TraqGear

Wanted to share my first experience racing with everyone. I figured there are others here that have pondered the idea of moving from HPDE’s to racing. Hopefully, you guys will find it beneficial.

This was a unique opportunity to run a track I’ve never seen, a car I’ve never driven and run in my first race. That’s a lot going on for my first time, but, even though I knew I would be slow, the learning experience would be tremendous. I wouldn’t suggest taking on this much at once without at least several sessions doing HDPE’s, or a combo of knowing the track or the car or both.

Since my car won’t be ready for some time, I hooked up with Roar Racing (racewithroar.com) and rented a Koni, Mazda RX8 for the weekend. Well, I thought I rented a car, but I actually rented a complete experience. Rob and his family at Roar took care of everything including track support and race instruction…all at a very inexpensive price for all of the benefits. Please keep in mind, I’ve never met anyone from Roar before this event, so it is a very unbiased report.

TraqGear

1st day, Friday, was the competition license school for NASA. We went through drills throughout the day and, of course, the rains came in for the weekend. So, that complicated my learning curve a bit. NASA has instructors out there driving all around you, passing you, monkeying with you as much as possible to see if you will be shaken up, or stay on the exercise. For me, I was so busy trying to learn this awesome new track (RA), I didn’t notice them too much…not to mention learning the car. Roar’s cars are set up extremely well and flow through the track almost effortlessly. It was still very new to me…front engine car, lower hp, better handling, etc. By the afternoon, the rain was pretty bad and our practice race was cut short to 10 minutes. More importantly, I passed without incident and was qualified for the races on Saturday and Sunday!

Saturday…did I mention tornadoes and hail…and plenty of it? I muddled through the practice session and had a very wet qualifying run. Although I wound up pretty far down the list, I wasn’t last! I was very much still learning everything that I had thrown myself into. But, I believe a good driver should be able to jump in any car at any track and do a decent job. So, the idea is to swallow my pride, jump out there and do my best. Those Miata guys drive it like they stole it and makes for a very competitive atmosphere. My goals…keep my line, don’t hit anyone, don’t hit anything and don’t let them hit me!

TraqGear

The race was phenomenal! Rain, rain and more rain! My slow steady pace paid off as I watched cars flying all over the place! Every couple of laps there was an incident of some sort! I finally got the nerve to do an inside pass on 10a, as my car had awesome brakes…good enough to brake to the inside of 10a and pass 2 cars. BUT, the 2 cars were fighting tooth and nail with each other and one t-boned the other right in front of me! I quickly darted to the left, off of the track at a steady speed and went right back on at 10b! This race was the one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. I hated to see the checkered flag and could not get the smile off of my face for several hours. This stuff is definitely for me!

Sunday was nice, sunny and dry. I was getting more familiar with the track and the car. I ran a couple of sessions with HPDE4 so I could get enough track time to really see what the car could do. Man, you can shoot through the esses like nobody’s business. When the race came, I could actually run with about half of the pack. It was so good to feel what a light, well set-up car can do in a turn. It provides a very well-balanced education on momentum driving. Every event I did I kept creeping up on the qualifying and race list. I did have a spin in turn 1 that I’ll soon not forget! I had 5-6 cars all approaching the turn at the same time. I came in too hot to the inside and went sideways. All I could think about was being incident free in order to get my race license. So, I fought it with everything I could to stay away from the cars to my outside…I got away from them, looked up and seen the inside wall coming up fast!…so the fight was on to stay away from the wall. I finally came to a rest mid-track between 1 and 2. Then quickly realizing that I was MID-TRACK BETWEEN 1 AND 2, I took off and finished the race. This stuff should really be illegal…it is that fun.

If anyone is thinking of giving it a try, this is the way to go. Don’t build a car just to find out it isn’t for you. All I had to do was bring my safety gear. Rob has everything else and can accommodate most any need. They also do Koni level weekends with full support. Patrick Dempsey, aka McDreamy, is a customer as well. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. It isn’t often I experience this level of service, so I felt that they certainly deserved a good write-up. Even their friends that see them there, Jody and Doc (Mike) are always willing to lend a hand or advice and make you feel like one of the family. Rob and his son Adam are extremely accomplished drivers as well, so every area is covered. Special thanks to Ravelle, Lou, Travis and Chris. Thanks for a great time for my family and I. I will definitely be a repeat customer!

TraqGear

One last shot.

DanR

great write up, it sounds as though you will be on a high for a while until your next time that is!

CWay27

It sounds like you had a great week-end but in your last pictures, you also look beat. Great to see the wife so supportive. Good luck and keep us posted on your build up.

C.J. Ichiban

that's awesome! this looks right up my alley as I'm looking to go from HPDE and trackdays into actual
wheel to wheel in the next few years...

PM sending...

38D

Sounds like a typical new racer story. You'll become a much faster and safer driver thru racing.

stuttgart46

Great job. Good looking family you got there as well.
How is your build coming along? Have you started a build thread yet?
-Chad

NoSubEDU

Good 'ole Rob Whitener...I remember when he use to run his wife's Maserati Coupe...next time you see him, tell him the fella in the black audi wagon says hi!

Rob is a great guy. He and his two sons are regulars at VIR. I remember when they made the switch over to RX8's. He's a terrific guy and a great driver. Bump for a great race team.

Flying Finn

Sounds very good! Congrats!

MarkM

Roger,

Glad to se more folks out there enjoying themselves. Now get the lead out and finish your proper racing car!

TraqGear

Going as fast as I can!
Thanks Chad...car is still at body and cage shop.

Tired, tired, tired. I had so much adrenaline pumping I was tired for 2 days. The wife is a real trooper...always at least comes out to see how I'm doing.

Will do.

jenk12m

very nice write up roger. glad to see you had a great time at my home track. sorry about the rain, tornado, and hail. although you can learn so much from driving in the rain, as i know i did when it rained duirng my racing school. i hope everything goes well with your build and your able to have that much fun in your car very soon

schwank

Sounds great! This coming weekend was supposed to be my comp school and first race, but after months of work on various things... over the weekend I went to slide the gauge cluster back in the dash... and BAM... hits the cage dash bar. Given that the car still needed to be aligned and some other tweaks done, there is no way the car is on track by Friday. It's too late to rent a car and I can't stomach a couple grand for the cost anyway.

Which sucks since there is only one SCCA school all year around here. So my 08 rookie year just became my 09 rookie year. Woot.

My advice to you... when you cage is done, check EVERYTHING before you let the car leave the cage shop. Welds, dash fitment, gauge fitment, etc. Sucks to figure out there is a fitment issue after you get it home.