Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK
I am biased, by the way. So take what I have to say with a huge grain of salt.
Why would anyone take their LIMITED PRODUCTION E8X M to the track without a coach or instructor in the passenger seat available at all times, is beyond me. Even if you bought it used, you likely spent well in excess of $24,000 to buy it...And if you bought it recently, likely over $30,000.
Spend the big bucks. If you have to take this car to the track, go with the organizations with the best instructors IMO, and don't chance it to bunch of yahoos trying to set their personal lap times on unsafe equipment that cost them LESS than the cost of entry to buy.
And before you go, make sure the event is insurable through some sort of HPDE insurance like Lockton Affinity's HPDE Insurance program. If Lockton won't insure it, I won't attend.
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on insurance.
As to "bunch of yahoos" - I'm not sure I met the ones you're talking about (maybe that means I'm one of them? haha). From my experience, most people that I've met are pretty humble (including the instructors). Also - any group you go with will not allow you to go by yourself after spending a few days with an instructor.
I think if you adhere to the principle of "practice slow, learn fast" and don't push yourself too close to your maximum ability - you would be okay without one (after a few days of instruction, of course). Just approach the track with the respect it deserves, and be prepared to go off into the kitty-litter if you fuck up (it won't hurt your car, just your pride). If you're on a track like Sonoma - take it super super slow when there are walls nearby (which is like, everywhere at Sonoma).
As you build up seat time you will get better, as you get better you will move to the "low intermediate" group (most clubs require 10+ track days for that I think). As you get better you can push a little closer to the limits of your ability. If you keep doing track days long enough - you will spin out, but hopefully by that time you know enough to not try to save it - and by that time you would be running in a group that doesn't have any careless yahoos or unsuspecting one-timer tourists.
If developing your skill beyond a few excursions to the local track is what you want - I do agree that our car is far too precious to risk. As far as getting serious it's a silly thing to consider. It is a limited production luxury fun car, not a race car. If one wanted to get into racing - spec miata class is really the way to go, you get a real prepared race car for a fraction of the costs, parts are abundant, races are organized frequently etc.
Having gone both with and without instructors - I have to say that there's value to both. When you have an instructor - the feedback you get is immensely valuable. When you are by yourself - everything is a lot scarier a you feel much more responsibility (there's nobody there to tell you when you're fucking up, you have to monitor it yourself).