JackOlsen

Race coil springs are usually stiffer than torsion bars.

This Thursday, I'll make the 500-mile drive to Thunderhill from Los Angeles. I have 23mm torsion bars in front and 600# springs in back and I drive the car around town as much as my other cars. The teeth-rattling ride most people describe is usually the product of sound more than bumps -- gutted race cars 'feel' more abrupt just as louder exhausts 'feel' like there's more power. Outside of that, some track cars have wildly-mismatched spring and shock settings.

My car is stiffly sprung, but it's not uncomfortable. My race bucket feels better on long trips than the seat in my Jaguar. I have armrests that insert into place for the long drives and come out at the track. Noise is more of an issue -- I use an iPod with foam earbuds and listen to a book on tape. (I've got Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and a newer book called 'The Brief History of the Dead' ready for this trip -- nice and uplifting, huh?)

The only thing I'm going to miss this trip is air conditioning. My car had it, but I finally took it off over the winter to save the 65 pounds and I'm working on a 12v-powered Cool-Shirt seat insert scheme, but it won't be in place by this weekend and the weatherman says it's going to be 88 degrees. Maybe the Cool Shirt itself will come out of its case.

The upside to driving to a race comes from beating so many guys with pampered, trailered cars. I think it fits well with what probably attracted a lot of us to Porsches in the first place: it's a car you can drive all week, and then race all weekend.

The downsides of driving to the track are pretty dramatic, though. If you break, it sucks. You'll be trying to wrangle a flatbed for a long haul on top of the anxiety about what it's going to take to get the car back on its feet. You can also break on the way to the track, which means you're going to miss the drivers meeting and possibly miss the event. If you don't have AC, the trip can be hard and long, especially after a day of racing in the southern California desert. You also have to pack and unpack the car a lot more often than you would with a trailer. And you'll always be compromising on tires.

I like doing it with my dual-purpose car. But if I were racing in a specific series, and it was important that I be competitive, then a trailer would really be the only way to go.

cdbtx

Further track is 6 hours - normal track is 1 hour. The best part is driving down the highway only to have a rice burner pull up beside me.... The sound alone is enough to make him change his undies..



Chuck


83 Kiln Red 928S

BC

Well, let us ask it a different way. If a tow vehicle and trailer would be a very cheap option, such as that you already had an owned (paid off) vehicle that could tow the car, and could easily get an open trailer for a low cost, would that change any "Drivers' minds"? When I did drive the 3 or so hours it is to Willow Springs in my S2000 for a track event, it was 4am to about 8pm that day. Thats alot of driving, and having the creature comforts that are usually not in a track car would help.

Waco Kid

I drive mine to the track, F stock 911, and either my wife carries my tires in her Tahoe or a friend will haul them who has a trailer. The drive back after a 3 day club race or a summer DE can be a bit tiring but it has worked out ok so far. The car is street legal and I tape over the numbers/club racing decals while driving on public roads.
All that said, I plan on getting a trailer in the next 12 months. Trailering is much easier, plus you do not have to worry about getting pulled over 3X-4X per year for a friendly check of license and proof of insurance.

JerryW

Currently drive to the track on RA1's. Would like to get a trailer sometime in the future but wanted to start racing now. Others in the class would trailer me home if needed (they are a great bunch and had to do this the 1st weekend of this year at Thunderhill for one of the other guys)

ckkrause

Drove my 944 Turbo to T-Hill, Sears Pt., and Laguna for a couple of years. But, when a 5 inch heater hose sprung a leak and I had a 77 mile tow, I looked for a tow vehicle and trailer...

My $0.02

-CKKrause

va122

Last week I drove from san diego to WSIR in my GT3 on ra-1s. No problem with the tires, But...I broke a driveshaft somehow! I thought I was F'ed but thanks to BH Porsche I was on track as scheduled!

SERIOUSLY considering arrive and drive.

forklift

Funny, I use to drive RA-1s to the track and just started putting Hoosiers on my roof rack. That might not last too long unless I can find more wear out of the hohos.

JRZs and monoballs make for a rough ride. I don't worry about me, I just worry about the car and how far off that shock rebuild is. I don't drive the car much other than to the track, but I'm sure it takes it's toll. Headed to Mid-O in two weeks and the PA turnpike....not so excited about the turnpike.

In Sept. I had to pick between JRZs and a tow vehicle and trailer and I made my choice. If I ever club race, chances are I will be driving it to the track.

Oh, and I ditched my AC last year, but have the sunroof for now.

pu911rsr

I have done this every possible way. I used to drive to DE events, never had any issues, boy was I lucky. I have trailered race cars to races, it's quite a bit of stuff and can take up a lot of time. I now just keep my car trackside in a garage which limits you to one track, lucklily my home track is really 4 different circuits. If I had the time I would haul my car over the entire country and drive every race track I could. There are some great tracks out there.
Phil

jim3

I've done over 50 races in a 944 and 944S driving as many as 540 miles to Summit Point. Used RA-1s as my street tires / race rains with three hoosiers in the back and 1 in the passenger seat. Used to fit four 7" wheels with 225/50 X 16 tires in the back but with 8" wheels couldn't stack two up on one side. Switched to Toyo T1S which were great street rains but not great track rains. Compound too hard especially four years or so.

Jay Gratton

I drove from Londonderry, NH to Sebring down in Florida with my '85 911 and back. I have driven to the Glen many times in my 914 and loved every minute of it. The wife doesn't enjoy it, but she deals.

SMR996

I used to until I blew up the gear box at Buttonwillow and had to be towed home from Bakersfield......
Never again I said....

Currently in the market for an enclosed car trailer and sliding down that slippery slope some more........

Chris M.

Wow that's some serious dedication and a great car. 1400 miles EACH way?

Scott MacDonald

For my "local" track (Lime Rock, 1 1/2 hours away) I drive on my Michelin PSCs. For distant tracks I've rigged up a roof rack for the track tires. It looks a bit like something from the Beverly Hillbillies, I admit, but seems to work

M758

I trailer my 944 to track even locally when the track is 45 miles form home. Then again my car is not street registered although I could make it legal if I wanted.

The nice things about Trailering

1) You always have way home. Wreck, or mech breakdown and you have a way home.
2) More spares, you bring a crap load of spares that helps keep the car on track. Spares like, all rubber hoses, oil, brake fluid, brake pads, control arms, fuel rails, 2 spare sets of wheels/tires, I even have spare gearbox, just incase. Plus all the tools needed to replace them, plust comfort items like 2 Ez-ups.
3) More comfortable ride to and from the track. Driving home in 105F after racing all day sucks with no A/C, same for driving to the track at 0 dark 30 with temps hovering around 35F.