetterton 300... www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUXVLivRyPk

Gee-zus

[bendy]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Just bear in mind that for quite a few circuits it's karts of some description that can hold the outright lap record, especially on a more "technical" (e.g. bendy!) circuit.

A good example of this would be Cadwell Park where a 250 Twin held the outright lap record for a number of years, but has recently been beaten (last September) by a Jedi I think by about 8 tenths. Just to give you an idea, we average 95mph round there and 115mph round Thruxton (cant wait to race there early September!)

[bendy]

Originally Posted by MGDavid

Gee-zus

haha thanks! It's just such a crying shame that hardly anyone has heard of them and therefore very few actually consider racing them