race license / driving school

hey cl i just had a quick question for you all. when attending driving school for my race license to attend events at places like thunderhill and buttonwillow, is each class and on the road session a different day . basically just want to know if i can knock it all out in one day or not.

You only need a race licence if you plan on doing wheel to wheel races. Which I suggest doing many track days before you even consider doing. As for knocking it out in 1 day I hope not...that's not something to rush. It takes a long time to hone those skills.

so i would have to go back 4 times to get the race license... from what i read it was 2 classes i had to attend and 2 behind the wheel sessions. was just curious if it was all done that day or if i had to register for each class . after that i need to drive in progressivly more experienced race classes untill i am able to race wheel to wheel.

From my understanding it takes 2 weekends minimum of classes and then you have to pass various tests. Then you get it but need various number if track days to be written off for wheel to wheel. That's also what I've gathered because I'll be working on getting mine next year. You can do track events without it though to gain experience. Speedventures, extremespeed, and ncrc are just some of the hosts that put on said events.

great imma have to look in to those events.... i really would like to get my race license just need to do it within a budget u know. so i guess i need to just start signing up for driving school when events are happening around here

DO TRACKDAYS FIRST

There are plenty of people that have their comp license and i would not feel comfortable with them in a w2w race. On the flipside, there are people i feel comfortable doing a w2w battle with. Nick4dei, jdmxdb8 are a few i would do a 5 lap battle with and feel comfortable.

You also need SFI everything
gloves
shoes
balaclava
HANS or necksgen
SA helmet not a motorcycle helmet
full cage thats inspected

Samurai_Blue said:

You also need SFI everything
gloves
shoes
balaclava
HANS or necksgen
SA helmet not a motorcycle helmet
full cage thats inspected

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That stuff isn't cheap either. Granted I've looked into it for rally, the cage and everything is a little more protective for that. Still, expect to spend maybe $4000 on all of the above? HANS device are expensive, also a good helmet isn't cheap. I know I bought a cheap Pyrotect helmet for autocross, because there is very little risk of crashing there. If I were on a real track I would save up for a good helmet, my life is worth more than $60. Keep that in mind.

If you're on a tight budget, maybe think about doing autocross or some other SCCA racing until you can save money to road race properly. That said I don't know what your financial situation is like, I know you just said on a budget. Best of luck to you, I'd like to get out for some track days as well. Student loans have to be zeroed out first though.

BTW, if you want to do some real W2W racing without a racing license, in NY we have some real cool rallyx style races on frozen lakes. Fantastic racing, no cage needed for car without studded tires. All you need is a helmet, fire extinguisher, and a set of snow tires. It's all ~30mph driving, but on a frozen lake that's very fast hahah. I haven't raced in any yet, but they look incredibly fun. I'll toss a video up just for the hell of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2tFEgUqG0U

Samurai_Blue said:

On the flipside, there are people i feel comfortable doing a w2w battle with. Nick4dei, jdmxdb8 are a few i would do a 5 lap battle with and feel comfortable.

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Who is this Nick4dei. He sounds sexy

Hans is expensive but if you use a harness you better be using one. I can't believe how long it's taken for me to buy one.

well my car got impounded shortly after i posted this because a certain cop decided to say i was speeding when the cam footage said otherwise. not to mention heput a 30 day hold on my car. but its out now and i have started to accumulate the stuff required . after feb will be attending as many races as i can.

what series are you competing in? If you have ZERO previous experience i would do a few years of auto cross. People may shit on it and say otherwise but it teaches you a very very very good lessons in line choice. the difference between track day / time attack guys and w2w racers is race craft. Part of race craft is taking a shit line and losing minimal speed - line choice. Time attack and HPDE guys will use the racing line where in w2w you cant really do it. Auto cross teaches you a lot of that. Then i would do HPDE track days or NASA HPDE 1 track days and get a license. Total Kontrolle also has cars for rent if you want to do a license test in an approved car ie passed tech.

Agreed with Blue, you can learn a lot more than you think from autocross. Especially if you're fortunate enough to have a great venue to race at. I'm lucky enough to be close to autocross events that take place on the Lake Erie Speedway, so you're on a real track taking some of the banked turns, but they make it a little safer and keep you away from the wall. I think it's a good way to figure out what your car is going to do at speed with a safe buffer between you and the wall lol.

From autocross though you can see throughout the day what lines are fastest and how giving time up going into a corner could make you go faster out and be quicker overall. Or just in general where to give up time to make time. Besides that, it's cheap. Hell if you have an SCCA license you could ride along with some faster guys all day for free. There are plenty of real cool guys who would let you sit in their car for the day and explain what they're doing and why they're doing it. I can't stress enough how beneficial picking good drivers brains can be.

Extra seat time as a ride along goes a long way, hell I've never rallycrossed before in an AWD car. Went out last weekend in my new WRX brought my friend along who is genuinely good, ended up taking 3rd place in my first event. (ended up racing my co-driver who won in the semi-final heat of the day, so he knocked me out early lol).

im pretty good when it comes to line choice and i have done some private auto x type races with freinds on an old air strip. i also drive in the hills all the time and no one can touch me. most of my frinds try to set up races with me on those type of roads but i dont like doing em cus its wayyy dangerous compared to me jus driving solo. i do plan on learning all that is needed to be a good driver on the track but ive been hitting the same hills for the last 15 yrs... as im getting older tho i feel like ive missed opportunities to show my worth on a race track.

not sure what class i would be in i have a 92 teg with a gsr swap with sk2 im header and a tune, and built gsr trans with obx lsd and 4.96 final. on normal tires im in low 13's and slicks high 12's. all motor. entirely rebuit suspension as of last year.
i just ned to get my butt to a track soon so i can get the ball roling

i dont know nhra classes. What class do you want to do? thats such an open ended question you have to narrow it down. Do you want to do it for shits and giggles and do grass roots or do full blown Honda challenge stuff. I would say you should rent a car and stuff.

Total Kontrolle rents spec e30s.