It's time for planning a 2006 Colorado track day and I'm giving plenty of advance notice to get as many involved as possible. In the past, we've run a traditional High Performance Driving Experience (HPDE) complete with driving and accident avoidence exercises, before we moved to the road course for a turn-by-turn walk through and follow-the-leader lapping sessions. Depending on how many 'newbies' we get, we'll reprise this format. But if it's all experienced drivers, we'll consider going to lapping sessions immediately.

LaJunta Raceways is located in SE Colorado and is a 1.4 mile road course. It's not a particularly difficult course to learn, but it can be plenty fast. 90-100 MPH speeds on the front straight in a 350Z are possible and turn one is flat out once you learn the line! Another positive is that LaJunta is THE best bargain in North America, with track rental fees confirmed at $35/per car!

Also confirmed are the following dates: Sunday, February 19th with a back-up date the following weekend. Some of us are planning to drive to LaJunta on Saturday afternoon and stay the night (it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Denver metro area). There is a Holiday Inn Express as well as other accomodations in town, so it would be worthwhile to take a relaxing drive and get up with plenty of time to get to the track.

As usual, there is NO advance fee involved, simply post up here if you have definite plans to go. Mention whether you plan to stay the night (we'll get a caravan going) or drive down the day of the event. We'll work out the logistics and check the weather forcasts as the date gets closer. Questions? Post 'em up!
__________________
David Muramoto
Sport Z Magazine Motorsports Editor
RMDiv SCCA

 

The lack of response to this thread is incredible! It's hard to believe that G35 pilots (particularly those in Colorado, western Kansas or even NW Oklahoma) have no interest in learning about high speed driving on a dedicated race track.

 

I read this thread early this morning and was talking with my uncle about it. We're both definitely going to make it and probably stay the night as well. Is there a signup or anything?

 

is this only nissan infiniti meet?

 

4 hours from Denver is a bit much. How about 2nd Creek Raceway?

I'd love to do this, count me in.

 

Second Creek Raceway closed down permanently in November. We also lost Pikes Peak Intl Raceway (PPIR) and the Mead track north of Denver. It's also the reason that we're scheduling LaJunta so early in the year. Every other car club and race organization in Colorado is fighting to schedule events.

There is no formal signup. Since I'm a Nissan racer, I'm limiting it to the Nissan/Infiniti marque for now. It might be helpful to know what kind of car you are bringing (and mods), where you're from and whether you have any type of high- performance driving training.

 

Geez - I hadn't heard about that. Any other tracks still near Denver?

 

Jared Lenz
6mt G35 sedan- plenum spacer, coupe midpipe and z tube. Maybe some suspension mods depending on when this event happens. Unfortunately I do not have any type of high performance driving training. From Highlands Ranch, CO.

Question, if I bring someone is it possible to switch drive time with my vehicle or is there only going to be one stage persay?

BTW, thanks for doing something like this in Colorado. We don't have a lot of events like this

 

I would love to join you in beautiful La Junta. I am interested in the seat time. It will be interesting to see if the weather holds up. Will you be emailing event confirmation the day before?

It does not look like there is any conflict with SCCA Winter Solo events since they have one on Feb. 25th. It will be nice to meet you again, David. We met at a couple of events over the past several years, none that I was driving at though. I have heard that you put on nice events.

Car is G35 coupe, stock, with race rubber available v-710's. I am from Centennial.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone. For Jared, it's possible to have two drivers driving one car and we'll have multiple sessions. BUT that puts more stain on the car- particularly the braking system. Consider upgrading the brake fluid from a DOT 4 to a DOT 5 rating (I like Valvoline Synpower, cheap and readily available) and at a minimum, getting better pads for the OEM brakes.

As for event updates, I'd like to use these boards (I'm on several Nissan ones)and this thread to provide info for everybody. Keep an eye (and a subsciption) on this area!

 

Sounds good man

 

As far as road racing facilities, none.

 

I've got an '05 G35 Coupe, and I'll tentatively give you my RSVP to attend. Sounds like a lot of fun and hopefully I can talk my wife into having a fun weekend with me.

I haven't done any racing before - is this a one-car-on-the-track-at-a-time sort of thing, or is there a paint trading possibility? I'm not prepared to risk my bodywork

 

The first post explains what a HPDE is with more detail. We will progress from a program of driving exercises in the morning to learning how to drive the track safely. Later on, cars will be out on the track together and there will be limited passing in designated areas. "Paint trading" is NOT encouraged or tolerated and we've not had any incidents in the past three years of events.

You will be asked to sign a waiver before going out on the track. Is any high performance driving event completely risk free? No. But your bodywork is at risk every time you drive your car on the street. The intent of these events is to give drivers some understanding of the potential of their cars and perhaps prevent a future accident by enhancing their skills.

 

Happy New Year to all Z and G pilots (and let's throw the SR guys in there as well)! To keep the buzz about this thread going, I found a nice link to LaJunta Raceways to post up:

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/CO/LaJunta.html

It includes a track layout map, for those who haven't been there before. For those that have, I'll try to post some driving tips from time-to-time for your comment. The winter weather has continued to be pretty mild, particularly in SE Colorado, so I expect that this event will remain a GO!