It's to learn how to fix your car under limiting circumstances. For the newer cars, it is a method of learning the limits of your factory warranty. And the beer thing Larry mentioned.

 

DE is traffic citation avoidance therapy.

 

-Learn
-Have fun
-Practice
-De-stress
-Camaraderie

 

BTW, what is your answer to your non track friends when they continuosly ask you:

"How fast do you go?"

 

I tell them.

 

Good question, in racing environment, the answer is always, " Just faster than the guy behind me".

Tell them it's the turns...... Imagine coming off the turnpike at say 65mph and not slowing down for the off-ramp.

 

My standard answer is "I dunno, I don't have time to look at the speedometer..."

 

True dat. I remember when my brother asked me how fast I was taking a particular 90 degree turn, saying something like "oh, probably about 50 or so" and him saying "that's not very fast". Then he got in the car and we took the same turn and he got out saying "damn, that was scary!".

 

It is funny that everyone asks how fast do you go? Most of the time they don't get it when you say it isn't about the straight line speed.

I think James Garner put it best when interviewed during a showing of Grand Prix on Speed. They asked him what it was like to drive at 200 mph. He responded, "The thrill is not going 200 down the straight. It is going into a turn you know the top speed is 30 mph and you hit perfect going 29.9".

 

Reasons I'd add for DE are the fun of being able to share the track with fast drivers in a non-race situation, being able to feel the car when you get "it" right, and the good feeling at the end of the weekend when (if) you're able to load the car on the trailer in one piece. My observation is that beer consumption is inversely proportional to lap times. Sometimes not.
_____
bs

 

Being able to focus so intensely that you are truly "in the zone". Where for a little while the rest of the world doesn't exist, and the only "problem" is bettering yourself as you experiment and learn. The thrill of going faster than a higher hp car in the curves; or finally staying up with someone better than you, and enjoying talking about it together later. Also instructing others to gain better control of their cars, and watch them be excited as they learn. Fun!

 

"About 200." Don't mention the metric part.

 

Boston, Just make something up. I stopped saying 150 or 160 depending on the track of course. Now I just throw a number out there when I know they won't understand anyways. Say 180 or even 208mph, that usually gets a nodd. Last option is use KPH so they have to convert, numbers sound much faster if their math is bad.

 

Me making something up? Never......

 

"I usually break 100. "



(well it *is* a 944)