10-10-2017, 12:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2017, 01:00 PM by D_Eclipse9916.)
I started out my Senior Year of High School doing a hyperdrive. That's actually how I became aware of Madison Motorsports as Julie Elsea was at the registration table and I had just submitted my acceptance for JMU.
I had a car that was less than $10k. That was a lot for me back then but I chose to autox/HPDE it. Looking back I never thought of the risk. I couldn't afford to replace it, but it also wouldn't have destroyed me as it wasn't a super expensive car to begin with.
How did I afford it? I worked every NASA weekend I could and from 2005-2010 I tracked as soon as I had enough credits from working. Since it was every 3rd weekend I could track, costs of fuel/brake pads/tires (get take off tires for cheap) wasn't that bad. That's only 3 events a year.
I blew up my motor during a mis-shift at VIR and that put my Eclipse down. Since I was in college, you can walk or take the bus everywhere and it didnt affect my life. The car was down for about 6 months, I hitched rides with friends and girlfriend at the time if I couldn't walk.
It's easily possible in college. Knowing your situation of a $30k+ car that isn't a very good track car to begin with, I would either avoid it or have lockton affinity insurance.
My advice is to stay away from $3k POS. You end up spending more time and effort trying to keep it running than actually driving. Look at Taylor/Matt/Jake's shitbox miatas. Notice a pattern they never really got to drive a lot of HPDEs like they intended? Spend the $5-7k up front and get to actually drive instead of trying to repair a car that honestly your experience/tools/garage isn't ready for at this point. Compare to Ryan Herold/Jake/I where we ended up with a little more expensive cars but actually got to run.
I didn't go racing till 2 years out of college and had a $15k SUV to tow my $1500 open trailer. It took another 4 years after that to get into a Diesel truck, pimpy ass racecar and decent enclosed. I think most are impatient because they see where "people are" instead of where "they started" and expect to start at the end. It's a process...
I had a car that was less than $10k. That was a lot for me back then but I chose to autox/HPDE it. Looking back I never thought of the risk. I couldn't afford to replace it, but it also wouldn't have destroyed me as it wasn't a super expensive car to begin with.
How did I afford it? I worked every NASA weekend I could and from 2005-2010 I tracked as soon as I had enough credits from working. Since it was every 3rd weekend I could track, costs of fuel/brake pads/tires (get take off tires for cheap) wasn't that bad. That's only 3 events a year.
I blew up my motor during a mis-shift at VIR and that put my Eclipse down. Since I was in college, you can walk or take the bus everywhere and it didnt affect my life. The car was down for about 6 months, I hitched rides with friends and girlfriend at the time if I couldn't walk.
It's easily possible in college. Knowing your situation of a $30k+ car that isn't a very good track car to begin with, I would either avoid it or have lockton affinity insurance.
My advice is to stay away from $3k POS. You end up spending more time and effort trying to keep it running than actually driving. Look at Taylor/Matt/Jake's shitbox miatas. Notice a pattern they never really got to drive a lot of HPDEs like they intended? Spend the $5-7k up front and get to actually drive instead of trying to repair a car that honestly your experience/tools/garage isn't ready for at this point. Compare to Ryan Herold/Jake/I where we ended up with a little more expensive cars but actually got to run.
I didn't go racing till 2 years out of college and had a $15k SUV to tow my $1500 open trailer. It took another 4 years after that to get into a Diesel truck, pimpy ass racecar and decent enclosed. I think most are impatient because they see where "people are" instead of where "they started" and expect to start at the end. It's a process...
2020 Ford Raptor
2009 Z06
1986.5 Porsche 928S
2009 Z06
1986.5 Porsche 928S