So you want to be a race car driver…

I’ve done my best here to pull the curtain back on the excitement of grassroots amateur clubracing. Or at least a glimpse into our race weekends. The most common question I get when people find out about this little hobby is, “How did (do) you get into this?”

The first prerequisite is you have to like cars.

It’s well documented that I don’t like working on cars, but I do like cars, especially fast cars. I started reading about them in Car and Driver and like any kid 0-60mph times defined what a ‘fast car’ was. In college I was lucky enough to have a roommate (2 actually) that had Honda Civic SI ‘s . One of the original ‘hot hatches’. My first car out of college was a Honda Civic EX, with a bling gold tailpipe. It was hot. I put around 250k miles on that car before I finally broke down and sold it. I put it on Autotrader and sold it the same day for $3000. That experience was preparing me for another big part of racing - Losing money on cars.

(*** interesting tidbit - A year later a homicide detective called me and asked for a description apparently it had been involved in a carjacking or hit and run homicide. The detective wasn’t clear and wouldn’t give me a lot of details.)

The second prerequisite is a car, now most people make the same mistake I did, and start with WAY more car than they know how to drive.

Being of a certain age and station in life I decided it was time to reward myself with something that was uber cool and fast. Anyone who has ever read a Car and Driver knows their obsession (rightfully so) with the BMW 3-series and specifically the BMW M3. I causally mentioned that I was in the market for an M3 to several people and soon had purchased a 2002 BMW M3, the ultimate driving machine. Newer sports cars, in my opinion, all suffer from pretty much the same problem – your average driver isn’t qualified to explore their limits, by the time they realize that it may be too late, and on a related note there is no way you can safely ‘test the waters’ without risking life, limb, and license.

The third prerequisite is a helmet and a track day.

Thankfully? The same yahoos that orchestrated the M3 deal had an outlet. Come and try a ‘driver’s school’ they said. It will be fun, you go on track and can drive as fast as you want. All you need is a helmet. Little did I know the slippery slope had fallen away under my feet. I invested in a helmet (apprx $200 G-force making safety affordable) and it was off to the races. I was going to meet one of my enablers (and later racing co-conspirator Craig Geiger) at Road Atlanta and he would show me the ropes, or so I thought. He called me late Friday afternoon after attending the track orientation day (read open lapping) at Road Atlanta. He had wrecked his beautiful ’89 Porsche 911 on the warm up lap.

The first thought through my head, and I remember this like the Space Shuttle explosion. (Psychologists call this “flashbulb memory” I learned that in college). “Holy Sh!t, this guy has been to Road Atlanta 100 times and can’t even make it around the track on the warm up lap without totaling his car. I’m f-ing dead”.

Note to school organizers, if you want to calm a guy down with WAY more car than talent:
Step 1. Show him a balled up wreck
Step 2. Give him an instructor that is crazier than he is

My first instructor was an old racer with a Camaro, which stood out like a sore thumb at a BMW event. He encouraged me to drive as fast as I wanted and regularly told me to go faster. At the time I thought he was a certified mad man, upon reflection I know that 80mph isn’t fast. He took me for a ride and I got car sick. A brake light on the dash kept going on as we were hitting 130mph on the back straight. He told me – reassuringly – that it would go out when he tapped the brake pedal with his left foot. If it didn’t go out prepare to assume crash positions.

Which can’t beat the best ever first instructor ride. My friend Gary went out with his instructor for the first time and the guy had forgotten to securely attach his quick release steering wheel. The only good time to figure out your steering wheel isn’t working is when the car is stopped – FYI - not when you’re going fast on a race track. Long story short the car was pretty much totaled, whoops.

The fourth prerequisite an understanding family.

Well as predicted the needle was buried deep and I was hooked. I had learned two things:

1. I wasn’t that fast.
2. I wanted to learn how to drive fast.

I then negotiated, what I thought, was a clever deal with my wife - I could do one event per month. Realistically unless you’re a maniac this is a pretty good deal, only later when you’re like a 10 year heroin addict and all the veins have collapsed will this start to be unreasonable. By then it is for your own good, even junkies need a break from time to time.

I managed to do one driver’s school per month for about 2 years. In the process I became a member of just about every car club under the sun. After about 1 year it dawned on me.

The fifth prerequisite, if you want to race find a car you can afford.

Entry fees cost money, gas costs money, brakes and tires cost money. Anything you manage to break costs money. A 2002 E46 M3 is one of the fastest cars on track, but it isn’t the cheapest. As I progressed up the driving school ranks (you’re put in classes depending on experience), I didn’t get passed by too many cars and I can tell you now I still wasn’t a fast driver - it was mostly car. Those two facts led me to decide that I wanted to race (to get even faster), but I needed a car that was slower and cheaper.

Decision time. When you’re looking for a cheap car for track duty you have several options, mostly it depends on a series of questions that can help you narrow down your choices:

1. Do you have a race series in mind – ie. Buddies that are already racing or building cars for a race series. If you do follow their lead. Racing is a ‘more the merrier’ sport. The more people you have and know, the more hands to pitch in and fix stuff. The more guys with parts to lend. The more guys to race with, etc etc.

2. How much is working on the car part of the attraction. Let’s get one thing straight. Unless you’re independently wealthy you WILL be doing some work on the car. Here are some general rules of thumb.

a. American cars – cheap parts, break often, parts at Pep Boys
b. Foreign cars – better built, more expensive parts, Good luck finding on the weekend.
c. New Cars – sophisticated probably faster
d. Old Cars – less stuff (especially electronic) to break

3. What is your driving style? Do you like HP and straight line speed, or are you more of a corner and handling guy. More rules of thumb.
a. Rear Wheel Drive – more fun and harder to learn, for real men.
b. Front Wheel Drive – soft and for girls, it sucks
c. American – plenty of go pedal, lacking in other places
d. German Cars – plenty of cornering, get your wallet out for straight line speed.

So using the logic above (more or less) I formulated my plan. I looked at several series but I knew that I wanted to start with a track car and build it into a race car (MISTAKE). I had several friends that had BMW E30’s and were building them to a series called Spec E30, which was new at the time.

I found a really nice 1990 BMW 325is that had a lot of maintenance work done and paid $2800 for it (MISTAKE). I then proceeded to tear out the interior and add a few bits and pieces to make it more reliable and more track worthy.

There is an old racing adage, “If you can drive a slow car fast, you can be fast in anything”. That was never clearer to me than the first time I took the E30 on track. Going from 333hp (M3) to ‘maybe’ 140hp with the E30 requires some driver adjustment. I was used to correcting any problems I made on track by mashing the gas pedal harder. The E30 is what people call a “momentum car”. That means it is b@lls slow.

I spent my remaining DE’s, and races trying to figure out how to drive it fast. So far the recipe seems to be hold the gas pedal to the floor as much as possible and turn the car so it slides around the track, try not to wreck. After 3-4 more DE’s with it as a track car I made the jump to full time ‘race’ car. Then I signed up for a license evaluation / school with NASA (where I’d be racing) got my license and BAM! I was a ‘race car driver’.

Seriously to sum this up (for people that are seriously considering this):

1. Like cars.
2. Don’t worry about how ‘fast’ your car is up front. Work on being a fast driver.
3. Buy a helmet. It must be SNELL rated, this is important. Motorcycle helmets may not (probably won’t) cut it.
4. Join a car club – BMWCCA, PCA, Audi club, Mustang club, SCCA, NASA all put on track days. Click those links, and for dates try www.motorsportreg.com or www.trackschedule.com . Try to match the organization with your goals. Marque clubs (like BMWCCA) tend to be more about the experience of a track day and a safe friendly environment. NASA is more geared towards you becoming a racer. Every group has a focus, find one that fits your goals.
5. Do a track day or if that is too scary or expensive try an Auto-X (pronounced autocross). Auto-X is driving around a course made of orange cones in a parking lot. Overall it is pretty lame, but hey it’s a start.
6. Find a mentor or someone to help you that knows the ropes, this will save you time and money and give you a buddy to have lunch with or share hotel expense.
7. Racers make the best instructors. Trust me on this. If you can get an active racer or ex-racer for an instructor, they’ll be harder to scare and generally more helpful.
8. Keep the car as stock as possible and work on the driver. This keeps expenses down, and keeps the focus on making the nut behind the wheel faster (the part that is portable).
9. Be LOYAL to your parts guy, mechanic, etc. You WILL get jammed up and need a favor, discount, etc at some point. If you buy everything bottom dollar from some no-name guy off ebay you’ll be SOL. If your mechanic and parts guy are your buddies guess who will move heaven and earth to make sure you don’t miss a track event or race.
10. Buy a ready made race car. SERIOUSLY. This will save you lots and lots of money. Even if it is just up front for track work once your daily car is a distant memory and you feel you need a dedicated car start with a ready built.
11. Be ready to spend money. Make sure you can afford this, it is crazy expensive. I’ve seen guys with cars they consider disposable race cars that cost $85k to build. That is out of my tax bracket. I try to do this as cost effectively as I can and it still takes cash. But that is racing. You can still do track days and Auto-X for a pretty reasonable price per unit of fun measurement. Only in racing does buying a warehouse start to seem like a reasonable proposition for a hobby.

Sidenote: What about Skip Barber, or Porsche Driving Experience, etc.

There are lots of schools that allow you to pay $$$ for a 2-3 day class and get a race license. I PROMISE you, experience is the best teacher here, if you come out after a 2 day class I'll hand you your lunch in a basket and you'll cry and want to quit. I needed 2 years of seat time to become a mid pack racer. Now you could also be a natural F1 superstar, but the odds are against it. Car control has to be instinct, you can only learn so much from 2 days. I've heard good things about these schools, but they are expensive. I'd say you'd get more from those schools after doing a few track sessions with your own car. BTW they're expensive since you get to use (and wreck) their car not yours.

Usually these schools show up in the Google links so you can learn more on their sites.

Labels: FAQ, Getting Started