My First track experience! Pic inside - Northern California Ford Owners

This is topic My First track experience! Pic inside in forum Road Racing, Auto X & Drifting at Northern California Ford Owners .

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Posted by FRC_Kid (Member # 8940) on :

This past weekend I got to experience my first Track Day at Thunderhill.! I now understand why people are so hooked and dedicated so much time and money towards it. I had a blast and must admit it was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. There is just no comparison in my eyes when it comes to track vs drag vs street driving, each one is rewarding in its own way. Then again to each his own.
I'll be the first to admit that I got my ass handed to me by a buddy of mine who drives a S2000! On the front straight I would pull from him but when the turns came up he'd eithier be right with me or pass me up. I learned a lot about my car corvette and recommend every check it out, even if it's just to ride along with others.
The cars ranged from Miatas, to Audi S4's, to S2000's, to new 5.0's, to Corvettes, GTR's, and even a R8!

My car will be back out there soon with some tasteful mods for sure. Take a look at how my rear tires looked like at the end of the day!

Posted by SydeWaySix (Member # 3596) on :

Glad you finally see what all of us track junkies are talking about! Gives you a new persepective on how good these little miatas and other small japanese cars perform on a REAL race track, doesnt it [Wink]

I hope to see you out there soon...I'm trying to make it out at the end of the month to Sonoma in my new bucket [dance]

Posted by DEVERO2 (Member # 6155) on :

now you are addicted. welcome to the club.

Posted by Robb (Member # 9444) on :

I went out there and i was hooked. IMO, Its the most fun you can have in a car. I haven't been to a drag strip since.

Posted by 2T0NE (Member # 4216) on :

Great RALPH go buy a gayass miata and race that shit

Posted by SydeWaySix (Member # 3596) on :

quote:
Originally posted by 2T0NE:
Great RALPH go buy a gayass miata and race that shit

Hey hey hey, c'mon now! Gay, I agree. Fun to drive, hell yea! Gotta try one at a REAL race track before you doubt them [Wink]

Posted by SydeWaySix (Member # 3596) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Robb:
I went out there and i was hooked. IMO, Its the most fun you can have in a car. I haven't been to a drag strip since.

Robb, I know you've been talking about building a spec miata. Sell you mine for a great price if you want to jump on a great platform! Its already SM legal but will need a couple of upgrades to meet current rules.

Posted by FRC_Kid (Member # 8940) on :

quote:
Originally posted by 2T0NE:
Great RALPH go buy a gayass miata and race that shit

I'll stick to tracking my Corvette, sorry.

Posted by Greasy (Member # 5258) on :

I've always wanted to do a road course. How many miles did you get to race?

Posted by adower (Member # 5955) on :

Wait until you try a motorcycle track day.

Posted by 9cobra7 (Member # 2812) on :

Did you have to drive home on that tire too?

Anyways, congrats on the track day and welcome to the addiction!
Btw, Miata's are no joke on a road course, especially when they pass you [burnout]

Posted by FRC_Kid (Member # 8940) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Greasy:
I've always wanted to do a road course. How many miles did you get to race?

I highly reccomend you try it out. I'm not for sure how many miles exactly but let's see. We ran 20-min sessions at the top of every hour from 9-am to 5pm with a one hour lunch. I believe ThunderHill is 3 miles or so long. Each laps is about 2 mins. So you'd get 10-12 laps per session for 8 sessions which equals 80-96 laps pending how fast you are!

Posted by FRC_Kid (Member # 8940) on :

quote:
Originally posted by 9cobra7:
Did you have to drive home on that tire too?

Anyways, congrats on the track day and welcome to the addiction!
Btw, Miata's are no joke on a road course, especially when they pass you

Definently not! I swapped my wheels before leaving. My buddy trailers his car so he was nice enough to bring up my spare set. Next year I'll be trailering my car to all the events myself. Miatas are no joke.

Posted by AL STOCK (Member # 1852) on :

quote:
Originally posted by FRC_Kid:
This past weekend I got to experience my first Track Day at Thunderhill.! I now understand why people are so hooked and dedicated so much time and money towards it. I had a blast and must admit it was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. There is just no comparison in my eyes when it comes to track vs drag vs street driving, each one is rewarding in its own way. Then again to each his own.
I'll be the first to admit that I got my ass handed to me by a buddy of mine who drives a S2000! On the front straight I would pull from him but when the turns came up he'd eithier be right with me or pass me up. I learned a lot about my car corvette and recommend every check it out, even if it's just to ride along with others.
The cars ranged from Miatas, to Audi S4's, to S2000's, to new 5.0's, to Corvettes, GTR's, and even a R8!

My car will be back out there soon with some tasteful mods for sure. Take a look at how my rear tires looked like at the end of the day!

Damn, we have been planning for this forever, need to make time to make this happen!

Shoot me a text next time you are planning to head there, I'll bring along a few friends also.

Glad you had fun
[patriot]

Posted by ECOboostin (Member # 4347) on :

quote:
Originally posted by FRC_Kid:

quote:
Originally posted by 9cobra7:
Did you have to drive home on that tire too?

Anyways, congrats on the track day and welcome to the addiction!
Btw, Miata's are no joke on a road course, especially when they pass you
Definently not! I swapped my wheels before leaving. My buddy trailers his car so he was nice enough to bring up my spare set. Next year I'll be trailering my car to all the events myself. Miatas are no joke.

Please refer to this thread for all your miata needs.
http://californiafords.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=037548;p=

Posted by need-a-cage (Member # 5415) on :

It looks like you need to add some negative camber to the IRS. Why does that look like a Mickey Thompson ET Street Drag Radial?

Posted by FRC_Kid (Member # 8940) on :

quote:
Originally posted by need-a-cage:
It looks like you need to add some negative camber to the IRS. Why does that look like a Mickey Thompson ET Street Drag Radial?

Corvettes don't have an IRS. You are correct! They are MT radials. I picked them up with the spare set of wheels from another track junkie and he assured me that since it was my first time to just run it how they were. Surprising enough the tires performed well once heated up. Now I'm looking at getting RS3's or Nt-01's for my next track day here which will be real soon

Posted by SteveL (Member # 1241) on :

It depends on the number of run groups, and the number of sessions but usually figure on 125-150 miles of track time per day.

The comments about Miatas are typical of people who haven't driven a race prepped one on a track.

Posted by Mach916 (Member # 8264) on :

quote:
Originally posted by FRC_Kid:

quote:
Originally posted by need-a-cage:
It looks like you need to add some negative camber to the IRS. Why does that look like a Mickey Thompson ET Street Drag Radial?
Corvettes don't have an IRS. You are correct! They are MT radials. I picked them up with the spare set of wheels from another track junkie and he assured me that since it was my first time to just run it how they were. Surprising enough the tires performed well once heated up. Now I'm looking at getting RS3's or Nt-01's for my next track day here which will be real soon

im sorry my friend corvettes do have a independent rear suspension.. all good.. what organization did you run with?

Posted by FRC_Kid (Member # 8940) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Mach916:

quote:
Originally posted by FRC_Kid:

quote:
Originally posted by need-a-cage:
It looks like you need to add some negative camber to the IRS. Why does that look like a Mickey Thompson ET Street Drag Radial?
Corvettes don't have an IRS. You are correct! They are MT radials. I picked them up with the spare set of wheels from another track junkie and he assured me that since it was my first time to just run it how they were. Surprising enough the tires performed well once heated up. Now I'm looking at getting RS3's or Nt-01's for my next track day here which will be real soon
im sorry my friend corvettes do have a independent rear suspension.. all good.. what organization did you run with?

I guess I was thinkin in reference to a Cobra IRS. I get what you are saying hahaha. I ran at the Black Trax event. No particular organization, just a shop held event. Next year I'll be running with whoever so long as it's the cheapest. Hoping for 5-10 track days in 2014.

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