ello everyone.

I'm an old member here, I used to own a 1997 Civic but haven't been around for years. I'm the current owner of a 2003 Corvette targa six speed. I've always wanted an S2000 and am currently talking to an owner of an AP2 about a trade. We test drove each other's cars yesterday and both came away satisfied, as both my car and his are very well taken care of and in great, mostly stock condition.

I have one hesitation: I like to track. Obviously there are implications with convertibles and the broomstick rule. I am 6'2" and there's no way I will pass, with or without a helmet, in stock form. Even with seat modifications/roll bar I'm skeptical. The thing is, this is my only car (I have a company provided truck for work), so I would like to keep it close to stock, making it decent on the street as well as track.

So my question is this: are there any tracks/organizations within a few hours drive of Charlotte, NC where one can go participate in HPDE without passing the broomstick test? I've been reading up on this but it's hard to find any real information.

Thanks!

 

i did some quick searching and it appears to vary state to state and club to club..

email your local NASA region and see what they have to say.

 

It's going to be track to track and org to org, and sometimes inspector to inspector. Short answer is email before signing up, but you'll be fine to go out with most of the Organizers.

SCCA Track Night in America is definitely stock S2000 friendly unless you're at NJMP or another track that specifically requires a roll bar. It will mention on the event page that there's a different policy for the track than their normal. As a Miata owner here's what I know off the top of my head for the DC area, NJMP and VIR require roll bars on convertibles regardless of the org, BMW CCA doesn't allow convertibles at all, SCCA PDX/Track day is region to region, NASA MA I've seen stock S2000s running at Summit Point.

Random Note about dual purpose track day convertibles:
I have an NC Miata that I tracked with the last couple of years that was also my daily. I ended up getting a beater Integra to handle the track duty, an appliance for commuting, and am selling the Miata. I had an overkill roll-bar on the NC for DEs (Flyin Miata Transformer) and occasionally caught grief from people for having a bolt in bar. Also tracking your daily kinda sucks. I bought track day insurance for every event I attended and that got expensive, you also get damage that's below the deductible but adds up (windshields, rock chips, under tray stuff). I had to run top down with the bar, so anytime it rained I just tarped the car and sat the session out. I never lost an entire day but it sucks to spend $$$ on a weekend and end up missing sessions. I also went in the middle on everything, comfortable enough to daily, not flounder on the track, and after awhile I got sick of it. It was basically OK at tracking and dailying, but not necessarily good at either. Track beater just made a lot more sense all in all.

 

Every track day group I have run with has both the list of approved convertibles with factory rollover protection (S2000 included) and the broomstick test rule.

Every track day group I have run with also cares only about getting the 'tech sheet' signed saying that you know that, and leaves it 100% up to you. I would not pass the broomstick test, and no one has ever paid attention or cared, even at the more strict tracks like Circuit of The Americas (The one track I've been on that wouldn't let me run top-down).

I've seen big dudes in Miatas that I am pretty sure are looking over the windshield rather than through it. No one stopped them either.