just wondering what driving backgrounds you guys did before doing open wheel racing. autoX, numerous HPDE?

any advice?

 

20 years autoxing.

~10 years of track events.

~15 years of procrastination....

 

you have to go thru the entire HPDE program to get your comp license with NASA...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 216.226.142.95:27016 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just wondering what driving backgrounds you guys did before doing open wheel racing. autoX, numerous HPDE? </TD></TR></TABLE>

To avoid confusion, what we do is wheel to wheel racing, not open wheel racing. Open wheel racing refers to formula cars (F1, CART, IRL, etc.)

To answer your question, I started by auto-xing, then started doing DE events. I did Skip Barber racing school, followed by a year of over 20 track days during DE events. Then I got my comp liscense and started racing wheel to wheel.

Matt

 

Unless you have have great natural skill, it is a good idea to have at least a year's worth (~10-12 weekends) of HPDE before going wheel to wheel.

I have 18 weekend in the last 3 years, and barely feel ready.

 

I had over 30 before my first race...

 

I had 33 events (62 days) over 3 years before my comp school and first race weekend with NASA. Because of that, all I had to think about was racing... the driving part was second nature.

Good luck.

r2x ~ who is a SM racer, but thought she'd chime in anyway.

edit = I did 2 yrs of autocrosses (no idea how many) including ProSolo and 2 years at Nationals. Forgot to put that in there. I still autocross now, but it's mostly something to do on the weekends where there's no track event.


Modified by r2x at 1:49 PM 8/18/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by r2x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">r2x ~ who is a SM racer, but thought she'd chime in anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not to be confused with an S&M racer, which requires a lot more leather....


Matt

 

Before my comp school and first race: 80 autocrosses and 26 track events.

Track events went like this: 2 beginner, 2 intermediate, 2 advanced, then 10+ as instructor, with some lapping days and advanced schools at new tracks.

(And I still love to autocross, but these days I prefer to use it as an excuse to thrash other people's cars )

 

Karting (US & Europe), Stock Cars, Auto -X, Rally & Night Time Driving School (Cyprus)

 

3 autox's
~15 HPDE
Bondurant School

 

how was that bondurant school?? do the hpde 1,2,3 match up to it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Littleton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Rally & Night Time Driving School (Cyprus)</TD></TR></TABLE>

drool.

more info , please...

 

12 auto x's (over 5 years)
6 hpde weekends (within 3 months)
1 comp school

1 comp licence.....

w2w priceless.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">w2w priceless.....

</TD></TR></TABLE>

must...go...racing...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">must...go...racing... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd suggest doing it before you get too settled into the HPDE routine. HPDE is great if you want to go around a track fast in your street car, not so great if you want to race. If I had to do it all over again knowing what I now know, I would have done it much differently.

 

because we all know instructor/#3 sessions at a HPDE are a joke as Whitney pointed out.

[edit]
feel like a joke vs. fighting for position.

 

Seems like quite a slight to call them a joke. Not sure why you would do that, I think they are fantastic as exactly what they are; high performance driving schools and driver's education programs.

 

on a more productive note...
what do HPDEs offer to a person that wants to 'race'?
what would be more helpful than HPDEs?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I'd suggest doing it before you get too settled into the HPDE routine. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm hurrying , I'm hurrying.

gots to finish the kaa first though...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Willard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">because we all know instructor/#3 sessions at a HPDE are a joke as Whitney pointed out.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is not what I said. Get your facts straight.

 

~10 HPDE's (various groups)
1 NASA HPDE
i read 'speed secrets' & 'going faster' and frequently revisit them while on the toilet.

i ran my first nasa event in group 3 a month ago, and there was zero instruction outside of a driver's meeting at lunch. (partially my fault, b/c i didn't ask for any).

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Willard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do HPDEs offer to a person that wants to 'race'?</TD></TR></TABLE>

i ran a speedtrialusa hpde last weekend, and near the end of the day we practiced 3-wide rolling starts, which i thought was helpful. the 'race' that it turned into was insanely unsafe, but a good experience.

they also threw a red flag towards the end of one of our sessions, purely to see if we knew what to do.

perhaps hpde's should offer a 'racer-wannabe' group where such racing conditions are rehearsed in a non-race environment under a very watchful eye.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ruthless013 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">they also threw a red flag towards the end of one of our sessions, purely to see if we knew what to do.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Logically I get why groups do this... but I actually *hate* it and think it's a terrible thing to do... my first thought is "Oh ****... which of my friends just hit the wall..." then I find out it was a false alarm, it just pisses me off for them to have made me worry like that (even for just a few minutes). Maybe I'm the only one that it effects like that, but somehow I doubt it. *shrug*

 

if your ultimate goal is to go racing, then skip or pass thru HPDE as soon as possible and go racing. HPDE isnt racing, you tend to learn a lot of bad racing habits because the level of driving is that much higher, youll think your the **** in HPDE when youre still braking and turning in earlier than you need to be, and not learning how to deal with traffic/passing and whatnot. Its still fun as heck, but just dont bother wasting your time if you ultimately want to go racing.

if you just want to HAVE FUN with your car, then go ahead and stay in HPDE. its cheaper and enjoyable.

personally, except being behind the wheel of a car, theres not much to be transferred from autox to racing that would suggest autox is some kind of training for w2w racing. its a completely different type of autosport with different skills and different type of driving. switching between the two, i found myself having to adjust a lot in my thinking and driving in order to drive fast respectively. but its also fun and relatively cheaper to enjoy driving your car in competition. but quite honestly, for the amount of time waiting vs driving and money invested in going autox every event vs going to a HPDE once every 2 months, id much rather HPDE or racing. if you look at it this way, youll see its not that much cheaper.

the real question is, whats your bank account look like, do you have a good job? im not trying to be personal, im rather serious. if you dont have the money and time to commit to a full season of racing, theres no point in looking into going racing. im sure others will agree.

 

Started working/flagging for Carguys back sometime in 2001. Did my first HPDE in December of 2001. Did the NASA competition school in August of 2002 and have been racing since.

For the record, I believe the HPDE system helped me greatly. On the flipside, I only set track records not win races, so don't listen to what I have to say