I bring the wife and kids with me and we camp out at the track. It is a family thing! The wife also is a DE student which helps!

 

They are all a few hours drive away, if I go, I rather do the entire weekend.

Yeah, my wife isn't into these types of things, she is a girly girl, now if you say, let's go shopping then it's a different story. Camping out sounds fun if the kids were older. My 8 year old is fine but I don't trust my 3 year old. If you let him out of sight, he is the type that will run on the track. He needs to be looked after. I don't want to do that when I am suppose to be out having fun.

 

I see you are not too far - do you hire coaches at PCA events or do you go now with SCDA, NASA or other private clubs? What organization did you find most convinient to deal with in your area for scheduling private sessions?

 

Our season of DE events in winding down in the Pacific Northwest but the local Proformance driving school soldiers on. Wife , who has a manual 05 Boxster, gave me early Xmas present with PSDS permission which I have already booked for early April. Now I have to find a present for her. LOL.

 

i have to ask. Are any of you worried about hurting your car? Not mechanically, body work wise??

I want to do some of these BUT I don't want my poor car to look like crap after.

thanks

 

Paul,

I work with a coach who is at NJMP almost every day. He was their chief instructor for a while. I work with him thru PCA DE's but he works with all organizations.

I have worked with him about 4 days total and I have lowered my time about 5 seconds on thunderbolt. More importantly he has me calmer and focused on analyzing my errors.

 

There is some wear and tear involved but IMO its not really an issue until you get to the intermediate groups.

There certainly is some degree of risk in any run group. But I don't worry about it. I carry some additional track insurance for piece of mind.

Running in a low run group will not turn your car to crap.

 

I see, thanks for the info. I would appreciate if you would PM me his name, just to keep it in case.
It is an interesting topic by itself btw - what are good/recommended coaches at what track, it is not as simple info to find as it might seem...

 

Not to say worried, but... 'aware' would be a good word. It is the occasion for intentional high stress. (Stress in the original engineering meaning, not as a pejorative term of modern psychology.) We're taking the car and the driver closer to the levels they are capable of reaching. If you exceed those levels without preparation you break things. Bridge abutments, freeway dividers, trees... what have you. If you prepare and only exceed your skill level or your car's limits in a controlled environment, then learning takes place. Or so one hopes. This saves wear on bridge abutments and that other stuff, but also on the car in such regular use. Not to mention the occupants.

This is not really something to make light of. The skills I learned in track work paid off on public roads in traffic and bad weather even before I began racing in the sixties. My early track instruction was with SCCA, but the PCA does an excellent job as well.

As for damage, it is possible. But that's what the instructors are for, to teach how not to damage the car in the way we operate it and also how to avoid unplanned meetings with the scenery. At most tracks, obstacles that protect spectators are kept significant distances from the racing line, so we have recovery distance before a sudden stop that would bend things. As for other cars, I haven't found it a concern at DE days. In PCA events, the instruction team works hard to keep safe separation in all run groups, but they really pay attention to the novice groups because those drivers don't have their reflexes tuned yet to the high operating speeds of cars like ours on a track.

I've had experience running training courses in other potentially dangerous activities and my first encounter with the PCA driver education days was about 18 months ago. I was impressed with their professional attitude and I don't think you need to worry about anyone else damaging your car. For self-inflicted wounds, it depends on your own attention to the instruction of course. But if you do pay attention, you won't hurt your car in any dramatic way.

Practical matters do have to be considered of course. Like any road, the track has small debris, especially when someone ahead on the track puts a wheel in the dirt and throws small rocks and sand onto the asphalt. Even on a freeway, those get thrown into the air and cause small chips when they hit the front of our cars. On a track, I'd say the risk of that is comparable to heavy freeway traffic, but not worse. I have picked up small chips on track days, but never anything like I've had on freeways, so I'm satisfied.

Also, I don't bother taping the car. Many people put tape over the areas most likely to encounter these small pebbles and sand, but I consider it normal for a sports car and don't fuss over that. People who enjoy track days and concours competitions are torn both ways I'm sure. They probably need a generous tape budget. For the rest of us, it's not a big deal I think. Tape or not, as you please.

Do check your insurance coverage however. Some companies won't even cover you for somebody's shade canopy blowing over in the pit area, even if you weren't on track and claim to have had no such intention, because "it happened at a facility for competition" or some such weasel language. If your company takes that attitude, PCA makes insurance available through a carrier with whom they negotiated these issues. Others are available as well and they advertise in all the Porsche magazines.

Gary

 

gary, new paint porsche uses is, honestly, junk. it can get damaged very easily. my old lexus compared to porsche is like granit compared to cardboard.
i think easiest way for car to remain nice is one is concerned about exterior is to do full wrap with clear bra in front, then put clear shields on headbeams.

or just buy a dedicated track car and run it with all scuff marks on it and ignore them.

 

Forgot that option, Paul. So for the OP, we have three options: Tape or bra or think of the little scuffs and dings as badges of honor. Sports car honor anyway.

Gary