How Much Track Experience Do You Have?

[Aero1900]

I started out doing autocross in high school. Then did some PCA driving schools with my old man. I did the 3 day Bob Bondurant school in Phoenix, the two day Lotus school at Spring Mountain in NV. Then about 30 days at High Plains Raceway in Colorado. I had zero instruction during those 30 plus days so I probably did more bad habit forming than anything.

I just recently joined the Motor Enclave private track in Tampa

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[PointByPatrol]

I started out doing autocross in high school. Then did some PCA driving schools with my old man. I did the 3 day Bob Bondurant school in Phoenix, the two day Lotus school at Spring Mountain in NV. Then about 30 days at High Plains Raceway in Colorado. I had zero instruction during those 30 plus days so I probably did more bad habit forming than anything.

I just recently joined the Motor Enclave private track in Tampa

I need your friends! Love the experience!

 

[TW00Si]

I haven't played with the log R at all. Just the Garmin Catalyst.

I've watched some Race Render videos and I swear the timer is wrong.

How long has the Catalyst been out? Wondering if the next version will be coming out soon. The current one is now priced at $800. Window shopping.

 

[PointByPatrol]

How long has the Catalyst been out? Wondering if the next version will be coming out soon. The current one is now priced at $800. Window shopping.

800 is a pretty good deal for a catalyst!

 

[EJHonda]

I've been doing track days since 2006, and have been an instructor since 2012 with BMW CCA, mostly northeast tracks (Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Palmer, NJMP, Calabogie, and even a stint at Road Atlanta). Built my '03 Evo 8 from a daily to a fully caged, barely street legal track car. Sold it in 2022 when parts got difficult to source - I thought I'd be buried in it. Replaced it with a '21 BMW M2 Comp; while it was a nice street car, track consumable parts costs were *insane* and made me depressed. Wanted to go back to my JDM roots, and thus the '23 CTR. Just picked up my CTR in October, so no track days for me until spring of '24. Reading the forums trying to quickly back fill my knowledge on the FL5 platform.

 

[PointByPatrol]

I've been doing track days since 2006, and have been an instructor since 2012 with BMW CCA, mostly northeast tracks (Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Palmer, NJMP, Calabogie, and even a stint at Road Atlanta). Built my '03 Evo 8 from a daily to a fully caged, barely street legal track car. Sold it in 2022 when parts got difficult to source - I thought I'd be buried in it. Replaced it with a '21 BMW M2 Comp; while it was a nice street car, track consumable parts costs were *insane* and made me depressed. Wanted to go back to my JDM roots, and thus the '23 CTR. Just picked up my CTR in October, so no track days for me until spring of '24. Reading the forums trying to quickly back fill my knowledge on the FL5 platform.

That's some great experience. It's a goal of mine to become an instructor, specifically for FWD platforms. There are far too few available!

 

[EJHonda]

That's some great experience. It's a goal of mine to become an instructor, specifically for FWD platforms. There are far too few available!

One of the biggest problems I had early in my HPDE career was getting RWD/NA car-driving instructors sitting right seat in my AWD/Turbo Evo and criticizing me repeatedly for abruptness of throttle. No doubt this was a factor due to my running in a BMW car club series where RWD/NA was ubiquitous. It wasn't until I got a fellow Evo driver sitting with me who never mentioned throttle and instead worked on lines, braking, etc., that I really relaxed and enjoyed my day. I loved it! From then on when an instructor started on my throttle input smoothness, I'd remind them we were dealing with turbo lag and to move on to other topics.

Luckily I have some FWD prior experience, having raced enduros as part of a team of drivers in an '89 Civic Si hatchback in what was known as Chump Car back then.

As far as instructing, when I was a student I came across many other fellow students who wanted to ditch the instructor ASAP and just drive by themselves. I let the instructors' opinions unfold organically and never pushed to move up in groups or to solo. I took a few years to move up the ladder from Novice to Advanced. They finally told me I was going to go to ITS (instructor training school). The result was as an instructor I had a great idea of what to do, and what NOT to do, to make a student's day rewarding and enjoyable. It's served me well.

While I do enjoy helping others improve their driving, instructing has reduced my own track time significantly. My expenses plummeted, as not only was I comped on entry fees for volunteering as an instructor, I wasn't able to run full sessions as I needed to pull in early and meet up with my student(s) and prepare them for hitting their session on time. Gas consumption, brake pads, and tire usage was greatly reduced. Our chapter of BMW CCA runs an open track day (no instruction provided, only solo and advanced drivers allowed), and I really like the relaxed day.

 

[Jester04]

I've been doing track days since 2006, and have been an instructor since 2012 with BMW CCA, mostly northeast tracks (Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Palmer, NJMP, Calabogie, and even a stint at Road Atlanta). Built my '03 Evo 8 from a daily to a fully caged, barely street legal track car. Sold it in 2022 when parts got difficult to source - I thought I'd be buried in it. Replaced it with a '21 BMW M2 Comp; while it was a nice street car, track consumable parts costs were *insane* and made me depressed. Wanted to go back to my JDM roots, and thus the '23 CTR. Just picked up my CTR in October, so no track days for me until spring of '24. Reading the forums trying to quickly back fill my knowledge on the FL5 platform.

You will enjoy the FL5 a lot! I also previously had other platforms similar to yours and so far the FL5 is the one I have enjoyed the most. Previously I had. 2006 sti, 2015 sti and a OG N55 M2. And I don’t miss them one bit.

 

[ThreeD]

AutoX since 06 and HPDE since 2012. Used to heavily auto cross and now pretty much just do DE and drift days. usually run advanced group. My driving has kind of plateaued, I would need data to go faster but haven’t had the interest.

E36 M3 -> S2000. The S2000 is my primary track car, basic build w coilovers and BBK . The FL5 is my daily and may see some occasional track time.

 

[optronix]

Never considered myself a track rat and technically counting just true "track days" on a circuit, I'm still in the 3-5 category...

But counting autocross and trackcross, that figure jumps up significantly, where I've averaged ~4 events per year for the past 4-5 years. I'll probably continue at that pace; 4-5 autocrosses and 2-3 track days is about all I can handle during a typical year. Any more than that and I'd get a dedicated track car. Maybe someday.

For now I'm just about using my car in the way it was intended, not so much about chasing a spot on a leaderboard.

 

[Pwalker1130]

I've been tracking my cars since 2015 with my local PCA group. I became an instructor a few years ago and absolutely love it! I started out with Porsches but those became too expensive, hence my switch to the FL5. I instructed a driver in an FK8 a few years ago and we had a blast. He let me drive his car on track and it was very hard NOT to hammer it

Can't wait to track my FL5 in 2024! There's a group of us that like to go to events together. Nothing better than enjoying a track weekend with your buddies. Picture of me in my old car, a 2019 718 Cayman GTS, at Watkins Glen back in 2022.

 

[PointByPatrol]

I've been tracking my cars since 2015 with my local PCA group. I became an instructor a few years ago and absolutely love it! I started out with Porsches but those became too expensive, hence my switch to the FL5. I instructed a driver in an FK8 a few years ago and we had a blast. He let me drive his car on track and it was very hard NOT to hammer it

Can't wait to track my FL5 in 2024! There's a group of us that like to go to events together. Nothing better than enjoying a track weekend with your buddies. Picture of me in my old car, a 2019 718 Cayman GTS, at Watkins Glen back in 2022.

You'll love the FL5 on track! The difference between the FK8 and FL5 in handling are subtle, but you see the big picture in the difference in the times!

 

[TW00Si]

You'll love the FL5 on track! The difference between the FK8 and FL5 in handling are subtle, but you see the big picture in the difference in the times!

I’m hoping the boaty feel and sitting high up is gone in the FL5. That was my only gripe about the stock FK8 suspension/driving feel.

 

[PointByPatrol]

I’m hoping the boaty feel and sitting high up is gone in the FL5. That was my only gripe about the stock FK8 suspension/driving feel.

This car is a lot different in subtle ways. The FK8 = Bazooka, and the FL5 = Laser guided missile.

 

[Tuxedo Mask]

I had my very first track day ever this Sunday at Buttonwillow. It was the Beginner Day with SoCal Drivers Club and it was an awesome experience. I was always nervous about driving at the limit/my limit but the org did a great job of slowly teaching and building up the pace. By the end of the day, I was hooked and I'm counting down the days till the next one.

@PointByPatrol your youtube channel helped me a ton with getting the car ready and knowing what to bring.

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