No one will laugh at a tip when you pass them. One of our memebers has a Tip Design (the Tip came from Mercedes) in his Black Series. No one laughs at him. Car guys are mostly cool at the track anyways, and who cares what they think? You won't get roasted or anything.

 

2. I tracked my car a few times and IMHO, overall from a scale 0-10 is 7.
The time of shifting is excelent for a conventional autobox. It is a great advantage because you drive with both hads in the wheel, specially when exiting slow turns at wot. The only down side is the downshifts that only occur to the 3.5-4K range. The brakes suffer more and in some tracks with high speed turns after long straights is difficult to manage: quick downshifts (more speed at the end of the straight) vs higher rpm range (better traction while turning at high speed).

 

Reprogrammed TCUs can help solve some of the shifting problems.

 

don't forget the blue painters tape for your car number...

 

From what i've read and asked, reprogrammed TCU's is worthy only for increased RPM and a bit faster shifting. The delay in downshifts to hit the 3.5-4k RPM range is the same because is a safety feature to prevent the gearbox to overheat.

 

I know that PCA has an affiliation with one company providing supplemental insurance for DE's. Looks to cost around $500 / day. Anyone have experience with lower rates / know if their regular insurance companies offer riders for track days?

Thanks - My first DE is 4-17 at Mid-Ohio

 

The extreme answer is, very expensive. We had our MINI at a DE (Driver's Education, non-timed track time) at a Calif. track; a Mustang went wide into the dirt, he didn't let it slow or settle down, steered back onto the track at about a 90 degree angle, the tires caught grip at the edge of the track and he shot straight across into the pit area wall- car heavily damaged, towed away. I don't know if he had insurance coverage or not, but you just can't predict what can happen on the track. Fortunately he didn't hit anyone else in this mishap.

 

Well, these cars are tanks....but, tanks are expensive too.


Tires: say 200 to 300 of their life at a minimum.... Some people roast a set in a weekend....R888 or Cups are not free.

Pads: say 75 bucks Some can be 250+. I use ebc yellowstuff's now..cheapest decent track pad.

Brake fluid, one time a season for me I use Castrol SRF....about 100, so 20 bucks a month.

DE fee: 200

Hotel is extra....as is food....if it is say Zone 2 and you drive from PA to be at VIR Priceless to be in that DE...

Insurance is about 300 a day I think...


So say 500 uninsured as a minimum and 800 with insurance. It could be more as things can break. You eat. You sleep in a nice place, etc. It could be 2.3k for a weekend or more. That is about what I spent to get to and from VIR for zone 2.

Rotors are pricey...etc.


So, if you do it 1x per month 10 months of the year, it is 10k.....adds up. It is not a cheap sport.

My track gurus tell me that the lotus is way cheaper to run....fyi. About 1/4 of a P car...per them. I don't know. If you crash one of them, the clamshell is toast...car is toast even for a minior ding....fyi.

Jeff

 

I totally agree -and for this the maintenance costs are very reasonable. What a car - balanced for all styles of driving and flexible enough for a wide range of mods to explore different driving experiences.

Not sure about the comment regarding "insurance" for the track season - I don't push it to my or the car's limits (my limit comes well before the car's!) so I don't bother with insurance (and accept the risk). Makes sense if you are in a racing mode.
K