He spent 10k on mods

Track days would be great if they were open pit, but 90% aren't in the US. They used to be..

I think anyone serious about getting better needs to go to the track. You don't learn shit on a canyon road.
But, I definitely see why track attendance is in the fucking dumpster. The cost to track time ratio is abysmal.

How does it work? With my local kart track it's like 60 bucks to run all day, although they call you off for renter runs. You go out for half an hour, renters get 10 laps, you check tires, brakes, sparkplug condition, and fuel, then you're back out. All day.

Yeah kart tracks are always open pit lane. You show up, pay gate fee, sign waiver, and that's it.
They just call these testing days. or open practice.

Car tracks used to be like that, but when the economy tanked and no one was racing the set up changed it's not economical to pay insurance for a track every weekend with no guarantee of people showing up to run.
Now you're not actually paying the track.
The track day company is renting the track for the weekend from the track owner. The whole format is ran by them.

There's groups, beginner, intermediate, expert, etc. and you get 30 minute sessions or whatever. It's really bad for set up testing and it isn't really designed for set up testing like a regular open track. It's just about learning to drive and track time suffers as a result.

Some tracks still do open pit testing sessions, willow springs for instance, but I'm not sure of the requirements and it's pretty expensive I think.
Plus I'm pretty sure need an actual race car with a cage etc.

this

Also there's nothing stopping track day organizations from doing hot pit track days.
Most of the orgs in the UK and Europe do hot pits.

But, for some reason in the US it's not like that.
I think it's a combination of things. It might be safety insurance related, people not wanting to hurt their cars, people not comfortable with getting passed, trying to remove danger, etc.

It's fucking gay though

I can understand not wanting to trade paint, in karts the panels are plastic as well as designed to move and damage is minimal.

>he spent $10k on a motorcycle
Cars BTFO

Literally 3+ hours to the nearest track.
Back roads and highways are plentiful though.

That's what he's saying too.

willow springs is just like you said, you have to attend a first time "learner course" that costs about 300$ and lasts i think 4 hours of drive time including verbal orientation.

then you can go into novice, experienced and expert meetups, pay your dues to run 20mins of track time, pack up your car and drive home until next months meetup.

really fucking boring if you ask me.

>have NC GT PRHT
>buy wheels and RE-71Rs
>change literally nothing else
>pay $260 for orientation/instruction/time at Raceway Park of the Midlands
>have autox and experience at one other track
>get stuck as last car of 6
>initially irritated at that
>two sessions with instructor who drives 944s
>learn good stuff about the best lines on that track
>have fun with bantz and general bullshitting
>intentionally go slow on front straight
>catch back up to Corvette, Corvette, Firebird, WRX, Audi parade in three corners every time
>o we are laffin
>later sessions WRX and I break out from rest of group
>fun battle till we each toast our brakes
>back off
>have fun fucking around with different lines, braking points, light drifts, etc.
>shoot shit with instructors after "school" is out
>run another session and have fun just fucking around
8/10 good day.

any distance is driving distance if you're not a pussy

>nearest track is almost 4 hours away
>track members elitist bullshit
>barely any twisty roads within an hour
>bretty gud street scene

Rather stick to highway pulls.

How many people actually go to the track regularly? Everyone I know who does trackdays goes once a month tops, I don't think that's enough by itself to improve your skills.

Once a year can be good enough to improve your skills. It's all relative to your skill level.

My first track day was wet, and my god did it improve my car control.

>Car tracks used to be like that, but when the economy tanked and no one was racing the set up changed it's not economical to pay insurance for a track every weekend with no guarantee of people showing up to run.
Dirt oval tracks in the south still do this.

Trackdays in the wet are based
>everyone is more catious
>lower grip level and speeds mean playing around with weight shifting, throwing the car around etc is much easier
>less wear on tires and brakes
>lower risk of overheating if that's an issue
>you get to drive circles around modified Porsches and M3s because their semi slicks and rock hard suspension don't work in the wet

Not recommended on a motorcycle though

It isn't really, people who are fast race and race often. You'd probably learn just as much driving a rental kart every week, and it'd be cheaper.

People with some track instruction are better than people with no track instruction. I had no idea what late apexing was until my first track day. I'm not fast compared to most people who track more often... But when a chad in his stock camaro tries to lose me on a back road, they're always surprised when my beat to shit 944 stays glued to them.

>Rather stick to highway pulls

this guy gets it

My local track is not a high power track, lots of elevation changes but also lots of late apexes and the straight is basically a dogleg.

I've seen so many guys rocket past me in Camaros, Corvettes and Mustangs down the straight, then I'm back on their bumper in turn 3 because all they know how to do is slam on the accelerator.

Forgot to mention wet lines.
>layer of rubber builds up in the dry
>rain during the day
>what was a more grippy racing line now turns into the slippiest place on track
>changing the line to a earlier or later apex to spend less time on these parts can save a lot of time
>sometimes driving around the apex by 2-3m is actually faster

At some point the my 320i and a Swift sport ringtool were the fastest cars on track kek

Motorcycle track days on rain slicks are GOAT

Thank you

i've done one trackday in the wet and while it was fun driving circles round porsches and a mustang, the overall driving standard was pretty bad and they put the red flag out 8 times iirc. a radical, MR2, IS200 and several caterhams all had to be towed out of the gravel at some point.

one of the faster cars in the wet was a 206 gti interestingly