RAce Tracks?

[ITC007]

I may be coming down to Louisiana for a little while, what tracks are in the are. I have an IT race car.

[Greg Amy]

Short answer: none.

Long answer:

http://www.frappr.com/ITracetracks

[dickita15]

isn't there a fairly new one called "no problem"

[charrbq]

Yes, there is. No Problem Raceway is approximately half way between New Orleans and Baton Rouge near a town named Belle Rose. It's a drag strip and 1.7 mile road course. They have a road racing series based on bracket times rather than classes. They also run a Vintage V8 class, an open wheel class, and an all out ground pounder class. The season runs from October to April to avoid the blistering heat of summer. However, if you need track time, the Porsche Club and BMW club run D.E.'s all the time that are open to almost everyone. There is one other charity race with the same bracket format scheduled for the first Sunday of June. It's should be a big race as there is a lot of local advertising. The schedule is much more laid back than any SCCA race you'll see, the food is great, and the people are really friendly.

I play out there occassionally and use it for testing. It's got a long straight, some quick short chutes, and some areas that will test handling to the max.

You didn't say where you were going to be. If it's northern Louisiana (Yankee country), then there several tracks in within a few hours drive.

[ITC007]

Thank you for t he info, I will be in the new orleans area. just checking to see if it is worth the time and effort to bring a car down for a couple races. Where do you usually Race?

[charrbq]

Sorry not to get back until now. Spent the weekend in Houston at the Champ Car/ALMS race and didn't fire up the orb until today.

The brackets are divided into 4 groups reflective of lap times. The fastest group usually consists of 944 Turbos, a Cooper S, and a CRX with an Acura VTEC motor. After that it's made up of what the SCCA would class as ITS cars (944's, 911's, RX7's, etc), the next one is the group I usually run in. My main competition comes from older 911's, BMW 325's, and some SM's. The last group is (no offense to them) slugs of various car/driver combinations that want to go fast, but don't want to chance the door to door competition. Hopefully, I'll get some electrical problems that continue to raise their head repaired, and I can move up a class next year.

From the New Orleans area, you're looking at about 45 minutes to the track. Very laid back attitudes and schedules. Great place for testing and shaking off the rust. Entry fee is $65.00 unless you enter late, then it's still only about $100. Schedule usually includes 20 min. qualifying, a 20 minute heat race, and a 20-30 minute feature race. For the price, it can't be beaten.

Also, since you're in New Orleans, Barber Motorsports Park is only about 6 hours away and Memphis Motorsports Park is about 7 hrs. I don't know how far you're used to driving toa a race, but those are as close as we get to where the SCCA is racing.

Hope to see you out at NPR!

[ITC007]

That is a pretty good amount of track time for the money. What size tires do you run?

[charrbq]

Depends on what I've got at the time. It's pretty hard on tires and brakes, so I never run new Hoosiers out there. I usually run older 225/45/13 Hoosiers, 215/50/13 Kumhos, or 205/60/13 Toyos. I save my new tires for club racing.