Finally to a point where the S doesn't have to be my DD. Only info I've found besides the Road Atlanta site is chinmotorsports.com. All I can get there is fee info. What I'm looking for is what type of safety mods do I need to make to the car, what true costs are involved aside from entry fees, what can I expect first time out, what pre/post maintenance do I need to perform? Anything else you guys can tell me I need to know to be well prepared...

Many thanks!


Only mod right now is FIPK. I did read the sticky in the racing forum, however I'm just wondering if there is any local insight to be had, specific experiences at RA, or other tracks I'm not aware of.

 

hey Road Atlanta is a great track but there are better places to learn.
Roebling Road and Carolina Motorspors Park (CMP) are local to GA also taladega Grand Prix (LTGP) in Alabama is near Atlanta.
I highly reccomend Roebling Road in Savannah with Seat-time: http://www.seat-time.com/
Its cheap, the track is great for learning and theres plently of run-off, next event is Apr2-3rd

Nasa: http://www.nasa-se.com/ Does a great HPDE program where they teach you in a classroom and you run between race groups.
You get less sessions but you learn a lot and meet a lot of people there and they do time trials to which I love.
I go to Nasa stuff and do Seat-time or the Turnone http://www.turnonetrackevents.com/ to practice.


The main things to watch on maintainance are brake pads, brake fluid and tires.
You will probably be ok at Roebling on stock pads your first few times but not CMP or LTGP.
I would definitely look into getting some carbotech pads - I'd start with XP8's and swap them before trackdays.
I would change your brake fluid to ATE Super Blue or Valvoline do a cheaper Dot4 thats easier to find in autozone etc.
I don't daily drive my car but I run XP10/XP8 on the street its not too bad can be noisey and dusty.

General before every trackday I change my oil and do brake stuff.

The only other thing I would worry about is tires. I try and run good street tires (RE-11 ,Direzza) or something like an RA1 that lasts good.
I think too many people jump up to R compounds and spend a lot of money and hassle when they can't wring the most out of a street tire or RA1.
Those people who drive well within the comfort zone of their tires and upgrade the tires are doing it all wrong!

Its worth checking the cars alignment as well and maybe max out the camber. I would not touch anything else with the car for a while.

As far as safety stuff goes you can run stock at all these tracks above.

Safety wise the problem with an s2000 is without a bar a seat and harness is not safe (or properly anchorred) and probably not allowed at the tracks as well.
The only bar thats realy SCCA/NASA approved is the Harddog with the welded lower harness bar: http://bethania-garage.com/s2000.htm
But you have to gut the rear of the car to install it and also a rollbar on the street maybe not be safe cos you can hit your head in a crash.

You can run stock for a while but if you realy want to go fast you will want Harddog.
There maybe other options like a Cusco or the harddog with the raised bar but I went for the Harddog.

Anyways hit me up with any questions I will be at Roebling in Apr, CMP and Roebling with Nasa in May.

 

Thanks for the tips. Will definitely look in to these other tracks/events.