how to plan the season

[kolosy]

newbie question as i'm only now leaning into this. how do you guys get on track regularly? as i look around me (chicago), the nearby tracks have 2ish events a season that are just come and sign up HPDEs. do you just plan them all out in advance and hit each one? i don't mean racing, i realize there's a season schedule for that. just track time.

[CHSe92]

Motorsportreg.com is helpful for finding events in your area

Find some that fit your schedule and make it happen

[Estoril Blue]

Join your nearest BMWCCA chapter. Also look at PCA events. MSR is a good source, as noted - but all HPDE sponsors are NOT created equal.

[hsaguirre]

You can also look at what Chin, NASA, and SCCA have in your region. They SHOULD be on MSR, but just in case. I’ve been combining a few different groups that I like to make up a season.

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by Estoril Blue

Join your nearest BMWCCA chapter. Also look at PCA events. MSR is a good source, as noted - but all HPDE sponsors are NOT created equal.

Thanks. What are some things to watch out for?

[Ximian]

Originally Posted by kolosy

Thanks. What are some things to watch out for?

Events catering to the youths with many spectators or events without instructors for beginners. You can also search for reviews of the event organizer. Can't really go wrong with the big clubs.

There's a half dozen tracks (Autobahn, Blackhawk, Road America, Gingerman, Mid Ohio) a reasonable driving distance from Chicago. Two events per track is still quite a few, but there's certainly a lot more than that.

People do plan it out. Some events are during the week and time off work has to be arranged. Some people also go to events on tracks 16+ hours away, which takes a lot more planning.

[Estoril Blue]

Originally Posted by kolosy

Thanks. What are some things to watch out for?

1. Shortage of Instructors
2. Instructors with undefined qualifications (didn't come through structured national Instructor school such as BMWCCA and PCA)
3. Quick and easy graduation through Novice group, with no Instruction after that
4. Weak classroom
5. Number of on-track incidents

[M eyedoc]

It certainly does depend on your overall goals. Some of us plan as much of the season over the winter months as possible. Tentatively have most of the summer planned out already (11 weekends I think).

If you are interested in HPDE (High Performance Driving EDUCATION), BMWCCA and PCA are typically a safe bet. They both usually have a decent classroom portion as well. Windy City BMWCCA run good events at Autobahn. If you want to get out of town, RSPPCA does a great event at Grattan as does MVRPCA. Chicago PCA events have a reputation of being less helpful for the new students. If you are looking to driving into Indiana or Michigan, I would be happy to guide you to some good events.

[kolosy]

Originally Posted by M eyedoc

It certainly does depend on your overall goals. Some of us plan as much of the season over the winter months as possible. Tentatively have most of the summer planned out already (11 weekends I think).

If you are interested in HPDE (High Performance Driving EDUCATION), BMWCCA and PCA are typically a safe bet. They both usually have a decent classroom portion as well. Windy City BMWCCA run good events at Autobahn. If you want to get out of town, RSPPCA does a great event at Grattan as does MVRPCA. Chicago PCA events have a reputation of being less helpful for the new students. If you are looking to driving into Indiana or Michigan, I would be happy to guide you to some good events.

yeah, that would be awesome. my buddy and i are getting more serious about it (we did the porsche 2 day school down at barber + 3-4 track days total last season) and are trying to plan out the season a bit. recs within a few hours drive from Chicago would be great.

i like the idea of an event a month during the season, works well with my schedule (and my wife's tolerance). i enjoyed the track day i did at road america last year, but it defintely felt light on the education portion as it was all lead follow, no in-car instruction.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by kolosy

newbie question as i'm only now leaning into this. how do you guys get on track regularly? as i look around me (chicago), the nearby tracks have 2ish events a season that are just come and sign up HPDEs. do you just plan them all out in advance and hit each one? i don't mean racing, i realize there's a season schedule for that. just track time.

This website is cool for getting a sense of what kind of HPDE days are available at a wide variety of tracks all around the country. It may not have everything available, but it does have a lot:

https://hpdejunkie.com

[kolosy]

man, the chicago BMWCCA chapter is surprisingly rough on this front. only 2 HPDEs for the season, 1 of which is only for advanced+ (which doesn't appear to be mentioned anywhere). PCA chicago on the other hand has over half a dozen events. Lame. Time to get a P-car

[VictorH]

Audi club runs pretty good events too. Don't know if they still do it, but used to allow turn-signal for point by, was different and not really bad at all.

[hsaguirre]

Originally Posted by kolosy

man, the chicago BMWCCA chapter is surprisingly rough on this front. only 2 HPDEs for the season, 1 of which is only for advanced+ (which doesn't appear to be mentioned anywhere). PCA chicago on the other hand has over half a dozen events. Lame. Time to get a P-car

Reach out to PCA. They will probably let you run with them.

If it makes you feel better I don’t see many E9X when I track.

[kolosy]

Ended up signing up for 4 days and leaving the fall open. 2 at road america, 1 at blackhawk farms w/ PCA, 1 at autobahn w/ BMWCCA.

excited!