Anyone been to racing school? Is my car "eligible"?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Think carefully about insurance. Track days are a hell of a lot of fun, and relatively safe too. But I think back to my very first time on the track, an all-noob day with no open, non-instructor lapping. Mildest situation I can think of. But still, an Audi I was waiting to pass ruptured an oil cooler line and the guy immediately spun and stuffed his limited edition SVT Cobra into an embankment. Just from the way it wasn’t sitting on any of its wheels on the flatbed, I have to think it was totaled. And that was nobody’s fault.

The odds are against that kind of thing happening, but if it does, its almost certain that standard insurance won’t pay a dime.

22

Yeah, I’m thinking that GEICO wouldn’t pay out a claim for a Bimmer smooshed in driving school situation :rolleyes: An earlier poster mentioned that driving course insurance can be purchased.

23

Strangely enough, both Allstate and State Farm used to pay for on-track accidents, as long as it was a non-timed instructed event. But sometime around 2008, Allstate dropped that coverage, and a year later State Farm did the same. I can’t remember the name of the company I used for track-specific days after that, but Lockton as posted above looks fine to me.

24

Do you have some kind of rocket assist to get from 62 to 100mph? : )

25

On my bucket list of “Things to do once I win the lottery” is to buy a Lotus, then go to England and learn how to drive it.

26

I read that as 7.1 seconds to go from 62 to 100 mph

27

I think that would still be a few seconds too fast. From a quick bit of googling, I’m guessing there should have been be a 1 in front of the 7. But I’m prepared to be wrong.

28

V8! Actually, these are the official numbers from BMW; I haven’t driven 100mph (yet), so I haven’t tested the claim :smiley:

29

??

30

Assuming this is fairly similar to your car, you can scroll down for acceleration times. They list 0 to 100mph as 17.5 sec.

http://www.automobile-catalog.com/performance/2002/273590/bmw_530i.html

Anyhow, the rocket thing was just supposed to be a light-hearted comment about what I thought was a typo, but now I feel like I’m shitting in your thread so I’ll bow out.

31

Was a joke :smiley:

32

I sincerely doubt the 7.1 sec to 100 mph. A stock 2002 BMW 530i probably has close to 240 HP. You meant 17.1 secs. most likely.

And a car that’s 12 to 13 years old likely won’t pass tech inspections or have adequate brakes or suspension.

33

I don’t see why that would be. I never saw a car fail tech because it was out of date. I saw cars fail all the time for being in poor condition though. Not the same thing at all though.

34

Ah, don’t leave! I must have typo’d “1” before the “7” ( * 8

35

Just go rent a car for the day. After you finish your lessons, enter it into a demolition derby before you return it. Be sure and pay extra for the insurance!

36

I have a 997 Carrera S that I run several times a year in (LSR)PCA DEs. There are 5 classes for the different experience levels and capabilities of your car. Everyone starts off in Green with an instructor but based on your skills, safety and speed (once you’ve mastered the first two) you can move up to Blue, Blue w/o an instructor, Yellow, White and Red.

All cars have to pass a qualifying inspection first that checks brakes, tires, fluids and leaks, etc. A helmet is required and everything and I do mean everything must be removed from the interior of your car, mats, tools, etc. GoPro is allowed but it must be securely attached. You’re assigned numbers (sides and hood) and you can go cheap w/ painter’s tape or you can order vinyl or magnetic stickers.

Usually you’ll receive classroom instruction, more as a beginner, and then you’ll hit the track 4 or 5 times during the day. It’s stressful, you’ll be amazed at how tiring mentally and physically it can be, but my gosh it’s an absolute kick in the pants! Get some rest the night before, not too much alcohol and drink lots of water all day during the event.

What they teach you is the proper line to drive for your skill set, how to look for the course marshalls and what the flags mean, when to brake, accelerate, pass, signal to be passed by faster vehicles, etc. Other drivers in your group will have different competency levels and different cars. I’ve driven with Volkswagens in my green group and later with new GT3s, McLarens and full blown awesome track cars. You’ll see it all over time. Of note, while the driving is extremely spirited, it’s not a race per se. You’re driving to learn skills and as you master those and do it faster SAFELY then you’ll move up in class and run along with faster cars.

You’ll learn some very valuable skills. I though I was good going in but still learn something with every single lap. Some of these skill are race applied but many will carry over into your everyday driving. If nothing else if you really push it you’ll begin to recognize the limits of your vehicle and, if you’re lucky, what an awesome vehicle you may drive. I now know mine can do so much more than I ever would have recognized just from street driving.

Of course the course itself will have something to do with your enjoyment level. Some are tight with lots of turns and possibly terrain. Others have long stretches that really let you open it up. At TWS we have portions of a banked superspeedway and then 15 interior turns so you’re ranging from 30 mph or so on a tight carousel to well over 130 on the stretch. It’s way shy of the 196 my car will do but hey, where the hell else do I have a chance to even do that?

So yeah, strongly encourage you to go check it out. Learn the rules, listen to the instruction, build on your confidence and skill and have a blast. It’s what performance cars were made for so dig in and enjoy!

37

You might look at Autocrossing, it is intended for non-race cars that want to have a little fun on a weekend, in a relatively safe manner.

38

I recommend this, too. I think that autocross actually teaches you to handle your car better than running a track will. At the end of an autocross competition, you might have seen the track 4 times at speed. To do it well requires a high degree of seat-of-the-pants driving to keep your car at the limit of traction for the whole course, no matter how good your memory is. Good autocrossers almost always make good racers, the converse isn’t always true.

The caveat I have about this is: They absolutely will care about the treadwear rating of your tires, and a lot more. It is a competition, and any equipment that imparts an advantage is strictly regulated. Changing your intake can move you into a group that your car is otherwise unprepared to be competitive in. If you’re not of a competitive nature, it’s not a problem, but some people are heartbroken when they have no hope of winning.

39

The European market 530i had 228 horsepower. With the addition of California-compliant emissions equipment and 13 years we’re probably talking about 150.

40

I’ve never done autocross but I’ve heard the same thing. Recs were that you start off in autocross, then move over to DEs.

Another thing about the tires, keep a real close eye on your pressures, especially with the heat of summer coming up. At least for a DE you probably don’t want to start anywhere near what’s listed on your driver side door but well under that. I don’t even run that high on the street. Check some of the online forums for your car type, there’ll be lots of discussion. As your run continues they’ll heat up and you need to recheck as soon as you finish. That’s the pressure setting you need to optimize. In other words if they’re best at 34F/40R then make sure that’s what you have when you finish a run, not when they’re cold.

And properly re-torque those lugs after each run (at least a couple of times a day). The most embarrassing thing you can do is to leave with a car and return with a tricycle.