Track Racing on the East Coast

I finally made it to a track this weekend, and had an amazing time! There are a bunch of things I learned in general about track racing through this experience, as far as logistics of how to actually do it.

General Info

• Tracks rent out in time intervals, at the rate of thousands of dollars per hour.

• “Groups” (aka BMW Club, Porsche Club, SSCA, EMRA) rent out the track for a few hours or a whole weekend.

• Every group runs the day differently, and some are much more serious and competitive than others.

• I went with EMRA, which is not super competitive and whose rules are a bit more relaxed. They allow stock cars, stock seatbelts to race. You need to tape up any glass (sunroofs, headlights) and have a proper racing helmet (snell rated), but that’s about it!

• SSCA is much stricter about cars — everybody needs a rollcage etc. Don’t expect to bring a stock M3 here generally.

• No matter what you’ll pay several hundred $ for a track day.

• HPDE — High performance Driver Education Event.

• HPDE Insurance is a great idea — usually you can get this either at the track or buy it online ahead of time. I paid about $115 for insurance for the day.

• There are several tracks within 3-4 hours of NYC — to find a track day you can either pick a car club and look at their schedule, or pick a track and look at the track’s schedule.

• Lime Rock Park

• Watkin’s Glen

• Pocinos Raceway

• New Jersey Motorstate Park (NJMSP)

• Summit Point Circuit

• Unlike Autocross you usually get a LOT of time on the track at an event like this. Anywhere from 1.5 -> 3 hours!

Bring to the track:

• Your own Snell 2005 or 2010 rated FULL FACE helmet! (Expect to pay $300+ for a good one)

• Blue masking tape — the stuff that doesn’t leave residue

• Zip Ties (to tie on a timing transponder)

• A Razor / Sizzor (to cut the zip ties at the end of the day)

• An EMPTY car — nothing in the trunk, etc.

• Fresh break pads! (You eat these guys up at the track!)