Quote:
Originally Posted by Richbot
Take it from somebody who has done it: owning and maintaining production-based racecars, even reliable ones that don't need much, is annoying. Weird stuff breaks. They're all old. They're all designed around all-season tires (period ones, so, low-grip) and the forces they can impart on the chassis. Only the very best cages running around in club racing are worth a shit. Sheetmetal is annoying to fix. Frame racks are worse. "Real" repairs are hard to do. They need bigger tow vehicles, more spares, more trailer. Get a Formula Ford, or an F500, if you must tinker. But At some point in an aspiring club racer's life, that person should rent a ride in a Spec Racer Ford Gen3.
Have other cars to race against, everywhere you go. Run laps comparable to C6 Z06's, for miata money because 1560lb with driver, and never worry if the other guy has the better car. Rent, buy, arrive and drive your own car, all on the table. You can own a truck and trailer and work on it yourself, or you can decide not to and use the SCCA Enterprises CSR vendor of your choice, and have them service and crew the car trackside, or use one of their house-owned rental cars. Just add money depending on how much support you want, and how much carnage you bring on yourself. The rentals are some of the nicest cars you'll find, believe it or not, partially because aspiring sennas like to back them into stuff. And they're SAFE cars. More track miles than any other formula ever raced. They crash well and repair easily. The Hoosier spec tires are good for sessions well into the tweens. You run on *real* rain tires in the damp (which is like getting religion). The recently updated brakes last for ages.
I own an SRF3. I've had the car since 2009, before that I ran SM's. I've filled up two logbooks and about to start a 3rd. I raced it at the Runoffs last year with full-on trackside support and transport, this year I've been hauling myself due to limited schedule, both have been fun. The racing is always intense, clean, and the cars are really really really fun, even if everybody has run off into the distance because you suck. The cars are easy to set up, easy to make changes to, and every single part down to the brake pads is chosen for you by the formula. On top of it actually being, you know, a ground-up racecar designed to survive on the race track at qualifying pace for an hour at a time, it's a spec car so there's no need to test anything but setup at the racetrack. No wasted days wondering if your spring rate is just a bit too high, or if maybe the wing needs a new 3d element. Just drive, and turn knobs and spring collars and rod ends if you must.
But you can't have mine. It's not for sale. 
Thank you for coming to my ted talk |
There is so much cool stuff in here, I love it. Thanks for taking the time to write all this out! I have never considered anything other than a production based racecar for myself, I guess this is because of the obsession with M3s I have developed since buying my E90. I can't explain why that happened btw... but damn it... it did lol. Anyways, I can definitely see the benefits of buying a purpose built racecar that is designed to handle the rigors of competitive racing. Everything you have said makes perfect sense. I do absolutely love spending time with my car (like it's a person or something lmao) as well as working on it, and I would feel the same way about whatever other M3 I bought for my track/race car too. However, I obviously want to spend the majority of my time driving and not working on a broken car. I am very thankful to not have to rush into buying a racecar right away, but... before too long I will want one of my own. You have given me a lot to think about! I feel like I have a lot of learning to do since I am still learning about all the options out there for w2w racing. The Spec Racer Ford class with SCCA looks like a LOT of fun, and I literally didn't even know about that until you told me. The SRF3 looks like an awesome car too. There are some cool options out there!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richbot
EDIT: Also, plus Juan Pablo Montoya on the EVO school. I was an autocrosser for 4 years, semi-seriously, before I started doing track days for less than a year and transitioned to club racing back in 2005. I was fast out of the box beacuse of autocross. Still often a dumbass, but fast in raw laptimes speed, because of it. No better teacher of car control and car control + a little bit of "lack of imagination" makes a fast lap around a racetrack. It also makes you a whole lot more likely to be the guy who saves the car instead of hitting the wall when you hit the oil patch, or the rain starts, or whatever. Track days so often do not prepare people for being on and then over the limit and back again, and when they make the transition to club racing, they get frustrated because it turns out to be really effing hard to almost crash every corner of every lap for half an hour's worth of regional club race
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I have not tried autocross, but I probably should. It is way cheaper than track events and there are a lot of options around that would be easy to fit into my schedule. I would love to do EVO school too. Any experience that teaches me car control I would enjoy. I do see what you and m13s are saying about the HPDE environment not setting you up for actual racing conditions. I think it's safe to say that overall most HPDE organizers and instructors would prefer the students NOT pushing things up to, then over, the limit, while learning how to retain/gain control of the car and keep going.
If I stick with my current plan, the first real taste of w2w racing will come at BMW CCA race school next December. Then, the following year I will be racing the E30. Because of the learning curve I expect to encounter, I recently decided to purchase track insurance on my friend's racecar whenever I will be driving it... just because. That part about almost crashing in every corner makes me want to cover my ass...
