Just a notion. Need smart people to iron out details., Co-Op Race Track/Tracks. Options

[Silverstreak]

Had this notion driving round town the other day. I Googled it but couldn't find anything on the idea. The way I figure, most sports car enthusiast would love to have a place to stretch their cars legs and test the boundaries without fearing the law or flying off the road into some trees, a ditch, a house or people for that matter. Sadly, where I live anyway there isn't a road course to be found for some 300 miles. And even then you can't get on it without spending a fortune and being there on the right day. My idea, as nieve as it may seem is a road coarse built by the people (funded anyway) for the people. The people being common Joe Shmoe's like ourselves. The concept is pretty simple. You'd have members chip in an initial amount to get the track constructed, then an annual membership fee to keep it maintained. You could then set up a schedule of sort so the track isn't over crowded on any given day (this is one place you'd smart people would come in). There would of course be rules in ordinance with all safety requirements. I think the best place to try such an endeavor would be out West, say California where there's a large sports car community present. But, I supose it could work in a number of places. Keep in mind, I have no idea how much it cost to build a race track or what kind of red tape you'd have to cut through. Anyway, just a thought. Thought I'd try and get the snowball rolling down hill and see how big it got. Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear any input on the topic.
Happy motoring (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) ,
Josh

[John]

DE's are not as cost prohibitive as one may think.

Any street car that can pass a good tech inspection and has fresh brake fluid and some tires can attend.

Most clubs even will loan you a helmet if you don't mind wearing a loaner helmet.

Cost of admission varies based on club, but a 2 or 3 day weekend with "certified" instruction could be had for $500 or less.

The "novice" groups don't need much if any modifications. They restrict proper race harnesses to a system that includes race seats, so no need to go there.

If one likes track work and want's to continue on a budget, the first mods to the car would be tires and performance brake pads. After that, it can get expensive or one can enjoy the car they have and no real modifications are mandatory.

The slower (and older) the car, the more the driver actually can learn. Modern electronics can prevent some of the real key lessons of learning how to handle a car at speed.

DE's are good places to learn to drive your car in a controlled environment.



John Flesburg
Certified PCA DE Instructor with 23+ years DE experience