Phokaioglaukos

Ok, I've decided that I want to go racing (I think). I've done the Skip Barber 3-day school and that gets me a SCCA regional license upon payment of various fees and I'm getting that underway. I have a physical exam scheduled and I'll get my doctor to complete the SCCA and PCA forms for me. I plan to rent a spec Miata at Summit Point sometime this fall and do a test day and at least one race, maybe on the same weekend. What more/different should I do? Is there another sponsoring organization I should apply to? Note that I'm in the Philadelphia area and Summit Point is close and a track I like.

I'm not sure what class I will want to race in, but I know it won't be in my current Porsche. My car would be in A because it has a lightweight (single mass) flywheel now and I do not want to race a car without a full cage and that would require making the car not very streetable, or saleable. For Porsche I'm thinking F Class, but then I want to keep a mind open to all sorts of alternatives.

Racers, please give me your advice!

chrisp

can you give a general idea of your on-track experience to date?

welcome to the club

Sean F

The first step is to contact a good divorce attorney

Jim Child

I highly recommend F class for PCA. Its usually the best attended class, so you'll always have someone to race with. F cars also slot into NASA GTS2 very easily if you want to do more than one race per year at any given track.

aeshultz

OK- I'll jump in; continue to rent and race whenever you can, and then start figuring out which class/ sanctioning body/ car you want to end up in. The race seat time will never hurt, only help. And if you start with SCCA, most other groups will be a step back in intensity (ducking, donning Nomex).
Alan

Sean F

Chris, navigating the series really is the most difficult part. A lot depends on how much racing you want to do and at which tracks. From where you are, you could hit a lot of PCA and NASA races at some great tracks. SCCA is a little more tricky if you want to do PCA as well with the same car. See my post in this forum about trying to figure it out. Using one car for all three series is not that easy. I would recommend that you do what Jim said and get a good already done F or G car in PCA and race with PCA and NASA (it would be a plus if the car already had a logbook for each). You can find cars fairly easily, the fields are large (in PCA in particular) and the racing is good. Getting your PCA license is a snap as long as your chief instructor helps you out. Getting a NASA license is done by attending one of their competition schools (which is a lot of fun) or they'll give you one with an SCCA license. If you only want to race a couple of times a year, keep it simple and just do PCA the first year. The real trick is to find the organization and the class you want to race and then find the car, not the other way around.

Z-man

I am not a racer, nor do I play one on TV. But someday when I grow up, I'd like to ventue into CR as well... So far, I'm having too much fun doing DE's and instructing that I have not yet gotten into CR. And my understanding is that a CR budget is a bit higher than a strict DE budget.

While it is true that the PCA Driver's Ed program isn't a requirement for club racing, NOR is it to be used as practice for Club racing, it is an excellent venue for learning track driving. Seat time is seat time, whether you have to wait for a passing signal or not.

In a DE environment you can learn many aspects of track driving without the added pressure of racing. Stuff like the line, the rain line, understanding when to apex, your braking zone, ocular driving, track awareness...etc. are all part of BOTH DE's and Club racing.

That said, there are a couple of things that one needs to "unlearn" when moving from DE to club racing. For example: waiting for the passing signal and not passing in the corners are things taught in DE's that are not part of Club Racing. But, IMHO, the benefits of what you learn in DE's greatly outweigh the disadvantages of starting with DE's first.

Oh, and regarding driving school like Skippy and DE's: both are great learning tools -- but at DE's, you will typically get more seat time (and instruction) for your money.

I have heard that a good rule of thumb is this: if you get involved with DE's first, wait until you are in the intermediate or upper-intermediate run group before you ventue into club racing.

Just my $0.42,
-Z-man.

renvagn

HAHAHHAHAHAH.......................+1

Phokaioglaukos

Thanks for the welcome. I started DE in April 2005 and have done 77 days on track so far. As of the last event, I'm in the Black group of Riesentöter, Potomac and Schattenbaum. I'm also in the A group of the Delaware Valley and the Genesee Valley chapters of BMW CCA. All of my experience has been in the GT3 which is stock but for the flywheel and safety equipment.

944Cup

If interested in renting a 944 at Summit Point in August or October NASA events, drop me a line (cup944@aol.com).

srf506

I'll throw in my $.02 here too. Before you commit any serious bucks to buying a race vehicle, rent several times from guys who have cars similar to what you think you might want to race in once and if you do decide you like it enough to stick with it. First, go out and buy the best safety equipment you can afford. Name brands like Bell, Simpson, Sparco, OMB, etc. are known for a reason. See if you can borrow or rent a HANS as they are kind of specific to a particular car. Then, get as much track time as you can. Try lots of different classes and lots of different sanctioning bodies. CHeck on the participant's insurance coverages for differences that might impact your ability to fully participate. If your goal is PCA then you're kind of locking yourself into certain classes and levels in other sanctioning bodies like SCCA. Go to as many events as you can and talk to the stewards, the registrars, the medicos, corner workers, as well as participants. See where you feel the most comfortable and go from there. Remember, no one is an Ayrton Senna from day one. Its a learned skill set just like anything else. Good luck and keep us posted.

Phokaioglaukos

I've read and learned from your posts, and I have a lot of thinking to do still. At present I plan to get my SCCA regional license by paying the fees and doing at least two regional races in a rental car, probably the Miata, and then thinking some more. I'd like to get that done this year so that I can try PCA CR next year after having some real race experience. I also need to get some rides in a F Class car to see just how much a difference it will be from my street GT3. And I'm definitely buying, not buildiing, whatever I get.

TR6

Also good advice for those of us just addicted to DE'ing...

Phokaioglaukos

Other than the Miata rentals, which seem to be easy to find, who rents cars? I'd really like to rent a 911 F Class, but I have not heard of anyone doing that. I have the SA 2000 helmet and HANS for a stock car (and that's what I'm planning to drive), but now I guess I really have to get the fire resistant shoes, suit and gloves that I always thought looked a bit silly in DE. I also printed the 600 page SCCA General Competition Rules. There is a real learning curve here, so I hope you will help me along.

JC in NY

It is common advice to tell someone trying to get into racing to "rent" 15 different cars and race in 30 different race classes before deciding. Easier said then done. But face it, how practical is that really? It's not. We all just eventually "run what we brung and takes our chances" in the end.