Although fun and exciting, you put the lives of your passengers in a very risky situation.
-True. Just getting into my car driving from Atlanta to Talladega was risky. Probably more risky (statistics-wise) than going fast on a racetrack.

First, no one was wearing a helmet or Hans device. If you would have lost control and hit the wall at 120+mph, people may have died.
-True. Professional Racecar drivers wearing protective gear have died racing on Talladega. Losing control at 80mph into a wall could have killed people.

Second, you have no experience at driving on a banked oval.
-True. My experience was the first 2 or 3 laps - education over, lets punch it!

Autocross and HPDE track events are not the same.
-True. Although Autocross and Trackdays help tremendously in finding the limit and capabilities of your car. I would say most people on the road today don't know even that.

Third, do you know if your insurance would be in effect on that particular track. Although you weren't "racing", many insurance companies are now excluding road surfaces not used for commuting.
-True. I don't know the insurance effect. I didn't tell 'em. In the extreme case, I wasn't covered. But in that case nobody else on the track was covered either, whether they were going 20mph or 120mph.

Fourth, was your car prepped properly for going that fast on the track?
-Probably not. My car has handling modifications (sway bars), new tires (2 weeks old), new brakes (stoptech 2-piece slotted rotors), new race pads, stainless steel lines, dot 4 fluid & other things. I prepped it normally for a trackday (i.e. bled the brakes, everything out of the car, increase tire pressure, etc)

Oval track cars are set up so that the driver has to actually pull the car straight. The camber, caster, and toe are set to direct the car clockwise or counterclockwise depending on the direction that the track is being driven.
-True. For a 200 lap race going 200+mph. For a 5-lap drive, well, it'll be awright.
On a 33-degree banked turn on a 1100 feet radius turn as is Talladega, you could go around that turn at 100mph and not need any traction at all. Again: On an icy (TRACTIONLESS) surface, you could go around the turn at 100mph without flying off. Typical high-school physics problem. But I didn't know that until after the event.

I'm not flaming you and I enjoyed your blog. Just next time please take into consideration the tremendous responsibility that you have for the safety of your passengers.
What you do alone in the car is perfectly acceptable.
-Thanx.
I've been expecting a post like this. I'm suprised it took this long, frankly. Not until page 3.
Its pretty obvious what I did. No excuses.
However, I don't think I broke the law. At least I got that going for me.
S.

 

id pay alot of money to do this...you really have no idea...SICK **** man

 

I didnt see him holding a gun to the passengers tho. and its not like they cant make up thier own minds. they know the possibilities.
plus... who can say no to a guy in pleated jeans!?

 

I'm glad that you waited three pages for me to post, and it was not derogatory or insulting. I understand that you were in a controlled environment, and that is a good thing. You are 100% correct that your drive from Atlanta to the track was probably more dangerous. You weren't driving 140+mph on public roads, which makes you a responsible driver. But, as we all know, $hit can go wrong very quickly at the track. You are also correct that even with safety devices you can still end up hurt or killed, but at least the odds are somewhat reduced. Parts of my post were also intended to educate you and others reading this thread. There are many insurance companies that are not telling us the risk that we are taking by driving our vehicles on a closed course. Just for $hits and giggles you may want to call and ask your insurance company about your policy. It may change your mind knowing that you'll be responsible for a $30k car if it's wrecked. Since I now know the risk, I no longer track my own vehicles. It's cheaper to rent a race prepped car or shifter kart if I need some go fast excitement for a few hours.

At the end of the day you are right. You committed no crime, no one was hurt, and you have some great memories.

-Cheers

 

I called my insurance co. the other day and they DO NOT cover HPDE events. No track of any kind is what they said.

oh yeah, it was Alfa Insurance Co.

I would like to see a list of what companies do.

 

Damn....that looks like a lot of fun. Must have been nice to let the G fly.

 

Glad you all had a good time. Nice detail in the OP.

It's nice to be able to run the track with your car. Unfortunately you really don't get the feel of the speed in a vid.

Here's a couple of the laps of what Glex was talking about a few posts back running Poccono. Same rules, no passing etc. but were able to run the infield also. A slightly larger group of only G's and Z's. Yes it was phun....
>> CLICKY <<

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Great post and great videos. Looks like a lot of fun. Tell your red-state buddies to edit out the sissified "slow down slow down slow down" comments.

Our cars are certainly engineered well for high speed.