Hello,

How are normal people supposed to pay to go road racing? Everywhere I look, raceways, courses and car clubs all want massive amounts of money just to be able to drive on a road course. No wonder why so many people street race, it seems almost impossible to keep paying for the huge amounts of fees that plague road racing. Isn't there a way where a normal person can go to a track without a racing license, helmet, etc, pay a ten dollar fee (like at a drag strip) and just drive?
I understand about the rules and regulations, but what about time attack/pro solo? Your not having to pass cars, etc. Why do you have to have a racing license to drive fast around some cones?
The entire race community makes it really hard for the average person to get involved at all. I understand the rules are in place for safety, etc, but I just want to be able to drive fast, have fun, and not worry about speeding tickets/reckless driving tickets.
Anyone agree? Disagree? Why?

 

High Speed Touring around here is only like $150 for your first time, then $90 every time after that. For a full day of racing thats damn good.

 

Q."How are normal people supposed to pay to go road racing?"
A. Have you ever heard, "You wanna play, you gotta pay?". It's true for ALL of life. If you think track racing is expensive, consider the "cost" of street racing. There was a racing inspired TV show recently and on that show, if you did not have a sponsor (which THEY provided!), you did not get to race. Period.

Q."Isn't there a way where a normal person can go to a track without a racing license, helmet, etc, pay a ten dollar fee (like at a drag strip) and just drive?"
A. There are definitely ways, maybe do some research, but why on Earth would you even consider driving on a track without a helmet? There are some clubs that will let you do a lunchtime drive-around in your street car, but there are some idiots that have nearly ruined this privledge by going out there and killing themselves. For real.

Q. "Why do you have to have a racing license to drive fast around some cones?"
A. You don't need a race license for autocross.

"The entire race community makes it really hard for the average person to get involved at all."
NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!. Most all of the racing community welcomes new participants. Again, do some research, or better yet, attend an event,ask some questions and make some friends.

Good Luck.

 

The high cost of track time is directly related to insurance, maintenance, course workers, instructors, and many other things. If you are frightened by 150 for a track day, find another hobby...that is as cheap as it gets.

 

The quick answer...

1. You can die doing this.
2. People can sue.

Rules are in place to keep #1 from happening through training and proper equipment which both require money.

When #1 happens, #2 usually follows, in which case there has to be $$$ of insurance involved on the supplier side for said events.

 

This isn't for the average person. If it were, none of us would do it, because there'd be a bunch of ******* out there screwing around ruining it for us. Plus what everyone else already said

Consider this too: while it's not a requirement, its good advice to plan on being able to lose every dollar you have invested in whatever car you take out on track. It is entirely possible that you will crash into a concrete wall and completely destroy it. It is also entirely possible that insurance won't cover that loss. If you can't handle that, you shouldn't even consider being there.

As a compromise, autocrossing sounds like a good fit for you, because there are no licensing requirements, and it is significantly cheaper on a per-event basis (think $30-40 for a one-day event).

 

There are tons of places where you can pay a small fee and zip around with no safety equipment around a track. It's called an amusement park. If you want to go faster where you can actually kill yourself if you crash into the wall, you're going to need to pay to play. Why don't you buy 10 acres of land, pave a road course, build some buildings for basic amenities, pay for insurance, and then charge people $10/day to drive on your track.

 

as i scrolled down i was sayin good point. .good point. i read this and said well that is broken down very well and i laughed out loud. great point though about running your own track!!

 

HPDE events are as close to road racing you can get without actually fully competing. They average anywhere from 150 to 300 depending who holds the event. Most offer instructors for free first time out and you can even ask drivers in higher skilled groups to ride with you for pointers. You do still need a helmet and a safe, well maintained car. The cost to seat time ratio is much better than auto-x.

 

No. Road racing isn't for "NORMAL" people. It's for people who are smart enough to do it and wealthy enough to afford it. It's pretty safe to say that if you are at the maturity level that you think any form of street racing is ok, I wouldn't want you next to me on a race track in a competitive environment. The cost of road racing (both financially and intellectually) is just fine as it is, as it does quite well on weeding out the less desirable.

You don't. Up here you can do HPDE's which are anywhere from $140-$270 depending on if you are required to have an instructor. They even rent you a helmet! This is a track day which gives you HOURS of track time and is well worth the money. Often times on Test/Tune days or HPDE's the time we are allowed on track is so great I often leave early as burning through 3-4 tanks of Fuel is enough for one day! Rules and Regulations ARE FOR SAFETY! These people who put on these events can be legally liable. One major lawsuit could shut the WHOLE THING DOWN and ruin the fun for everyone.

You know very little about the racing community. When I started I had people help me build my car, tech my car, teach the ropes/rules/regs and the champions even took the time to teach me advanced race-craft.

You apparently don't understand about rules and safety. When things go wrong while driving fast they can go VERY VERY WRONG especially if you're in a car WITHOUT a roll cage and fire suppression. Heck, most clubs up here won't even let you do a lapping day in a convertible if it doesn't have an acceptable roll-bar (sorry s2000's!). I've been at lapping days with punks who think they are the next Ken Block or Michael Schumacher who only find out that they have more power and less traction then they have talent. I have seen guys/girls wreck some VERY expensive cars at Lapping days/ HPDE's. These kind of track days are meant for fun and learning. If you're wrecking your car it means you were:

A: Driving way too fast for a lapping day (anything over 7/10ths is unacceptable)
or
B: You brought way too much car and way too little maturity to a race track.

Now is any of this more expensive than street racing? NO! At an HPDE you don't have to put all kinds of expensive Ricer Mod's on your car and be part of a scene, you can show up with a stock toyota corolla and NOBODY makes fun. Also, street racing involves a MUCH great risk of death/injury, police impound, fines, jail time etc.... You want to talk about cost... Get busted street racing you'll think, "Man, I would have saved so much money at a lapping day."

 

^ x2 Well put.

 

Yeah if you are looking for something cheap, check out the autocross scene. Then save up some money, borrow a helmet from a friend or buy one, and go to an HDPE. A google search will bring up a huge list of when they are going down and where. Hopefully that is what you are looking for, and your not actually talking about real road racing, where people compete to be the best. If thats the case, then there is no way it would be cheap, think about it, if you are trying to be the best you will probably spend as much money as you can afford (probably more lol, all car enthusiasts are guilty of this one) to try and make that a reality.

Stinkycheezmonky said it best though, if everyone was doing this, we enthusiasts would be doing something else.

And people who think they are gods gift to racing and drive like they are playing Need for Speed their first time driving on a track will probably crash (having a blast the entire time though...). I remember driving by a wadded up Porche Carerra when I was on the Nurburgring Nordschliefe when I was stationed out in Germany, maybe he legitimately crashed, but I'll bet hundreds if not thousands of tourists/service members crashed there from driving crazy their first time on a track. I almost did lol, that track is no joke.

Come to think of it, maybe thats where you want to go, it was like 15 euro a lap, a lap is like 13 miles or something, and lasts forever. You drive there just like a toll road, buy a ticket and take your car on track for a lap.