It’s called a corner. It has an entry, an apex, and a track out point. It’s capable of a range of emotions from absolutely terrifying to frustration to absolute nirvana which tends to dump a huge dose of dopamine into your system causing that funny state of mind called an addiction.
Where to start?
I’ve been asking myself that for the last 10 min, so here goes. I suppose the best way to address this is to break it down to the base components, the driver and the car. At this current point in time our average DSM owner/tuner has fantasies of a 2.3 stroker motor, a ball bearing turbo, and a fuel/tuning system capable of, oh say, 400hp. They enjoy the occasional ‘light to light’ street racing and look forward to the pilgrimage and stardom that awaits at the annual ‘DSM Shootout’. And in this lies the difficulty of changing gears for most people. Lets face it, money is always more rewarding on ‘go-fast’ bits than say brake pads because the end result is something that is felt by the butt-dyno.
But what if you took the person in the next lane out of the equation? What if there was a way to take a stock car and double or quadruple that fun factor. What if reliability became the main focus instead of shear horsepower? Most would call me out and say BS, but those few that have attended a track day know the rush and exhilaration of getting to push themselves and their car to new limits. Improving the driver is one element that bolt-ons cannot improve. As much as we like to think that we are all driving prodigies, there are only a handful of Scheumachers in the world. The rest of us have to work for it.
But it’s just too expensive?
Yes, track days are not cheap. But when you do the math it does place things in a different perspective. Your average weekend track event runs around $300. In which out of the combined 20 hours you’ll be spending at the track, 4 hours will be spent in the car driving. Auto-cross days are cheaper than lapping days, at roughly $50/day (non SCCA member) will get you course time. Of course it's 1/2 day as a worker, and 1/2 day lapping. Now compare that to a month at Baytown. 4 weekends at $20 a night, 10 passes a night at say 15sec with a 90mph trap. You just spent $80 to drive you car for 10 min. Ok, but street racing is free…that is until you get caught. Basic defensive driving is roughly $100 after court assuming you’re doing less than 25 over the limit. And you’re lucky if they don’t slap on an EOS or some other ridiculous charge like drag racing. Then there’s a license suspension, vehicle impounding, insurance rates, etc.
Ok, Ok, but my car isn’t ready.
Right, so when your instructor passes you in a rental Neon it was your car’s fault. This is one area that I’ve faced the most contention with when speaking about track events. Somewhere, someone figured out that Mitsubishi engineers knew nothing about making a car and that we should replace everything before setting foot outside our driveway. A good track car is a reliable car; after all, you can’t be having fun if you’re turning a wrench. The sad side of our DSM history is simply the lack of maintenance and TLC for our cars. For a track day a good fluid change, brake/clutch bleed, and a SA2000 /M2000 rated helmet should be all that is needed. If you’ve neglected your car check your tires and their condition, wheel bearings, brake rotors/pads, timing belt and check for leaks. As a novice driver you will be spending much of your first track weekend breaking old ‘street’ habits and learning track basics. Power only hinders that learning by providing a band aide on the straights.
I will say that track driving is not for everyone, but I can also say there hasn’t been one person that I’ve driven with that hasn’t thought about coming back. The experience is rewarding to the driver and will simply allow you to enjoy your car on a whole new level. If you make only one resolution for the New Year, make it a track day.
asian312 : 01-02-2007 at 05:29 PM
