Hm this is a fun topic and I have nothing going on at work soooo buckle in.
I bought my Miata the summer before sophomore year and started working track weekends sometime around there as well. Never had the money to put a rollbar in it so I never tracked it. That was probably smart as like Joey says, I could not have afforded to write the car off.
I'd met an instructor friend through working the NASA events, named Carrie. She instructed and drove a white NA Miata and her then-husband Joe was her crew. They offered to let me use their car for some HPDE my senior year of college. I saved the money I earned between working with NASA and my internship with AOL to pay for maybe... three events? All they asked for was that I fill the tank.
I also did a single Hyperdrive in the E34 535i that I purchased (with Maeng as my copilot). In hindsight that car was a POS that should not have been tracked, but hey we made it through 25 minutes of not-much speed.
One of the first "big boy" paychecks I earned after graduation went toward a rollbar for my personal Miata and it's been all downhill from there.
Definitely absolutely keep in mind that people have totaled cars (or badly damaged them) in HPDE 1 and 2. I've been doing this since 2008 and seen it happen more than once. It only takes one bad judgement call or delayed reaction to put you off track. Ideally you spin, occasionally someone boinks something. It's less of a big deal on an older car, and if you had an E36 or something, I'd just tell you to drive it and be sorta careful. But an F30 is still worth quite a bit, and good luck getting your road insurance to cover a track incident should it happen.
Lockton Motorsports is one of a few companies to offer track day insurance. For the F30, I may consider it if you do more than another event or two.
May be helpful to see my overall timeline, too:
2008: Buy Miata, start working with NASA
2010: Do first HPDEs in borrowed car
2011: Buy rollbar for Miata, work through HPDE 1 and 2
2012: Work through HPDE 2 and 3, blow up Miata engine #1, use E36 325i for some HPDE and pace car duties
2013: Drive pace car for NASA, slowly rebuild Miata, blow up Miata engine #2, say "fuck this" and buy E36 M3. Crash it once, lightly.
2014: Start Time Trial in M3 after installing basic safety gear (rollbar, seats, harnesses)
2015: Continue TT in M3. Crash it again in November, harder this time.
2016: Get full rollcage installed in M3. TT the M3 some more. Go faster.
2017: Get W2W competition license. Race the M3 in GTS2. Crash it into a SpecE30, blame unclear but partially mine. Have frame rails pulled, keep racing. Finish season on two wheels in a blaze of tire smoke at Oak Tree.
I bought my Miata the summer before sophomore year and started working track weekends sometime around there as well. Never had the money to put a rollbar in it so I never tracked it. That was probably smart as like Joey says, I could not have afforded to write the car off.
I'd met an instructor friend through working the NASA events, named Carrie. She instructed and drove a white NA Miata and her then-husband Joe was her crew. They offered to let me use their car for some HPDE my senior year of college. I saved the money I earned between working with NASA and my internship with AOL to pay for maybe... three events? All they asked for was that I fill the tank.
I also did a single Hyperdrive in the E34 535i that I purchased (with Maeng as my copilot). In hindsight that car was a POS that should not have been tracked, but hey we made it through 25 minutes of not-much speed.
One of the first "big boy" paychecks I earned after graduation went toward a rollbar for my personal Miata and it's been all downhill from there.
Definitely absolutely keep in mind that people have totaled cars (or badly damaged them) in HPDE 1 and 2. I've been doing this since 2008 and seen it happen more than once. It only takes one bad judgement call or delayed reaction to put you off track. Ideally you spin, occasionally someone boinks something. It's less of a big deal on an older car, and if you had an E36 or something, I'd just tell you to drive it and be sorta careful. But an F30 is still worth quite a bit, and good luck getting your road insurance to cover a track incident should it happen.
Lockton Motorsports is one of a few companies to offer track day insurance. For the F30, I may consider it if you do more than another event or two.
May be helpful to see my overall timeline, too:
2008: Buy Miata, start working with NASA
2010: Do first HPDEs in borrowed car
2011: Buy rollbar for Miata, work through HPDE 1 and 2
2012: Work through HPDE 2 and 3, blow up Miata engine #1, use E36 325i for some HPDE and pace car duties
2013: Drive pace car for NASA, slowly rebuild Miata, blow up Miata engine #2, say "fuck this" and buy E36 M3. Crash it once, lightly.
2014: Start Time Trial in M3 after installing basic safety gear (rollbar, seats, harnesses)
2015: Continue TT in M3. Crash it again in November, harder this time.
2016: Get full rollcage installed in M3. TT the M3 some more. Go faster.
2017: Get W2W competition license. Race the M3 in GTS2. Crash it into a SpecE30, blame unclear but partially mine. Have frame rails pulled, keep racing. Finish season on two wheels in a blaze of tire smoke at Oak Tree.
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan
Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan
Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M