Performance drivers check in!

[Gairloch]

I'm just curious who all actually turns a wheel in anger occasionally at organized track events of whatever flavor.

My curriculum vitae:

I have been a member of NASA since it came to the Midwest 3 years ago. I had been running HPDEs with small clubs 3 years or so before that. With NASA I've worked Timing & Scoring and Grid to help cover my expenses.

Tracks:

St. Cloud State Highway Patrol Safety Center (Tiny track where I cut my teeth)
Dakota County Technical College (Another tiny course)
Brainerd International Raceway
Mid-America Motorplex
Autobahn Country Club
Blackhawk Farms Raceway
Road America
Putnam Park Road Course

Not looking for canyon divers or people that like to take onramps quick

[NONACK]

I Autocross with the PhillySCCA

[Raptor13x]

When I owned a car that was worthy of track use, I did quite a few autocross events and a few track days. Now, I have a Civic

[Dance_Business]

I do autocross with the SCCA; occasional drag at Memphis Motorsports Park.

[Maruki-kun]

Originally Posted by Raptor13x

Now, I have a Civic

explains a lot...

[Raptor13x]

Originally Posted by Ku-sama

explains a lot...

Hey, I needed a good gas mileage ticket-avoider.

[Brinkley]

I flog my car at night on lonely backroads. Why own a car like the mr2 and NOT drive it hard? I mean the 2 IMHO just plain sucks for a DD. Mine HATES dd'n I swear it drives better after a good flogging. There's nothing like that smell after a hard run. mm.

[kbrew8991]

guilty as charged

[mr2greasemonkey]

I beat on mine all the time, course that prob explains why I'm always fixing it. Need to find weak links.......hehe.

[mopwer]

AutoX = SCCA (AZsolo.com), HDPEs = Porsche Club of America (AZPCA.org), and TAs = It was an annual event put on by a local tuner. All at Firebird International Raceway in AZ.

Like crack!

Greg

[Gairloch]

How about a little more detail guys. What tracks have you run and with which clubs?

[Raptor13x]

I've run www.waterfordhills.com with the Porsche Club, and whatever the track was that we went to for SE2002 near Birmingham, AL.

Most of my autocross experience came from a car club at Kettering University, which rocked because it was cheap and you could get 10-15 runs in over the course of the day. I ran a couple SCCA events after that, but they were never half as good- I hate spending a fortune to get in, then sitting all day at the track just to get 3 runs in.

[pothiawala786]

Autox counts right? Started autoxing last year in late May in an Integra. Ran about 1-2 events a month until around Sept when it ended up getting stolen. Ended up buying an MR2 and ran 2 events last year in October/November (in like 30 degree weather). I've ran 3-4 events this year since the beginning of May, and I plan on averaging around atleast 2-3 autox's a month.

I'd like to get into something a bit more faster, but the local autox schedules and prices are hard to beat. Maybe I'll get into road racing next year. I would like to try high speed autox (cone setup on a road racing track).

I've autoxed at Route66, College of Lake county, Maywood/Melrose Park, and the Tire rack. Clubs I've ran with are Tri-state, Salt creek, and Miata club. I plan on going to Audi and Volkswagen clubs this year as well.

[kbrew8991]

currently just NASA (and well, SVRA to run One Lap of America...), and its been a while since I've done autox with SCCA

tracks I've hit so far:
Barber Motorsports Park
Carolina Motorsports Park (both configs)
Hallett Motor Racing Circuit
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (both configs)
Roebling Road
Road Atlanta
Rockingham (NC Speedway, "roval)
Talledega Grand Prix (small track in the same town, not a "roval")
Virginia International Raceway (North & Full configs)

will be adding TX area tracks soon hopefully (Texas World Speedway, MSR Houston, MSR Cresson, Eagle's Canyon, No Problem, etc)

[wagonis]

Keep this thread going for another month and I'll be adding on my info. NASA & SCCA.

[mthreat]

I went to my first track even in 2006 when I got my 350Z, and I was instantly addicted. I've done around 20-25 HPDE events since then, most of them at Texas World Speedway. I've been to Motorsport Ranch Cresson a few times, Eagle's Canyon once (don't like it), Driveway Austin once. In August I'll be going to a night event at Texas Motor Speedway.

The organizations I've been going with are the Driver's Edge (The Drivers Edge) or the Texas World Speedway Motorsport Club. I'm planning on going to a NASA HPDE/TT event soon. I'd ultimately love to race wheel-to-wheel, but that sounds very expensive and very addicting. In the meantime, to satisfy my racing urge, I've been doing some kart racing at Iron Rock Raceway in Austin, and playing lots of Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport 2.

I only took the MR2 to the track once, back in March. I blew an exhaust gasket out, causing some problems in the engine bay due to the heat. I've since fixed all that stuff, and upgraded to a CT20b in the process, but I'm not in any rush to bring the MR2 back out there right now.

I'd also like to attend a racing school someday. Definitely open wheel -- Something along the lines of Skip Barber or Roos or something.

This weekend I'll be at Texas World Speedway, we're running clockwise. If anyone is close to College Station, TX, come on by! I'm in the "red" group, and Driver's Edge now allows us to give rides (with a $25 donation to their charity organization).

[curvesrgood]

What do you guys that have run Carolina Motorsports Park think of it? It is close and I've been hankering to take the S/C down and put a hurtin on that track!

Is the Rockingham "roval" any good and when do they run this? What is the track layout? I didn't know they ran anything down there other than some lower series weekend stock car races!

P.S. - Don't think I ever really turn a wheel in anger... just with a huge grin on my face. I can't be angry when I sit down in a mk1... just looking at the thing makes me smile! I feel that if you don't smell burning oil every time you turn off your MR2's ignition, you haven't REALLY been driving the car proper .

[kbrew8991]

the "new" turn 12 layout for CMP is nice. Decent amount of runoff room in some corners and generally forgiving for noobs and advanced alike. I didn't quite manage to snag the TR for my class there, but the new one is about 1:55 for me, the old one I ran about 2:01s. Either layout will be fine to learn on, though the old T12 & 13 you will either love or hate

Rockingham uses the front stretch and NASCAR 1 & 2, then dives into the infield at the end of the backstretch pits, 2 hairpin turns on the infield then rejoins at the end of NASCAR 4. Very short track, very simple, but a good chance to work on things like consistency since you can get tons of laps in a short session. My TR there for my NASA TT class is 1:13.3XX to give you an idea...

[bigsky_no_9]

I autox my 86 with the SCCA Bigsky Region 38 mostly in western Montana. This is my first MR2 and it's taking me a while to figure the little thing out, but I'm having fun!

[87MR24RX]

(Resurrecting an old thread)

Autocross w/ my 2006 Scion xB (lowered springs, rear sway bar, front strut brace, Yokohama S-Drive tires) this past summer, and just bought an '87 MR2 NA to give Rallycross a try.