Track video From WSIR

[White05X3]

That is SO ufair!!! Your windows were up!!!

I did a track day last year in my track car (a 1989 MR2 Supercharged) at Buttonwillow. It rained... windows had to be down. That was a miserable experience!!!! I definitely would not do that to a car I care about keeping clean, such as my X3! On the other hand, your point about car control at slow speeds is well taken, as I did learn a lot that day.

While I had a track car I probably did 12 - 14 track days. The seat time was very valuable indeed! For now I think I will stick mostly to auto-x since it is much safer. I have 2 kids who depend on me and they are my priority right now. I might do a track school or two per year to keep from getting TOO rusty.

That S2000 looks like a great track car! Again, I truly appreciate the good advice! It is well taken!

[hayaku]

very nice and congrats randy. wsir can be one helluva scary track that does allow you to carry some crazy speeds... theres some changes i would make to your line but i don't think you are ready for it yet...

like alanl stated, more seat time. you may get the theory in your head but that does you no good if you can't perform the car control technique as neccessary.

i would disagree that autox is safer then big track. the difference is its much harder to go to dangerous speeds/grip levels at autox and much easier to at the big track. but you can crunch a car and get hurt at either event. you do seem to have the correct priority down tho, to return as safe as you arrived. as long as you have that in the back of your head and SLOWLY increase the speeds as you get more skilled, you will stay safe as long as no one else crashes into you

[White05X3]

There are some other differences between track days and auto-x that warrant some consideration...

1. During auto-x, there are no other cars in the immediate vicinity... I was doing a track day at CA Speedway with Redline Track Events. During the yellow flag out lap I was motoring along at a constant and reasonable pace. A guy in a black corvette was going WAY too fast and very nearly t-boned me. The only reason there was no accident was because I drove off track and out of his way. A couple of times at Streets with STUSA (awful group - avoid like the plague) passing rules were totally ignored and as a result I was nearly punted off track a few times. On the other hand, in 19 years of auto-x nobody has ever come close to hitting me.

2. Run-off areas on auto-x courses are generally just as smooth as the track. Unlike going off turn 2 at WSIR or the bowl at Streets, having an off track excursion during auto-x results in little more than a small black mark on the car.

3. Brake temperatures rarely get that high during auto-x so the chances of significant fade are greatly reduced.

All that being said, I prefer the track to auto-x any day! But for now, and especially considering that all I have to run is an X3, I will focus on auto-x. Perhaps in the future I will have the spare time/money to do a proper track car. Until then I will focus on sharpening my car control skills in big, empty, hot parking lots!!!

And if I forgot to mention it, thanks for the kudos! I appreciate it!