Hey guys


My name is Rob. I currently live in California but due to the poor job market I'm looking for a new job. There is a good possibility that I can take a position with my company there in Raleigh.

To be honest the only reason I'm even looking to move to the area is cause of VIR. Kinda excited about the opportunity to drive VIR but will be really sad to have to leave all my local tracks


I do have some questions and hopefully you guys can help me out.

Whats rent usually run out there for anything small (just me and a cat) but has to have a garage?

How difficult is vehicle emissions? Any way to avoid them...there is no way my car will pass but I need to keep it street legal for a while longer. Just don't have enough room or money to trailer the car. BTW its fully stripped...will that be a problem too?

How's the area and S2000 community?



Now for the important stuff. VIR!

What event organizers or track day clubs are the best?
How many events are there per month? I like to do 1-2 events per month.
Whats the pricing for TT or HPDE day?

Are there any other good tracks that are fairly close...close enough to do a day trip?



I'd rather not move but being unemployed and CA job market is really getting me scared...running out of time and money. If I have to move due to work I want to make sure I move to an area that has easy access to fantastic tracks...VIR is definitely on my list!


Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Here are a few pics of my car.








-Rob

 

Raliegh is a really good area! The s2k group is pretty good up there. The carolinas are always having meets and track days. I don't know much about rent since i live in SC but I'm sure some of the other guys on here will tell you.

Oh yeah, sweet s!!

 

As far as the s2000 group, we have a once a month meet. Here is a typical month https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=680587.

We also meet other times of the month but not set in stone. We have a dent day meet coming up https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=693768 and some other things in the works.

Now VIR. As far as I know you CAN NOT run an s2000 there without a roll cage installed in the car. That is not any of the clubs that is the track itself. You might want to PM krshultz(Karl) I know he has done some reseach about this and does a lot of AutoXing.

There is a new deal here now you cant register your car unless it is inspected so it is basically unavoidable.

As far as the area, trust me rent will seem cheap compaired to just about anywhere in Cali. And what we call traffic you would consider a nice Sunday drive.

Great area to live IMHO.

Good luck.

Kevin

 

you will probably find that raleigh is alot cheaper than you think. My wife is a realtor and she helped another guy on the board buy a newer 3br townhouse with 1 car garage for $160k. It also depends on where you are going to work as the triangle area is very large. If you need her help PM me. she can find you an apartment as well. there is a lot of inventory to chose from.

as for emissions, there is no smog anymore, it is simple a safety and CEL check. what in particular are you worried about? you could probably find a cat for emissions purposes.

The raleigh area has gotten better. we have monthly meets now with several smaller meet ups scattered. if you want to be more active, just start planning a few events. everytime Master Airgate comes to town in his fuscia H2, we grab some dinner.

welcome to the area.

Dave

 

VIR is a great track. I have run it in the past but in my FC which was a coupe. They require roll bars which keeps me out of that track.
CMP in South Carolina is a little further away and is a nice run.
Summit Pint is another great track but a little bit of a drive.

As for the Raleigh are S2000 community, we are a very tight group and welcome all who want to come and play.

Also, in the Spring and Fall, we have the Dragon events. You will want to check them out.

Come on down. Y'all are going to like this place.

 

As long as you don't have any CEL and you OBD2 port still works (no AEM EMS) you should be good to go. I have been running a berk test pipe and never had any problem passing.

 

Perfect!

My car will surpass all requirements to run at VIR. So that's not a problem. safety is a big concern of mine. Bad new is the car is more race car than street car so the only place it gets driven to is the track and back.


If there is no smog / sniffer test then I think I can get by..The motor is gonna be a fully built high compression race motor running on at least 100 octane. Hopefully they wont know what to do with the AEM EMS. I'm not gonna be running the stock dash either so there will be no check engine lights or codes.

I think the location is perfect. Now I just gotta nail down the job.

 

My Apt complex in Durham, right near the mall and in a very nice area with a lot of retail and close to I40, you can have a nice 1 bedroom apt for $700, maybe less, plus $85 a month for garage rent.

The name of the place is 1520 magnolia in Durham, you can google it. I know there are also a lot of nice places to rent in Briar Creek.

 

What Kevin said.

Track stuff:

VIR is an hour from Raleigh/Durham, plus or minus 30 minutes depending on where you're coming from. Other tracks:

Rockingham (Rockingham, NC) about 2 hours south
Lowe's Motor Speedway (Concord, NC), about 2 1/2 hours south
Carolina Motorsports Park (Kershaw, SC) about 3 hours south
Roebling Road (Savannah, GA) about 5 hours south
Road Atlanta (Braselton, GA) are both about 5 hours south
Summit Point (Summit Point, WV) about 5 hours north

Rockingham and Lowe's are roval type tracks. I don't know if Lowe's still has track events - they might be all competition licensed racing all of the time now. It's been years since I've been there.

Carolina Motorsports Park has been around for about ten years. Thanks to a recent management change, the place has really begun to improve. They've listened to their customers and made some welcome changes to the course layout. Additionally, the facilities are nicer every time I go down there. More buildings, better paddock space, etc.

Roebling Road is a simple looking track to look at the course map, but it's not as simple as it looks. Getting fast there is very, very difficult. Otherwise, the facilities are "okay" - don't expect any of the fanciness that VIR provides.

Road Atlanta is, in my opinion, the most intimidating track on the east coast, except for possibly Watkins Glen. Road Atlanta is FAST. Facilities are nice. Note that the entire paddock is paved with asphalt. Which sounds wonderful for stuff like working on your car. But get down there in July, when the ambient temp. is 105 deg. F., and you'll wish for the wooded paddock of Roebling. Fun track, possibly my favorite.

Summit Point is...well, if I'm honest, it's not my favorite. The pavement is perpetually in poor condition. The facilities are horribly run down. A lot of people really like the place, so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, as far as organizations that put on events...

NC region of SCCA is a very active region if you're a road racer (wheel to wheel, competition licensed). If autocross is your thing, two independent clubs have, on average, an event once a month each. There's a fledgling rallycross program. So, there is A LOT of amateur motorsports stuff to do in this area. A LOT.

VIR stays booked every weekend of the year. Name a club or sanctioning body, and chances are good that they have at least one weekend there per year. A good clearinghouse for track event information in this area is http://www.trackschedule.com. Track Schedule is run by a long time, local PCA official, who is all over the place instructing for various groups.

In addition, VIR is actually a country club of sorts. You can "join," and as a result of your membership, you get a lot of perks, including, obviously, track time. I haven't looked into it in years, but last I did, it was expensive. I'm sure it has only gotten more so.

You said that your car will exceed any specifications that VIR may have - I encourage you to contact them directly with specifications if you are unsure. You need to have a four point roll bar in the car (or better), period. The pictures you posted make it look like you don't have one, but I could be missing it in the pictures.

Some tracks - CMP, Rockingham, and Roebling come to mind - do permit S2000s onto the track without additional rollover protection. Whether or not you can run on a given weekend is also up to the organization hosting the event. If the host organization requires a roll bar, you need one. Most have this requirement. So, to get on track in an S2000 without a roll bar, you need to find the "right" combination of host organization and host track. I hope that makes sense.

 

^ Wow! Thanks for all the information!!!

The car is being completely rebuilt....basically from the ground up. Those photos are old now.
I should have it in to my fabricator soon to have a half cage built. I'm now using a HANS device and head restraint seat and the whole nine yards. I'm also hoping to be able to install a fire system but I'm running out of money in a hurry
Once I can start trailer the car I'll go ahead and have the cage finished which can be done by any fabricator and throw on the switches. Everything is SFI & SCCA approved. I really can't imagine that I'd have a problem running there. If I do....its no big deal...just a little more work.

I actually looked in to the membership for VIR and it wasn't too bad....Well at least it wasn't nearly as bad a NJMP which is the other location that I'm looking at taking a job at. However I think being close to VIR would be more fun and there is more choices.
If I do go ahead and move...I'll definitely be making my way out to Road Atlanta too

We have the same problem out here. Its basically a desert. It'll get about 112-117 degrees and hotter!!! Its seriously crazy!! Its so damn hot you can't even breath through your nose


Thanks for the link! That's exactly what I was looking for. I like to get out as often as I can and usually that means you have to run with different clubs in order to make it work with my schedule.




I want to thank every one that has offered suggestions and advice! I think it sounds like a great place. I really don't care to much about the town or area.....I've lived in just about every part of the US and CA is my least favorite so just being able to get out of here will be pleasant but I will miss these track...they really are fantastic.

-Rob