andycon,

I wish I could autocross again. It was great being able to do it. My doctors, family, friends and work like to tell me heck no!!! Once you know Houston and how people drive, there really is no difference in that and auto crossing. Well, to me that is

I use to run in College Station, Houston Police Academy (with the BMW/Porsche clubs) and in Corpus Christy (with Porsche club). Doing races like this is much better and going from a to z in a straight line as fast as ones vehicle can go.

Now, if you wish to be able to auto cross, yes, you would have to let a person run you vehicle once and then let you take a run in it with them ridding along to make sure you know what you are doing. IF you wish to do something, you ought to go to an auto cross event to watch and learn 1st. Also, ask people some questions. While you are there, you could also go out on the track with other racers to watch and make sure they do not hit cones or anything. That would be a good way for you to learn some things.

Now, cost. Well, I'm not sure how much it cost to make runs in vehicles. I think it was $25.00 per person to run in the past. In order to race, you would have to wear long pants and wear a helmet.

Again, those are just some of my thoughts. I hope some other people will say somthing about it.

Stephen

Andy,

A dentist friend of mine races his Porche at the track near College Station. Both he and his wife race their own Porches there. I will try to get more information. You got the G35 back from the shop yet?

Andy, the best road course experience I know is the Raging Bull Texas Stampede. Call me biased, or maybe it's because I don't have anything else on my mind at the moment.

All kidding aside, the popular track events I have seen over the years are organized by The Driver's Edge (at www.thedriversedge.net) or by Porsche and BMW clubs who use instructors from the Driver's Edge.

The Porsche and BMW clubs have by far the most active race track events and they also have a lot of driving instructors as their members. Check out your local Houston Porsche and BMW clubs; they should have at least 2 track events per year.

The most popular venues are the Motorpsort Ranch in Cresson near Fort Worth (at www.motorsportranch.com), the Texas World Speedway in College Station (at www.texasworldspeedway.com), and the new Motorsport Ranch in Houston (at www.msrhouston.com).

If you go to the Driver's Edge web site I linked above, you'll see that they have a driving event coming up on January 21-22 at the Motorsports Ranch in Houston.

These classes usually involve a couple hours of class time to review vehicle dynamics, etc. and then a lot of track time. At the events at Texas Motor Speedway, you should be able to get about 4 to 5 segments of 20 minute sessions one-on-one with a driving instructor for about $175 to $250. You are normally not alowed on the track by yourself until you have advanced to a higher level. The Texas Motor Speedway has a large oval and a side track. The courses there usually incorporate a little of both allowing people to utilize the long straight on the oval to set speed records ranging from 100 to 130 mph.

I hope that helps.

pretty much same as youngturk. Ill be at msr in january and tws in march. Driversedge is 275.00 for two days. Some classroom time, instructor. You get to learn your car and how to drive. Well worth the money. AXING is childs play compared to this. I still do both but very limited axing. AX wears worse on your tires. You can go to scca.org and find the houston region there. It will show you the events coming up in 06. The dog track is a big place and i use to go there once a month but not since i started tracking. Go sign up online as msrhouston for DE in January. ILL be there with silver cp and my broinlaws Elise. You will get 4 20 minute sessions with them. Once you get soloed and reach blue group you can attend track days where you get up to 8 thirty minute sessions. I usually cant take that much. The last one at tws a few weeks ago i gave up at 200 miles, still had two sessions left. The mind was willing but the body was weak. I run in yellow with 600hp vettes and that group is intense. Driversedge is a very well run organization and a safe invironment.

I'm interested in this, also... was looking at the January event at MSR.

you need to sign up soon, they usually fill up fast. I think the 275 stands until DEC. 31. I have not seen the new price yet from rick. This is one of those things that once you do it your hooked. Every person i have brought signs up the next event. Well have 6 to 8 from Louisiana in march just by me talking to them. Its a great time with people that have the same interest. There are from time to time some strange criters that show up in your stereo typical dweeb personality , but hey its all fun. Come on down, Well have fun with several Gs there. If your brakes are not brand new get a set. On 05 the backs melt. Use 04 rear. If you think you your going to do this more than once then get some hawk hps, they do dust more and squeel a little but they stop way better and hold up well. They do not make hawk hps for our 05s but you can get hawks from The Tire Rack for an 04 m45 front and 04 non brembo g. This is the same brakes. The whole set is the same price i paid at the dealer for just the rear. THEY MELT. Hodge podge. The front actually hold up well, just make sure you have some for the back.Either way dont go without extra pads and almost worn out tires.

Express (or others)...

Thank you for the very useful information.

I have an 05 sedan... what pads are available for this vehicle now?

edit: Using the vehicle configurator on Tirerack.com, they show Hawk HPS and HP+ pads available for my specific model.

245-35-19f 265-35-19r michelin PS2 , stillen sways set tight front and rear, tein h/tech springs, ud crank pulley, Intense y pipe, stillen intake (for noise) MREV PLUS, hawk hps front and back, z-tube, clear corners, clear front bra,racing harness

never enough power and short through shifter

im not sure about sedan, hps is for street and ax and track. NOT A RACE PAD. They will dust more, sqeek time to time (hps) but will definitely stop better and hold up better. Its all about trade off for what you use the car for. I drive hard every day, its great for me, some swap pads at the track, ill just wash my car more. HP are race pads, they will eat stock rotors for breakfast, but they will bring the overweight g to a rapid halt. There are other pads out there, ive just used hps for 4 years on wrx and g and am happy. Carbo tech makes great stuff, Porterfield and many other. IF you drive hard go hawk, and tire rack is nice to deal with.

Looks like Texas World Speedway has a school on January 14/15... haven't gotten any info from them, yet... due to the holidays.