mikegarrison

Hey! It's 2011. Anybody have any updates for this? I have to admit, I wasn't at a single track event last year. (Long story, lots of other things going on.)


SEE ALSO THE FAQ THREAD! There's a lot of good information there about taking your S2000 to the track, and also about the local tracks. This is just 2009 information plus some other general advice. You can also check the FAQ thread in the Racing And Competition forum of S2KI.

Page 1: Which organizations can I track with?

Page 2: Safety equipment for you and the car

Page 3: How do I get started at this stuff?

Page 4: Where can I read moreabout track driving?

Page 5: What has changed at the local tracks?

Page 6: When are these events?

Page 7: Adding to this FAQ

Other links:
A discussion of local roll bar/cage options

[i]Not much actually updated from 2009 yet. -Mike[/]

mikegarrison

Here's an update on the track schools this year and how they stack up as far as S2000s. [When I say stock S2000s allowed, that means they have been allowed in the past. Always check and see if your car will be allowed at the particular event you want to sign up for.]

Puget Sound area

Proformance: Has one-day schools and lapping days. Also has a race school. All events at Pacific Raceways (with the occasional exception). Most events are on weekdays. You must attend the one-day school (or have equivilent track experience) in order to attend the lapping days. Stock S2000s allowed. Lotus Elise and Exige available for rent (expensive, but fun). Some other clubs and businesses essentially subcontract the track through Proformance. No club membership needed, except for private club or business days.

Alfa Club: Has one-day schools and lapping days. Events are split between Pacific Raceways and Bremerton. UPDATE: Stock S2000s allowed with OEM hardtop. Otherwise, roll bar is required. (Quirky rule: must have driving gloves and eye protection -- glasses or visor) No club membership needed. Liberal rules on timing (most of these other groups either don't allow it or else practice a "don't ask, don't tell" policy). Has lately been quite popular with many in the local S2KI community.

PCA: Has one-day schools at Bremerton (highly recommended by me) and lapping days at Pacific Raceways. Stock S2000s allowed. (Quirky rule: must run with top up) Must be a member of PCA or BMWCCA, Alfa club, Viper club, Audi club, Corvette club, or PDC.

Audi Club: Must be a member of the Audi Club and all convertibles must have a roll bar that passes a "broomstick test" by two inches. (Stock S2000 roll hoops not acceptible.) (Info from AlanL.)

Speedware: Open lapping days at Pacific Raceways. No club membership needed. Speedware days may have a little less conservative rules than Proformance days, I'm not sure.

BMW Club (Puget Sound): No convertibles, no matter what roll protection. Convertibles defined by "B-pillar", so targas and Elise and similar cars are OK, but not S2000s.

PGP: This is the kart track at Pacific Raceways. They have opened it up to cars on selected days. No passing, something like a large autocross. Popular with the local S2KI group.

Spokane

BMW Club (Spokane): Runs two-day schools at Spokane (March, June, October). Suitable for novices to advanced, although they are really geared more for the advanced drivers to become instructors than to just drive the track. All three schools also have an intermediate-to-advanced optional Friday session with no instruction and basically open lapping. Stock S2000s allowed. More expensive than some of the others due to the out-of-town travel, but worth the extra money IMO. The pass conditions are always a potential concern for the October and March dates. Must be a member of BMWCCA and/or join as part of the school. (May also accept PCA or other club membership, I'm not sure.)

Adare Motorsports (Spokane): Yes, the same Scott Adare who runs the BMW school also has a series of open track days at SRP. See this link for a description and schedule. Generally, advanced drivers only (no run groups, open passing rules, closed and open wheel cars at the same time). S2000s are OK, as they are considered "roadsters" rather than "convertibles". There is one scheduled on the Friday before each of the IEBMW school weekends, allowing a three-day track experience. If you do this three-day event then I guarantee, even for the experienced drivers, that you will be too tired to use all your lap time by Sunday afternoon. It's like an all-you-can-eat buffet of track time.

Portland

Alfa Club: Allows S2000s. Require some kind of club membership, but membership in a Puget Sound club (like the BMWCCA or PCA) qualifies.

PCA: Allows S2000s. Require some kind of club membership, but membership in a Puget Sound club (like the BMWCCA or PCA) qualifies.

BMWACA: Allows S2000s. Require some kind of club membership, but membership in a Puget Sound club (like the BMWCCA or PCA) qualifies.

Team Continental: Must have a roll bar.

Oregon Raceway

I don't know yet. Check their website at http://www.oregonraceway.com/

Mission BC

Various clubs run at Mission, which is an interesting little track. You probably won't get out of third gear, but the corners are very technical and runoff room is generally absent, so it certainly holds your attention. I've run with the BMW Car Club of BC up there. They subcontract out to a pro driving school. The events (even the advanced ones) are more schools than lapping days. Performance Drivers Club also runs there. http://www.missionraceway.com/

Out of NW

Road trips to other tracks are fun. Some of us in the area can give you some advice on this subject if you are interested. The nearest CA track is Thunderhill, which is a great track but 700 miles away from Seattle. As with the local tracks, the easiest option is usually to find a club that is running a lapping day and ask to join them. Most accept stock S2000s but it is very wise to be absolutely clear on this subject before you drive all the way down there.

Racing

IRDC: Actually a racing club, they do have occasional open lapping days and a race licensing school. No club membership needed, but you do get preference and a cheaper price for their events if you join IRDC. Every year they don't seem to remember that they have allowed S2000s to run in the past, but they probably will allow your stock S2000.

ICSCC (aka "Conference"): Local racing league. Racing license needed. Race car needed. (These racing orgs are mostly included in this list so you know what they are if you hear people talking about them.)

SCCA: Another racing league. SCCA is national, but is much smaller in the Northwest than Conference is. There are also other racing leagues that don't have a presence in the Northwest at all, like NASA (no, not the space agency). Racing license needed. Race car needed.

SOVREN: Another local racing league, this one for vintage car racing. SOVREN membership needed. Old race car needed.

mikegarrison

Safety equipment:

There is one thing everybody will require, and that's a helmet.

Most clubs now require helmets to be Snell-rated, either M2005, SA2005, M2010, or SA2010. Some may allow any Snell-rated helmet, but to be safe, be sure you have one of the above. Any new helmet should be 2010-rated.

Other items that are a good idea include real driving shoes and racing gloves. Ray's gonna laugh at this, but IMO you might as well get them fire-resistant, especially the gloves. Most of the good ones will be anyway.

The rest of these are more optional. Crashes are pretty rare at HPDEs, and rollover crashes are even more rare. But both are a lot more common than they are on the street, and the higher speeds on the track make them more dangerous.

The OEM restraint system (roll hoops, three-point belts, OEM seats, airbags) is pretty good unless you are really tall. I highly recommend not messing with them unless you go all the way and replace all of them. Mixing and matching restraint systems is a good way to end up dead.

If you do go to a full roll bar or cage, you will want six point harnesses rather than five point (five point doesn't work in an S2000), and (IMO) a roll bar that is not compromised to work with the softtop. There are some roll bars that are designed to bolt into the car and still allow the softtop to work, but all of them are compromised in terms of strength and geometry. For my car I chose to remove the softtop completely and weld in a roll bar that was stronger and better-located to protect me. There really is no such thing as a full cage that is worth installing unless you completely strip the interior and remove the softtop.

You may also want race seats. There are some that are known to fit in the S2000, but all of them are going to have issues if you try to retain the OEM interior.

This whole thing is going to set you back about $5000 (not including the cost of a hardtop) and make your car a real PITA to use for street driving, so think it over carefully. In particular, do NOT install harnesses without a real race seat and a well-designed, functional roll bar.

Most of the above clubs require "equal restraints", meaning the passenger seat (instructor) has to be at least as well protected as the driver. Otherwise the instructor will probably refuse to ride with you, which will probably mean you do not get to participate in the track day.

Consider a HANS or other head restraint. Generally you will need a full harness setup for this to be effective (or even for it to be needed).

Other things you might want include window nets or arm restraints. The idea behind both of these items is that if the car rolls, you don't want your hand to be sticking out the window as the car rolls over it. A couple years ago a guy did lose his hand at Pacific Raceways when his car rolled.

You might also want a hand-held fire extinguisher or even plumbed-in fire suppression system. Probably you will never need this for a mostly-stock car. But for under $100 it might just keep your car from being totalled, or it might even save your life. Most of the above track day organizations recommend fire extinguishers but do not require them. Some of the out of state groups do require them. If an extinguisher is installed, generally it must be installed with a metal bracket that is bolted into the car with "metal to metal contact". No zip ties, no cheapy plastic brackets.

mikegarrison

So how do I (Mike) recommend that people start?

I think there is no better way to start this activity than to take a "skills day" class. The typical skills day will be a slalom, a skid pad, a braking exercise (straight line and with a lane change), apex cornering, and often some sort of autocross-type small course.

Usually there will also be a "ground school", in which theory and some practical advice is taught. This might be done during the school day or it might be done the evening before.

Proformance teaches a class like this at Pacific Raceways, but it costs several hundred dollars. The Alfa Club teaches a couple classes like this at Bremerton for under $100. So does BMWCCA, but those are not open to S2000s. The best option, though, is the PCA (Porsche club). They teach half a dozen of these each year, including one open only to women drivers and another aimed at young drivers.

For the PCA you have to be a member of the PCA or one of the other local car clubs. unfortunately this website does not count. To join the PCA you need to have a Porsche VIN. (I've been told they don't check all that much to see if you actually own said Porsche, though.) You can join the BMW or Alfa or Audi clubs without claiming to have one of their cars. (This club membership thing is for insurance and tax reasons -- the clubs are actually very open and friendly.)

One alternative to doing the skills day would be to take an autocross class instead. Petty much the same skillset.

Your street-legal, stock car should be fine for the school. They may or may not have a formal technical inspection required, but most cars should pass it. Be sure the brakes, tires, seats, and seatbelts are in good condition and you should pass easily.

Then if you like the experience you had at the first school, it might be time to try going to a lapping day. Again the car club days are the cheapest way to get into this. You get an instructor as part of the entry fee and you probably get about two hours out on the track during the day. That's usually more than enough to overload a novice track driver (and often most experienced drivers too).

As far as expenses go, typically Proformance days are the most expensive but actually generally give you more track time for your dollar. You will probably get 3-4 hours of track time with Proformance. But you will have to pay extra for an instructor.

A very good option to consider is taking the two-day school taught by the Spokane BMW club. That should give you four or more hours of track time over the two days, most or all with instruction. And after learning the track layout and getting your feet under you the first day, then you have the second day to start working more on just your driving skills.

(FWIW, I actually had my first skills day and then later my first lapping day with the BMW Car Club of British Columbia, up at Mission BC.)

mikegarrison

References:

Two books I highly recommend (yes, actual books!) are Going Faster by Carl Lopez and Speed Secrets 1 by Ross Bentley. Both books are available at Amazon or at the King County Public Library.

Beyond that there are lots of othe books, websites, videos, etc. But I recommend starting with those two. They are generally considered the best introductory books available today.

mikegarrison

Updated 2010 info on tracks:

Oregon Raceway Park -- Now open. Very few amenities. Be prepared to be totally self-contained, including gas and even water. But I hear it's a fun track. http://www.oregonraceway.com/

depends on which club you join, I went with Palatov 2 times last year. open passing on a fun track with advance level drivers, what can you ask for more? You don't have to bring gas any more as they will sell in 5 gallon jugs at the track. They do provide HoneyBucket, so there's little water to wash your hands... (slowv6, 22Apr)

Spokane -- Now owned by the county. Things are still in flux, since they fired the guy who was managing it for them. But I hear they are making some improvements to the facility.

PR -- Repaving all the way through 2 and 3, or so I've heard. In related news, it has been the coldest winter on record in Hell. Everything is frozen over.

Just came back from Alfa track day on 4.22. the repaving is extremely nice, smooth as baby's butt with lots and lots of grip. Not sure why they have a mysterious dip about 5-10 ft before Apex. It shouldn't be a problem as you usually don't drive over there. I did couple laps hitting it purposely and found out that it doesn't upset the car... The whole T2 can be taken in any kind of lines you can imagine. it should make a fun corner for race groups. (slowv6, 22Apr)

lig

Great post, Mike. Thanks!

David (124 Spyder's son) has produced an excellent calendar with tons of info and it can be filtered.

You can find it here:

http://pnwms.akilla.net/

mikegarrison

To add to this FAQ, please send me a PM or an email.

If necessary, Jerry or Liggy can also edit this thread, but in order to keep the signal-to-noise ratio down I am trying to keep this thread free of chitchat, questions, banter, and what I consider to be bad advice.