Thats not good. Griggs is rejecting your car one piece at a time.

 

Right Click-Save As for a short vid of my SE-R - 60mb - 8mins.

 

Euroimage has thier janke up.....

http://www.europrints.us/06vir07/HPDE1/79/index.htm

 

Man, I wanna play!

You guys sound like your having a blast! Maybe I'll make the next one...I'm just afraid I'll break it and have a looong tow home. How much is this costing you guys when it's "all said and done" for the week-end. Will I be put in the lowest and slowest group? Can I get a waiver to run with you guys?

Ed

 

Do it!
'cuz we are!
Half of us trailer, so if you break, you get to drive home the most streetable of the track cars, and we'll tow ya.
Event fees: $300
Gas: Pathfinder $100; RX-7 $50
Tires: $600 / 8 events ~ $75
Brakes: $160 / 8 events ~ $20
Fluids: $30
Gatorade/water: $20
Food: $100 (Steph must eat a lot or something - LOL)
Camping: $15

$710 total - holy crap, I need a raise!
Generally, you get to run in the newbie group (1) at least once - to get you used to driving on a track. Then you run in the faster newbie group (2) to learn more technique. Then they throw you in the kamikaze group (3) to pass anywhere with a point; it totally rocks cuz passing is the key to not being frustrated with the people in your group.

I'd say you should run 1 once, 2 once and evaluate where you are. Do you have any track experience? I know you are a little challenged autocrossing so the car control parts should be second nature. You simply need to become accustomed to being on a track; then you realize you are on the track with a group of people you NEED TO TRUST. It really is a lot of fun.

 

Just got done pulling some times off the camera...
Most laps during the last session were in the 1:49 range, fastest was a 1:48.17 where I had to pass a car coming out of 1.

I think I had a few 47s going that got aborted by traffic

I think it would be fair to say I rather like this car a lot right now

 

I did the South Course some time ago. A friend had rented out the track for his father's retirement and invited some close friends to attend. It was about 15 of us, mostly National level autocrossers and a few Club racers. I put close to 100 miles of track time on the car in 2 sessions. It was super fun, but I must admit, a bit monotonous after a while. I got some point-by's and also gave some. It was cool. I had to pull it in due to flaming -and I mean *on fire* in the most literal sense-front brake pads.

When I got home and removed the front pads, the pad material crumbled into pieces. If I do this again, it will be with some trick pads, and I was only doing about 112 on the straight b4 the brake marker. The car is now capable of 130mph+ in the same spot...with the same brakes. Looks like I'll have to back out of it about 50 yard sooner!

I need to talk to my Colombian friends and move some Product b4 I can afford a $700 weekend without wifey!

Ed

 

I will double everything that Pete says. Important thing is to go with lots of people. I usually tow and I have put my car on the street and towed someone else's car who had a problem.

The only problem I have ever had was the one event that I drove my car to, go figure.

Pete's price estimates are pretty close. I like to camp at the track, but it is not for everyone. But things like tires and brakes are not expenses that you encounter every time, like tires at each autocross. My out of pocket expenses are more like $200 for each event now (gas has gone up).

 

I drove the CRX out to the event and wound up spending:
Gas for car $60
Entry fee $365 ($65 of it was late fees)
Food and water $50
My part of the hotel room for 2 nights $35
Brake pads... Thanx Chris (WRXRacer111)
Tires.... $0 (came back with more ruber than I left with )
Total: $510.00 damn so thats where all my money went

Only doing this 2-3 times a year isnt so bad. Hell we spent more than $500 to go to the Tour event last April in Atlanta.

 

Here is how I cut the expenses.

my brake pads are $51/set and I drive them all the time. So I can't amortize all the price of the pads at the track event, but I would probably get about the same number of events out of a set. So $10/event is reasonable.

I buy gently used tires from a pro race team for about $150/set. I have had the ones I currently use for nearly 3 years now, probably 6 track events and a dozen or so autocrosses. Almost all of the wear has happened at the autocrosses. I think my tire expense turns out to be more like $20/event. Unlike autocrossing, it is not a competitive event. If you are .2 seconds slow because the tires have been through a few heat cycles.... it doesn't make any differance. Old tires that still have the proper "feel" are a little slower, but perfectly good for an HPDE. The advantage of being just a little slower is that if you do happen to spin towards the tire barriers, you will not hit them as hard.

I pack a cooler with sammiches and stuff that I bring from home. I am not sure what that costs, but it is about the same as it would be when I am home. I do eat out at least once while there, but I do that typically on a weekend anyway.

Event fees as an instructor are way reduced, but I have to work for it. I am busy all weekend (not so busy at the NASA events I have been to). I love it and track time, even in the passenger seat, is pretty good, better than a day at work.

I drink lots of fluids for the weekend. I have lots ot water around, but it is not too expensive. I can't do much about the gasoline. The NA RX7 likes low octane gasoline, so that saves me some. I tow with an Expedition and I get about 15 mpg towing :-( The one time I drove to the track for an event, I had a bolt failure in the front suspension. I had to fix it at the track so I could drive home.

I think I come out several hundred less than Pete, but it still costs me a couple hundred, cutting corners.