How do you find a "track".

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Fredrick2003
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How do you find a "track".

Post by Fredrick2003 »

I have been reading this forum and I constantly hear references to "you should never street race, keep that on the track". And other forums I browse on the internet related to automobiles also say this.

My question is, how do you find a track? To my knowledge there are not any near me, but I have heard people around me talking about them. I checked online and in the phone book and such, but I can't find anything.

Just wondering if you guys had like a secret resource or something... Not that my car is going to go on a track or anything, but I am just curious really.
Prodigal Son
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Post by Prodigal Son »

Thirty seconds on Google turns up this:

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/
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aaron_rx8
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Post by aaron_rx8 »

The biggest issue is that in the state I live in, the tracks are at least 1.5 hours away and are incredibly expensive and extensive to book. I wish there was a cheaper solution around - heh... I'd like to have a place to legally just try everything out (without breaking laws, having to watch out for backroad peds or deer, etc.)
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Prodigal Son
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Post by Prodigal Son »

Motor racing is an expensive hobby. There is no way to do it both cheaply and safely. There is also no justification for doing it on the street. Hard truth for the young aspiring racer, but there it is. No one has the right to endager other people's lives in the persuit of this or any other hobby.
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aaron_rx8
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Post by aaron_rx8 »

oh right on preacher :)

I was just lamenting for my days of cheaper hobbies... such as Lincoln logs.. hahah.
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hockeystyx16
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Post by hockeystyx16 »

at least you got Road America up there in wisconsin

i dont have sh1t around toledo. mid ohio is the closest one. nothing local.

o well, at least theres a cop approved street racing spot here, out of everybodys way on a empty back road behind the railyard.
everybody knows about it, cops know about it, they could show up friday, saturday, sunday nights with 2 cop cars and block off both ways out and have 100+ cars and people for street racing (yea, there is routinely over 100 cars there on race nights, mostly ricers, but there are some nice cars there, 350Zs bunch of srt4s, etc). but cops dont bust the race wars. theyd rather have people racing somewhere on a empty backroad where they would only f**k theyselves and their cars up, instead of racing down the busiest street in toledo and killing people.

just heard somebody racing there. the road is less than 2 miles from my house, i hear all of them racing when my window is open.
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Post by DocPHD »

hockeystyx16 wrote:o well, at least theres a cop approved street racing spot here, out of everybodys way on a empty back road behind the railyard.
lucky... oh well, i got gateway racetrack here in st. louis :lol: long live "Test and Tune Tuesdays!"
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Post by GarySheehan »

aaron_rx8 wrote:oh right on preacher :)

I was just lamenting for my days of cheaper hobbies... such as Lincoln logs.. hahah.
Find a local autocross. $40 for the day and you can drive the piss out of your car. Look for SCCA Solo and NASA Autocross.
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Post by hockeystyx16 »

i just found a road course about 50 miles from my house, who wouldve thought of check in michigan lol. 3 track days in teh summer, im about to go. not much point in dragging a 15 second FWD, ill just make a dumbass out of myself showing up a test and tune with hundreds of 10 second cars and stuff, but a track day sounds like too much fun.
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GarySheehan
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Post by GarySheehan »

hockeystyx16 wrote:i just found a road course about 50 miles from my house, who wouldve thought of check in michigan lol. 3 track days in teh summer, im about to go. not much point in dragging a 15 second FWD, ill just make a dumbass out of myself showing up a test and tune with hundreds of 10 second cars and stuff, but a track day sounds like too much fun.
Some things to consider...

-Do you have to have your own helmet, or will they let you borrow/rent?

-Is your car prepared for track day use? Some of the things you'll need are brake fluid with high boiling point, at least a street/track brake pad compound at a minimum, tires with a decent amount of tread on them that you are willing to destroy in a track day or two, reasonably fresh lubricants.

-Does the track day organizer allow coolant, or will you need to flush and fill with water and Water Wetter?

Track days take quite a bit of life out of the consumables.

Also, you may want to check on some of the Probe forums to see what your counterparts are doing in preparation for track days as well as learn what the weak points on your car are so you can do some preemptive maintenance.

With all that said, BEWARE! Getting out on track in a car is extremely addictive and a habit will be formed. :)

Final point. I've heard this repeated often. If you are not willing to throw your car away and not look back, you may not want to take it out on track. It is dangerous, you can crash and many times your insurance provider will not cover the damages.
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Post by JackBauer »

def. need some street race/ street pads..atleast.
I'd run some hawk HP+..they'll destroy your rotors in 2 days track but they bite like crazy while hot. At the track near me, you can rent a helmet..a note on crashing, ive been to a few of thes events and ive never seen a wreck, but it sure would suck.. if you do something stupid, the instructors will kick you out ..fast. and even for your 15 second FWD, you should have some fun, your usually paired up with ppl as fast as you.
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Post by Nychold »

GarySheehan wrote:-Does the track day organizer allow coolant, or will you need to flush and fill with water and Water Wetter?
:shock: They prohibit coolant? Why? Because it's toxic?
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hockeystyx16
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Post by hockeystyx16 »

coolant is slippery and takes a while to clean up, water evaporates right up

and Gary, i already know the biggest probe problem with it comes to high performance driving, the brakes. our rotors are very undersized, they are 10" diameter, and just driving normal i can feel them fading away conciderably.

getting some good pads would only be a bandaid because the rotor is still too small. it would still heat up too fast. id need to look into big brakes before any serious tracking.

the only race car driver on probetalk who races a probe, Todd Reid, he races in NASA PTE class, he runs VR4 rotors and millenia 2 pot calipers and he said that he never had any brakefade over the course of a race with that setup, which is 12.3 inch rotors IIRC and the 2 pot calipers, and obviously some race pads.

another member is working on a cheaper BBK setup with mazda MPV calipers and S2000 rotors, i need to get a hold of him to see if he has anything, because that looks to be the cheapest big brake setup, with brakets and spacers and everything
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