Matt93SE said:
asam, can you give me a ballpark on the costs involved?
I'd like to get my license for NASA to play as well, but I'm just not sure of what the costs will involve.
Lets see for SE-R Cup the costs involved would be as follows:
HPDE... each weekend (2 day event) costs $270 or $195 per day. (Really not bad since you get on average of an hour and a half of track time each day). This is where its tentative... HPDE has 4 levels 1 being beginner and 4 being the highest. Instructors will ride with you in HPDE1, and from there, you determine how quickly you can move up the line until HPDE4 (the head instructor of your run group gives the ok if they feel you're ready for the next highest run group) ... sometimes you can jump from HPDE1 to HPDE3 in one day, depending on your experience. So depending on how long you linger at HPDE levels will determine that cost. It took me about 7 track events over the course of the year to feel ready for racing.
Only after you've completed HPDE4 will you be allowed to take the racing school - $500 for driving concepts (On the west coast), which is required in order to get your provisional license. $50 annual racing fee, $40 annual NASA membership. Thats once you start racing.
I admit its not cheap... this isnt including maintenance required on a track car - or the car itself! it requires a lot of top ramen dinners, and dedication to be able to pull something like this off... but in the end its worth it. Personally I think the 500 bucks for the race school is killer, considering the fact that other racing schools vary between 1k-5k. i'd like to go to skip barber and all, but on this budget, what NASA uses worked fine for me.
i hope that helped.
MShorten said:
What did you think of the HPDE events? What were they like? Do you think they would be useful for short track oval racing as much as road/Xcross courses? Did you go for 1 day, 2 day or 3 day events?
As a rookie/learning stocker, I could use all the training/help I can get! LOL!
I went to 2 day events - which i HIGHLYrecommend over going for just one day. not only is it cheaper for track time, but i think theres something about being able to finish one track day, take the evening to recap and figure out your mistakes (which yes, you see the track in your sleep

), and then immediately going out the next day to correct those mistakes.
and the track experience with hpde benefitted me with all sorts of track events.. its even applicable to regular commuter driving (like apexing the freeway onramp for higher exit speed... its safer for merging you know lol

) . Driving with HPDE was useful to me because the more comfortable I got driving, the more i paid attention to my surroundings, and being behind the wheel became second nature. Its kinda like snowboarding. you spend your first couple of times concentrating on keeping your balance, when you get better, you're not even thinking about balance because you're working on the jumps, tracks will always change. you know what i mean?
and autox courses? honestly after being on a actual roadcourse, i dont think i could feel satisfied autoxing anymore lol. but i admit i have gotten better at auto X'n bc of all the track experience.
my column in March's NPM issue has some road racing tips also, from my first few road racing experiences.
March 05 Project Racer