ProCoach

I hear you on the date and venue proximity. That's always been an issue for me spanning so many DE, track day and racing groups, dating back to when I filled two semi tractor-trailers with cars twenty-six weekends out of the year.

Conflicts are only getting worse as more and more organizers appear on the calendar. Unfortunately, the conflicts are usually dictated due to track availability, not the organizer.

Attendance may be way down in PCA Club Racing, but it's not elsewhere. VIR will be rented over 335 days this year (some two-course rental days, plus there are about seven weeks of an "off-season"), with lists of waiters for most weekends.

Seems busy and on a continuous upswing for me and for my business. Murry is doing well, Apex Driving is doing well, GMP is doing well, there's a LOT more people doing this than pre-pandemic. My first quarter projections are way up over last year, and I don't even have to travel anymore.

NaroEscape

I guess I'm speaking more to club racing organizations vs. track days. BMW club racing is down too. NASA is holding steady but doing less events this year down here in SE.

ProCoach

I don't know, maybe legacy programs are the ones taking the hit after being stagnant for so long. The money it takes to prepare, let alone run in some of the BMWCCA Club Racing modified classes can exceed the price of a new GT4 car! All the M2 CSR's have gone there. It's a far cry from a bunch of friends racing E36's and 2002's.

Vintage and historic racing, both for-profits like SVRA and HSR and clubs like VDCA, VRG and VSCDA continue to grow. ChampCar and Lemons are rolling on, WRL is sold-out most of the time within hours, AER is chugging along.

Where I see the BIG growth is single-make stuff. The new Ginetta series, the new Revolution, Radical, IGT, Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, GT3 Cup and now the Porsche Sprint Series is very strong, REALLY strong.

I guess if people are going to spend the money, they want a premium experience, not the same old, tired thing. SCCA went through that years ago, and they're still in decline. I think the old marque club programs, along with NASA, are next.

As an aside, you and Nadine are some of the best gear suppliers out there.

But I don't miss that business at all. It's turned cut-throat, with every Tom, Dick and Harry with a website selling their wares.

Like club-level/entry-level pro private coaching, I got in on the equipment business early, made hay, provided good value and got out. Don't miss the hardware side.

OTOH, I'm hired a lot more now by clubs, organizations, teams and drivers to help them simply navigate their increasingly capable but complex equipment and software, learn to distill and prioritize the information that they collect and learn how to create an action plan for the next session.

Very satisfying, that work... Sorry for the off-topic rant.

LuigiVampa

I see a lot of these people at AER and Champ races. I run a couple of these races a year and the total cost of the weekend, including food, lodging, travel, gas, parts, etc., is about a set of tires. Hard to compete with this.

chartersb

Racers have more choices than ever before, none of them are inexpensive. Costs and distance affect how often someone races far more than the price of an individual event you wish to race at. Racer participation is up in total but that total is spread across more sanctioning bodies than 5 or 10 years ago. PCA Club Raing has shrinking car counts because its's losing racers to everything from IGT to WRL, AER, Champ Car and others. BMW Club Racing is trying to change it's structure to be more appealing while PCA adds even more classes to increase it's appeal.

BFT3.2

This probably only effects a few potential entrants such as myself but I would be 100% in if there had been a Test and Tune the day before. As a CR rookie I've never driven VIR, to come down and go from a couple practice sessions right in to qualy doesn't sound like a great time. I had never driven Summit Point or Sebring but having the T&T the day before helped HUGE in trying to get up to speed by the time Qual and Sprint came. I know there's a Dave Murry event the days before but that becomes cost prohibitive for some. Even if you know the track the TnT adds another driving day to the weekend at a very reasonable cost and makes the full commitment more of a cost/track time value.

ProCoach

That’s such a shame, that because there’s not a “reasonable” T&T day before one of the busiest and one that provides the most track-time days in club racing (the Friday of any PCA Club Race) that you decide not to go to an event. PCA Club Racing certainly wins the track time competition with almost all other events on Friday.

If you can’t come up to speed in all those sessions plus the Fun Race (they still run those, right?), then you get good practice passing people in both Sprints and then slay ‘em in the Enduro when you’re up to speed.

I don’t mean this post as a slam, but I have to say that even some PCA Club Racers don’t know how good they have it.

NaroEscape

No fun race anymore (which I think is a huge mistake)
3 practice then qualifying.
not everyone gets up to speed at a new track quickly. I ALWAYS do the T&T on a new track. Or at least do a recon DE event in advance. I’m even trying to do a day or so at RAtl before I do the race because I haven’t been there in 2 years, and I’ve driven it on and off since 2007…
Yes we in PCA have it great with track time, but sometimes a few sessions just isn’t enough to feel comfortable on such a big track (I still don’t at VIR after 20 years!)

Difool

Just making sure you didn’t miss that there is a 2-day David Murry event that Wednesday and Thursday. Open track. In fact I think there are driving events for the consecutive 6 days prior if you really want prior track time.

Frank 993 C4S

It's hard to run your Rookie race at a track you have never been to even with a T&T day beforehand because the experience can be a bit overbearing. Just pick a track that you have been to before for your first race weekend. Lime Rock is just around the corner! BTW - personally, I usually don't get up to speed until the Enduro anyway.

ProCoach

I guess I've been deprived. Test & Tune days before and contiguous with race weekends began to appear slowly only in the last decade, much more common in the last five years.

I put this down to event cost, time value when traveling to races and a general interest in getting better value out of the time and money commitment of a race weekend, as you point out very well.

Typically in SCCA Double Nationals or Super Tour events, we get a combined 15 minute practice/qualifying and a 40 minute or so race each day.

In vintage/historic, we got two twenty minute practices, one twenty minute qualifying and three races over the three days. Two sessions a day, plus an extra cost Enduro.

In pro racing, you get one practice, one qualifying (often abbreviated) and the race.

It has been a fundamental tenet of top level coaching to stress a) how to learn and optimize your driving on a track you don't know (or know to the point of the order and severity of the corners) and, b) how to practice and execute coming up to speed REALLY quickly, i.e. the first or second flying lap, in qualifying and the race.

In spec racing, the results from the race can hinge completely on driver performance over the first and the second hot lap after the green.

I don't know any top-level pros and consistently high level club racers that don't practice or focus on developing these skills.

So many drivers don't do their quickest lap until well into the session or the race. Those folks don't finish up front and often progress in improving their driving performance much more slowly, generally. They may ultimately turn a very quick lap in comparison with the rest of the field, but by then, the field has moved on.

Something to think about. Track time used to be so rare, there was no "pounding around" for the sake of doing laps, it was all done with supreme focus and significant commitment. Every corner, every lap.

Yes, PCA Club Racing has it AWESOME with track time, for sure.

Difool

Another option for VIR is to join the HPDE alongside the race. That equals a ton of track time in what may already be an overwhelming race weekend, but it is an option for those looking for some more casual test sessions.

ProCoach

Seven days. NASA Mid Altantic Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Rob Orlando Monday and Tuesday and Murry Wednesday and Thursday.

He mentioned David Murry was an option but might be cost prohibitive for some...

Jared Rodeheaver

This is an excellent point. It would definitely be easier to have a rookie race at a track one has been to. Eliminates one big variable... As a rookie I would have to wait until Watkins Glen if I wanted to race at a track I've been to. I debated between VIR and LRP with LRP being half the drive and a "simpler" track to come up to speed on it seemed less intimidating.

BFT3.2

I meant "rookie" as in new to Club Racing, my rookie race was last fall at Summit and then Sebring a few weeks ago, both tracks I had never driven but the TnT helped me get comfortable and up to speed come qualifying or race. Again Im speaking for myself in this specific instance and not commenting on why #'s are down or claiming that PCA doesn't offer adequate track time on a race weekend. Yes the DM days prior is a great opportunity and the parallel running DE is there as well.

To some of Peter's points, what you described is exactly what happened with me at Sebring, my first sprint I was 3 seconds faster then my qual after the first lap and held that time but like you said half the field was already gone, didn't matter as I had a great time racing the guys around me and made some passes, loved it.