Last weekend I attended the SCCA Solo novice school. It was a very sweet deal with about 45 minutes of instruction time and then 3 heats with 5 runs. I did 15 runs throughout the course of the day, 11 of which were with my instructor and 4 were solo. Having the instructor made all the difference in the world.

I've learned some things about my G. It's terribly neutral in it's current state (see mods, RSB at softest setting). The instructor took a run in the car and was really impressed with how neutral it was and just how good the automatic is in these cars. He really didn't see it has a handicap like some autos are on the course. I learned the following:

1) My PZeros aren't so grippy when temps are below 60. The tires did much better once track surface temps reached 80 degrees.

2) Having an open diff isn't much of a problem assuming the track surface is warm and the tires can grab.

3) I was getting a decent amount of oversteer, but never lost control.

4) The car can have terminal understeer if I go too hot into a tight sweeper. I didn't think this car could understeer so badly. Luckily it's an easy fix with some better driving and less speed.

5) Sometimes the steering pump can't keep up in really aburpt manuvers. Not a major problem, but you can feel it on occasion.

6) This car is a blast. A fairly big sedan like this shouldn't be able to dance like this.

Sounds like great fun. Got video?

G can hold its own on a road course and does not do so well in auto-x. The car is just too long (wheelbase) for autcross but does incredibly well in a road race especially in high speed courses. It was always a blast to take the G to twistes.....
My first track day was one of the best experiences i had ever had with the G about a year ago. I was surprised so were lots of owners with 2 and 3 times expensive dedicated sports cars.

Yeah, the G is a bit big for the Auto-x, but I'm not going to really race this car competivily. It's still a huge blast. My goal is to get an S2000 for competition and a weekend fun car for the wife and me. The likely result will be a first gen Miata.

I'd love to do the road race stuff, but not in my daily driver. We just had a local twin turbo 350Z guy total his ride on the road course a few weeks back and he had been doing this stuff for a few years. I can't risk it since insurance won't cover damages.

Was this at the track in Kansas? You should check out Hallett just west of Tulsa. It's a very challenging course, but you would have to be doing something really, really stupid to crash/total your car. They run a very tight operation and have not had car-to-car contact in over 10 years during their HPDE.

It's not the car-car contact that totals cars at Hallett. It's the tire walls and trees lining the course. The tire walls will slow the car down and prevent the car from flying at 90mph into the trees, but they generally do quite a bit of damage in the process.

I've seen several cars go off (myself included) to the outside of the track by clipping the apex at T3 and it'll spin a car into the tire barrier. I know of two E36s that have been totalled there and my front end got messed up a bit- fortunately for me it was only paint knocked off the bumper and nothing worse. (Stay off the paint if the track is wet!!!!!!!!)

I've also seen an E46 spin to the inside coming onto the front straight. he hit the tire wall going backwards about 80mph and it scattered debris from there to the flag stand. pretty nasty wreck there.

I've also seen cars roll if they go off the inside of T1. There's a pretty aggressive embankment a ways off the track and if you hit that wrong, your day is over. Again I was fortunate to have straddled the drainage grate out there as I was sliding through the grass and didn't go too far up the embankment.

so it *can* happen. It doesn't often, but when it does, it can get ugly. any time you go to a track- ANY track- and make mistakes, it can get expensive.

^I look at it as knowing your limits and driving style. When you do cross those limits having the abilty to bring the car back in under a second. It has nothing to do with the car or the type of track. Every track is different and it takes some time to get used too. When i took my car to the track for the first time, i knew all the ins and outs of the car but not the track and that is why there were very high speed corners that i gained 25mph by the end of the track day (started with 100mph and by the end of the day i was doing 125 on that same corner).

I did have very close calls 2 laps in a row where i got on the throttle too quickly and the car went 80mph skid but my experience in car control helped me to bring the car back within a second. Every track can be dangerous if you are overconfident.

Know your limits no matter if its the streets/canyon/track and you will be in good shape.

You can't control everything. I know lots of guys that run at the Heartland Park Topeka road course and things can happen even when they were driving within their limits. Things you can't control are other cars leaking fluids on the track, an unexpected brake or tire failure, or someone else sliding into you. The chances of any of that happening are fairly slim, but I can't risk it until I get another car I can race.

In the 10+ years and 100+ DE events I've participated in and worked at, I have never seen car-car contact during a DE.
I've also never had an 'unexpected brake or tire failure'. I've corded tires on the track and had brakes go metal-metal, but I had plenty of warning they were on their way out. Spontaneous failures just don't happen on a street car. If they do, it's because the car was poorly maintained and shouldn't have been on the track anyway.

Thousands of people track their daily drivers every day, and 99.99% of them drive home without a problem.

DaveB,

Sounds like your car is set up almost exactly like mine. Things I wished for on AutoX were- BBK, better swaybars, and R compound tires. I let my 5AT in second gear through almost the entire course with the VDC off. VDC kept braking too much and it was great fun to learn control of oversteer with it off.

Agreed, i remember reading this someday that tracking your car is less dangerous than the trip you take from home to work. The key is staying within your and your car's limits.

Dave, AFAIK, all insurance coverage (excluding race specific insurance) will not cover you if you are using any sort of timing device. That being said, many insurance companies will cover HPDE as long as it is not a race event (e.g. do not participate in time attacks, and do not purchase timing/bring your own timing). GPS based timing and datalogging does not count as timing.

Make an anonymous inquiry with your carrier; most major carriers will cover a "HPDE"

State Farm will not cover you for any driving on a closed course (ie drag strip, road course, or Auto-x). I've confirmed it and most every other carrier is the same way after talking to guys that run out at Heartland Park. The drag strip is probably the most dangerous, hense the reason I'll always let the faster car go first. There isn't much that can cause major damage on the auto-x except for a cone or sometimes a curb if you get way too wild. On the road course, you generate far more speed and open yourself up to a lot more possibilities. The chances of you totalling your car are far greater (though still low) than doing drag racing or auto-x. My G is my only car and I don't have the money to risk totalling it.

Time for some swaybars Dave?

Wow, State Farm is hardcore.

I used to carry dedicated track insurance when I was tracking a lot. You can purchase single days as well...

http://hpdeins.locktonaffinity.com/Default.aspx