white98ls

I wanted to hear people’s favorite and most fun automotive activities/experiences, whether it’s track days, driving schools, museums, etc. What are some of the most fun activities you’ve done? What are some that you would like to do?

I have been lucky enough to do some fun and varied things, although there are still a lot I’d like to check off the list. Top few:

1. Driving the Nurburgring: Rented a Toyota GT86 for two laps and a last-gen Z4 3.0si (255hp N/A I-6) for another two laps, and rode with my friend on his laps. It was a complete blast! No track I have been to is even close to the Nurburgring, with its sheer length, massive elevation changes, and the way it winds through little German towns. I literally got air on one section. Nothing like it and would love to go back, although next time I'll go as part of the track day rather than a "tourist" day where anyone can hop on (I passed a bus, which was weird). Paired this with a visit to the Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW museums, which were all excellent.

2. Goodwood Festival of Speed: Did this on the same trip as the above. It was like Gran Turismo with hundreds of vintage, racing, exotic, and one-off cars, except right in front of you and racing up the hillclimb. It was totally unreal and not even that expensive. Even the cars in the parking lot were a show in themselves.

3. Competitive Autocross for a full season: I autocrossed my old modified Integra from 2002-2010, but in 2006 I decided to do a full season with two local clubs, which meant I was racing 2-3x/mo. Once I started competing for points and my place in the standings, each run became pretty intense as familiar faces and I kept trying to up the pace with each run. People may joke about autocross being 2nd-gear driving in a parking lot, but when you’re at the limit and controlling the car’s balance constantly during the run while trying to shave tenths without committing the fatal error of hitting a cone, it’s an absolute blast. I actually think the seat time is more fun in auto-x than in track days, but you just get so much less of it.

Some things I’d like to do:

1. Rally school. Expensive, but should be a ton of fun and a great learning experience.

2. Lapping exotics. They do this in Vegas… also $$, and short, but I’d love to wring out a 458 or McLaren, not just rent it on the street and be frustrated.

3. Monaco GP. Expensive as all hell just to be there, but it would be amazing to be a part of it!

vader1

So far, when I was 16 and working at a car dealership, there was some European guy who started to sell cars there. He was called "Kazi" and was a race car driver in Europe until he had a bad crash and there must have been a fire because there wre burn scars all over his neck. I got to know him a little bit and he told me about racing and I listened to his stories and the dealership was in this big industrial park with a couple miles of grid and wide roads for semi trucks. One day he comes back into where us kids detailed the cars and tells me a 1987 "cheese wedge" style MR2 came in on trade and did I want to learn a few driving tips. He took me out into the park and drove the sh*t out of that car. It was a Saturday, and all of the businesses in the industrial park were shut down so we used it like a Grand Prix track and it was super fun just riding while he would come flying into corners, downshift, stick right to the curb and come wailing out the other side. Even though I was white knuckling it the whole time, I was also laughing and having a blast.

I suppose European Delivery on the bimmer should not be forgotten. Driving a couple mountain passes and mostly driving through northern Italy and Switzerland was one of the neatest things I have ever done.

I will have to get back to you on the Ring. I will drive it on my next car order but that is three years out.

I am also taking my first track school this summer and get a few sessions in a single seat race car (150hp lightweight little cars) and one 30 minute session with an instructor for the first time testing the limits of the Cayman. That should be a blast.

And one last thing, the older we both get, the more I appreciate all the road trips I got to take with my dad. *sniffle*

The Raptor

All 42 years of the Long Beach GP, all three days of most all of them, including several years of F1. CanAm cars at Riverside and Laguna Seca. CART/Champ Cars /Indy Cars at Ontario Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway, Long Beach, and Riverside. Prototypes at Del Mar Race Track and Long Beach. NASCAR at Ontario Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, and Riverside. Cars: 69 fastback Shelby/Mustang, 00 and 06 S2000s, and 14 C7 Vette vert (see my sig).

gerry100

coming up the esses at Watkins Glen with my foot to the floor in my old 911

CosmosMpower

Doing 155 mph down the autobahn in my M3 during euro delivery

Driving Spa Francorchamps and Nurburgring on the same day in the M3

8 hour World Racing League w2w endurance race in pouring rain with 80 other cars on track at COTA

Seeing a giant sh*t eating grin on my novice student's face after their first session on track.

Blasting through Big Sur on my honeymoon in a BMW 128i vert in the mountains between Carmel and San Simeon in 1/2 the amount of time it should take with people ahead pulling over to let me by.

TommyDeVito

None of mine involve driving, best memories are on two wheels.

1. Riding both Laguna Seca and COTA were tops. Laguna leading up to the corkscrew is brass balls (F me they installed a decibel meter at the track too), and that COTA back straight, braking for turn 12, same deal. 1 trackday at each.

2. Doing a riders for health day at COTA 3 days before a GP. The Yamaha garage was the first garage after the last turn (20). I think there were 5-6 of us riding with a chase car. We did 4 laps and I had hauled the Yamaha down there for it and to get to try and get a pic with Vale on it since he had signed it a few years earlier @ Laguna. I let the riders for health people know beforehand, that right before we pit I'm gonna sandbag. I let everyone else go, including the chase car, I slow down to a stop. I start revving. The M1 and R1 crossplane engines sound similar so all of Jorge's and Valentino's mechanics snapped their neck as they didn't know wtf was going on. Some were out of the garage already on pit lane, couple more came out of the garage. I revved it and did my best to simulate a practice start. I think they thought they had a bike on the circuit for a minute and nobody told them. It was one thing to ride it, a completely different experience with the entire GP circus in pit lane. Getting escorted around by Randy Mamola into every garage was surreal.




3. Riding to Big Sur from Monterey. Heavy fog, decreasing radius turns, one after the next, constant elevation changes, on a friends bike that he's worked over and massaged for 10 years to the point of perfection. It was his baby and he throws me the key. I thought I was going to be riding his wife's 600. Hauling the mail, felony turf, trying to stay with a R1 and a GSXR1000, both riders heavily seasoned track guys, both were instructors, all I could to not get left for dead. Looking to my right and seeing a cliff, the pacific, and one wrong move and it's hundreds of feet down. His baby and my ass. That ride down the coast should maybe be #1 instead.

4. Got lost in New Mexico. Left White Sands heading for Tucson. Pre smart phone days, and GPS for bikes were not common back then. Visibility for miles, flat, took some rural two lane highway. You could see a car from as far as your eyes could see. I was on a brand new 929rr, and had just broken in the motor before leaving TX. Decided to see what it would do. WFO through every gear and I'm doing 155mph (last speed I saw on the speedo) still pulling (5th gear I think). There must have been a small crest in the road, slight dip, next thing I'm airborne. Both wheels off the ground, front wheel at least a foot, no idea on the rear. For a few milliseconds I thought I was a goner. I figured I'd land and highside. Was just going too fast. Bike lands, squats, suspension soaks it up, slight head shake that the steering damper took care of. Bike was talking to me like "You bitch, that was nothing." Took a good 30 seconds to calm down and decide if I should pull over and shut it down. Like an ignorant ass I shrug it off, laugh hysterically, pin it again, wfo until I shift into 6th. I did several miles at 160 something then left off. When I went airborne, it had to look similar to the 2nd photo here except I had no business doing it, just not enough seat time.
Isle of Man (IOM) TT : What Makes it the Greatest Motorcycle Race Ever! ( Part 1) - Viktorianz


I would love to ride the ring.

mosesbotbol

That's a tough a question...

For me, maybe working for Ferrari's most important vendor or rebuilding a Maserati engine with my dad...

Saki GT

#1 involves women.

#2 involves speed.

#3 involves a full moon.

TheDonEffect

So many good ones.

Buying my first car and teaching myself to drive stick has to be tops, nothing like your first car after riding the bus while reading car mags your whole life to finally waking up and walking out to your very own car. Promptly sold it a month later though lol. All the near death dumb memories with my buddies in that month lol.

Driving down to Santa Cruz on highway 17 at 2 in the morning to see my gf, there's a straight in the middle that has a speed camera at the end, so being young and stupid I wanted to post 100+ on it forgetting that there's a hard left then right immediately after it with an elevation change. It was then that I learned drifting wasn't for me. Made it without incident, damn near crapped my pants.

Rented a Jeep on the big island specifically to go to the black and green sand beaches, felt proud passing all the parked 4x4s at the entrance and braving it, passing by many salty faced couples, same with the green sand beach, which the locals told me the easier route for that one.

Rented an S15 in Japan and drove to Tsukuba, remember stopping at a truck stop and eating lunch, very reminiscent of Initial D.

Hopefully this year I can finally add doing the corkscrew in laguna and flying down the straight at infineon.

TheDonEffect

Oh, and Zx10, Spud Racer, etc etc lol.