First track day

[RandallNeighbour]

Lafamme02: PCA track weekends here are $300 for the event registration. Add to that a half a set of brake pads for newbies and 1/4 set of tire tread shot if you're a hot dog around the corners. You'll also get a whopping 7 mpg so toss in a tank of fuel every day of driving. Add two night's motels in there. And then there's the needed oil change after the event because you've heated it up real good and often.

So when I sign up for a PCA high speed DE weekend (Sat and Sunday driving, 4 - 30 minute sessions per day) I save up a grand. You may not spend this much on your first one, but it includes the wear and tear on the brake pads/discs and tires and the oil change afterwards.

Let me also say that a lot of tracks have open track days and you're out there with all kinds of drivers (skilled and unskilled) and all kinds of cars. Be careful on these days because I have seen some wild-ass driving. Last time, I was on the track with two McClarens and they chased each other around that track aggressively until one spun out in a tight turn and the other one broadsided him before he could get out of the way. Both gorgeous cars when home on flatbeds. I thought I was going to cry but choked back the tears.

That accident shut the whole track down for 2 hours and killed the entire rest of the day for all of us. Just goes to show having money and having driving skills and brains don't always go together.

The PCA events are very different. Lots of instruction, rules, regulations, run groups, and lots and lots of needed education about physics, finding the line, learning when to brake, etc. Highly recommended that every Pcar owner go at least once to see what their car can do and how much they have to learn about driving.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

That accident shut the whole track down for 2 hours and killed the entire rest of the day for all of us. Just goes to show having money and having driving skills and brains don't always go together.

There was an infamous video from COTA of a GT2 driver that underlined this point.
All traces of it have disappeared from the internets. Jalopnik called it perhaps the worst lap ever.

As for PCA vs. SCCA and the like, PCA events are much more civil here too, even at autocross. You can tell even before they even get in the cars. The PCA folks come wearing "driving shoes" and Porsche Design shirts, meanwhile the guys in the other clubs come wearing old jeans with oil stains, a Tom Petty tour shirt from 84 and two day's worth of stubble. One are there for a lovely time, the others are there to crush some pent up workplace aggression.

[Laflamme02]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Lafamme02: PCA track weekends here are $300 for the event registration. Add to that a half a set of brake pads for newbies and 1/4 set of tire tread shot if you're a hot dog around the corners. You'll also get a whopping 7 mpg so toss in a tank of fuel every day of driving. Add two night's motels in there. And then there's the needed oil change after the event because you've heated it up real good and often.

So when I sign up for a PCA high speed DE weekend (Sat and Sunday driving, 4 - 30 minute sessions per day) I save up a grand. You may not spend this much on your first one, but it includes the wear and tear on the brake pads/discs and tires and the oil change afterwards.

That's what I was afraid of...I was hoping to get lucky and be able to do a track day for a couple hundred, everything included. Obviously, that was naive.

I wonder if it would be worth it for local law enforcement to subsidize track days. Maybe if you provide an outlet for driving fast on a track drivers will be less apt to "track" open roads. That will never happen but I'm reminded of a police barracks in Las Vegas I think, that routinely drag races a car built by the cops (not with

[Laflamme02]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Lafamme02: PCA track weekends here are $300 for the event registration. Add to that a half a set of brake pads for newbies and 1/4 set of tire tread shot if you're a hot dog around the corners. You'll also get a whopping 7 mpg so toss in a tank of fuel every day of driving. Add two night's motels in there. And then there's the needed oil change after the event because you've heated it up real good and often.

So when I sign up for a PCA high speed DE weekend (Sat and Sunday driving, 4 - 30 minute sessions per day) I save up a grand. You may not spend this much on your first one, but it includes the wear and tear on the brake pads/discs and tires and the oil change afterwards.

That's what I was afraid of...I was hoping to get lucky and be able to do a track day for a couple hundred, everything included. Obviously, that was naive.

I wonder if it would be worth it for local law enforcement to subsidize track days. Maybe if you provide an outlet for driving fast on a track drivers will be less apt to "track" open roads. That will never happen but I'm reminded of a police barracks in Las Vegas I think, that routinely drag races a car built by the cops (built with personal, not tax, dollars) to give the kids in the area an outlet for safe competition.

[Ottacat]

I too was at my first DE event this past Monday and Tuesday. It was put on by my local chapter of the PCA which is Rennsport. The session was held up at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant (LCMT).

Before the DE weekend, the club held a half-day theory class in April (one in Montreal, one in Ottawa) and then earlier in May held a one-day ground school at a small track just north of Montreal. These proved to be great stepping stones and prepared us well for our first time at the big, technical and fast track that is LCMT.

Costs were along the line of other threads - $350 for the two days which included lunch both days and 4, 20-minute runs per day, each with an instructor. We were assigned the same instructor for both days. Mont Tremblant is far enough away from Ottawa and Montreal that everyone rents at least two nights of hotels. Fortunately the club has negotiated a 25% discount with one of the hotel companies that has five nice hotels. I figure that with the entry fee, the hotel, meals and gas that the two days cost about $1k.

However we really must appreciate that PCA DE days are considerably cheaper than most other alternatives because the instructors are volunteers. Another track local to Ottawa, Calabogie, puts on a two-day lapping event with one day with an instructor and one day solo and it costs $800. If you need an instructor the second day, it costs another $300.

The car porn at this event was amazing. You would think 911 GT3 RS's were common (there were at least 10) and there was even a Cub car. Tons of people brought their cars up on trailers with the just the trailers costing more than my humble little 986. However the camaraderie was awesome with both members and instructors being extremely friendly and helpful. There were plenty of other Boxsters - another 986, several 987's and several 981's. The 981's were having no problem holding their own in the black run group. Many of the senior members and instructors had owned Boxsters in the past and they were well respected cars.

A tech inspection form was mandatory and had to be completed by a club sanctioned mechanic. Before I had my inspection I had my car fully serviced including new brakes. The guy who did my tech inspection did it thoroughly but I passed without needing any additional work.

I had an absolute blast of a time. To drive a true sports car on a track is truly a bucket list item. The event was very mentally exhausting with so much information to process while on track. It took me longer than I expected to just truly memorize the track and lines. Thankfully my instructor was patient and managed the passing. On the second day my previous instructor from the ground school day took me out as a passenger in the blue run group. That was a huge help as by then it allowed me to just watch his lines as by then I was getting fairly familiar with the track.

I'll be doing at least one other event this summer and hopefully two. As others have said, at the beginner level you are fine in a 986 with street tires. I too only wore them down slightly and wore my break pads down only about 25%. However this is an activity that can get real expensive if you really get into it.