New to road racing, and thus IT

[boywonder]

I've been a lurking around here for awhile and now that I finally have my first car I figured I'd say hi. I live in Columbus, OH and have been wanting to race for as long as I can remember but put myself through college, got married, and bought a house instead. Finally I said enough with all that, time to do something fun, so I hooked up with a local guy that rallys and started co-driving last year. Rally is a blast but I'm in the wrong seat so...

...this past weekend I picked up the ITC CRX that was for sale on this site, the "Smurf" as it was affectionately known by both young and old. After a long tow I now find myself with a garage full of more wheels/tires than I've owned in my entire life. The plan is to get everything sorted and have the car tech'd in time to do the double drivers school at Blackhawk in April.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and throw my hat in the ring. I look forward to meeting (and beating, ha!) some of you at a track somewhere in the near future. If you have beginner racing/car prep advice, I'm all ears!

[Drew Aldred]

Welcome to racing, you'll never get it out of your blood so good for you on realizing this and taking the plunge !!!

Biggest thing IMO is making sure your car is reliable at this point. Nothing worse than towing to a track, paying your money, going two laps and then back on the trailer. I'm sure some of the Honda guys will chime in on stuff to worry about specific to the Honda. Otherwise, go thru the car as much as possible and check to make sure nothing is loose, damaged or leaking.

As far as driver's school, do NOT go by yourself. Beg, borrow, steal a friend, brother in law, or ex-girlfriend to go with you. There is no time in the schedule for you to do even the most basic of stuff (add fuel, check tires/fluids) while at school.

Listen to the guys on this page, alot of knowledge here with people willing to share.

Hold on for the ride............

[rsx858]

Welcome! glad to hear you got yourself a solid car and picked the best club!

Couple things to consider: If you have an opportunity, get that car out to a track day or two so you can get a feel for her and shake it down before the school. A school is no time to be having issues, and as drew mentioned, wrench time is non existent.

Also before that tech inspect, make sure all your gear is in order, remember to check belt expiration dates, suit sfi req. -do you need underwear?, any holes in your gloves? things like that. Im guessing this car has been in action within the last year, but if not dont forget to make sure you have the required tow hooks, 2 door bars, fuel test port, and all those goodies.

Welcome aboard

[JLawton]

Run!!................. Sell the car and run away as fast as you can!!


No???


OK, you'll now be as addicted as the rest of us. Don't say we didn't warn you!!


Read the GCR on the saftey requirements, both for the car and yourself. Read it multiple times because you'll pick up something new each time. Get the car teched as early as possible in case there are any problems you'll have time to fix them.

Have you started all the paperwork for your license? It takes awhile so start now.

Get a physical.

Try to hook up with someone near you who is experienced, bring them beer, become their best buddy. The best way to make progress is by hanging with fast people. Learn by their mistakes, not yours.

We can't stress enough what Drew said, make sure you bring help to the school with you.

Good luck!!

[gran racing]

I now find myself with a garage full of more wheels/tires than I've owned in my entire life.

Just a garage full huh? Rookie. My wife always asks since when did our basement become a second garage?

Have you done any HPDEs yet? If not, do some before the school to gain experience (and shake the car down as previously said). In regards to crew, bring anyone that's willing to go. They don't have to even know how to work on cars although that would be helpful. Even bring your wife. There are a lot of simple things that you just won't have time to deal with such as putting fuel in the car, checking tire pressures, washing the windshield, and so on.

The other advice I'd give you is get your wife involved in this obsession, I mean hobby. Does she like racing? Bonus if she does! If not, take some time to figure out things about the weekend she could enjoy. Get her in the garage with you from time to time even if that means she's just reading a book while you're out there. My wife hates getting her hands dirty (with car related stuff) but has saved my butt several times. Anytime she hears "wack! wack!" she runs out, tells me to put the hammer down, then somehow just gently resolves the issue. Gesh, that pisses me off! LOL My wife was not thrilled about the whole racing thing but I finally learned ways to make her like it more. It sure does make things easier for both of us.

Best of luck!

[dhardison]

If you don't already have one, get a copy of Dave's book! (see post above)

http://www.GoAheadTakeTheWheel.com

It's chock full of great info for the novice. I was "on the fence" about racing and his book drop-kicked me over the edge.....

Dan

[Spinnetti]

I've been a lurking around here for awhile and now that I finally have my first car I figured I'd say hi. I live in Columbus, OH and have been wanting to race for as long as I can remember but put myself through college, got married, and bought a house instead. Finally I said enough with all that, time to do something fun, so I hooked up with a local guy that rallys and started co-driving last year. Rally is a blast but I'm in the wrong seat so...

...this past weekend I picked up the ITC CRX that was for sale on this site, the "Smurf" as it was affectionately known by both young and old. After a long tow I now find myself with a garage full of more wheels/tires than I've owned in my entire life. The plan is to get everything sorted and have the car tech'd in time to do the double drivers school at Blackhawk in April.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and throw my hat in the ring. I look forward to meeting (and beating, ha!) some of you at a track somewhere in the near future. If you have beginner racing/car prep advice, I'm all ears!

Wow, flashbacks.. Welcome. Blackhawk was my first school too... fun track. Just make sure to do all your work at home, not at the track.. Change all the fluids, bleed the brakes, makes sure you have fresh brake pads and any other maintenance is done. Bring some rain tires if you have em. Amazing how many don't follow this simple rule. I did almost all my racing and schools solo over the last 17 years, but going to Blackhawk, doing the school and coming home in a weekend will take a lot out of you (I did it solo). Take some friends!

[dhardison]

Welcome to IT! I'm in Delaware, OH and just started SCCA racing in '08. There are quite a few guys on this forum from the surrounding Columbus, OH area.

Listen to the guys on this forum when they tell you NOT to go to driver's school alone. You will be running from class to car, car to class, lather, rinse, repeat. Bring at LEAST one 'mechanically inclined' person with you to help as you will not have time to do anything but learn and drive. At my driver's school last year two friends came with me and one even brought a spare car. Lucky he did because I broke a wheel hub and had to use his car during one of the sessions until we got mine fixed later that nght. Otherwise I would not have passed driver's school and wasted all that time and $$$$$$.

Since this is a new car (to you), I HIGHLY suggest you take it out to a track day WELL PRIOR to driver's school and shake it down (Nelson Ledges "Fun Days" are a good, semi-cheap option). That way you have some experience in the car as well as the opportunity to fix anything that might need fixing/adjusting.

Also you mentioned driver's school at Blackhawk, but in case you didn't know there's a DOUBLE school at Nelson Ledges (~4 hours from Cols) on 4/17-4/19. NL is A LOT closer than Blackhawk..... I don't know if the Blackhawk school is a double, but if not, you can get it all done in one weekend at NL.

Have fun!

Dan

[Conover]

I've been a lurking around here for awhile and now that I finally have my first car I figured I'd say hi. I live in Columbus, OH and have been wanting to race for as long as I can remember but put myself through college, got married, and bought a house instead. Finally I said enough with all that, time to do something fun, so I hooked up with a local guy that rallys and started co-driving last year. Rally is a blast but I'm in the wrong seat so...

...this past weekend I picked up the ITC CRX that was for sale on this site, the "Smurf" as it was affectionately known by both young and old. After a long tow I now find myself with a garage full of more wheels/tires than I've owned in my entire life. The plan is to get everything sorted and have the car tech'd in time to do the double drivers school at Blackhawk in April.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and throw my hat in the ring. I look forward to meeting (and beating, ha!) some of you at a track somewhere in the near future. If you have beginner racing/car prep advice, I'm all ears!

It was nice to meet you at the Sanblast Rally. It was sad to see the TDI not finish, but y'all seemed like you were not too crushed. I hope the CRX comes along well, maybe we'll run into you again at the Mid Ohio IT fest. Good Luck!

[boywonder]

It was nice to meet you at the Sanblast Rally. It was sad to see the TDI not finish, but y'all seemed like you were not too crushed. I hope the CRX comes along well, maybe we'll run into you again at the Mid Ohio IT fest. Good Luck!

It was good meeting you also. The DNF sucked because:
1) it was my first DNF
2) we were having a lot of fun
3) it's a DNF

But at the same time it wasn't too bad because we crammed so much fun into the first half of the rally. And I learned that if you are going to go out, do it front of a mess of spectators. Everyone knew us in town that weekend because we broke in front of everyone in that R2 and gave everyone a fire scare. Plus we got our 15 minutes of YouTube fame.

Michael is currently putting a 1.8T tranny in the TDI in hopes that the driveshafts will be stronger; plus the addition of a 6th gear will be nice.

The CRX is slowly getting there. If everything continues to go well you can definitely plan on seeing me at the IT Fest.

[court76wi]

It's probably a lot more expensive than the other schools people are talking about, but you could also do the Skip Barber MX-5 Cup racing school if there's a close location.

It's 3 days, and mechanics take care of the cars so you concentrate on driving more than anything else. Plus it's their cars, so if you smash one into a wall you're only out $200 depending upon if you get extra "vehicle" insurance. Once you're done with the school it also qualifies you for your SCCA regional comp license if you can get a compliance letter from them.

It doesn't teach trackside basics though if that's important too you. Not being your own car might also be a disadvantage depending upon how you look at it. If nothing else, take your car to a solo/autocross event, you'll definitely get the feel for how your car handles. You do have different setups for road race and autocross, but if you want to know what happens when your car is "pushed" you'll definitely find out. It will also help you with recovery techniques.

I didn't have a car at the time, so that's the route I took. There are many options though as others are saying...