What they don't tell you about track days.

[TheJDMan]

As some of you may know I work as the Course Marshal of Dominion Raceway's road course in Virginia going on 8 years now and on occasion I also work at Summit Point and VIR as part of their track crews. As such I and the entire road course staff spend a LOT of time watching cars and drivers on track. We are always looking for something going wrong with cars such as when a car starts smoking half-way through a track session. We will immediately black flag that car and get it into the pit lane where we can look it over up close. Many times it is nothing serious but, conversely, I have seen cars develop fuel leaks and catch fire on track. We are also watching the drivers. We can tell a novice driver from an advanced driver but more importantly we can tell a driver who understands how to drive on track properly from one who thinks they are a racer. We are only a few weeks into the 2024 track season and we have already had more crashes than usual for so early in the season. So I wanted to offer some basic track day advice.

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Do I have your attention now?

1. SAFETY FIRST! I'm going to repeat that. SAFETY FIRST! Protect yourself and invest in quality safety equipment for you and your car. The driver of the Corvette above had a quality rollbar and name brand seat harnesses professionally installed when he started tracking the car. Those two items literally saved his life! It is not pictured, but there is a big dent in the top of the rollbar tube on the passenger side where the car landed upside-down but the rollbar loop did not collapse the seat harness kept his body in the seat and his helmet below the plane of the loop and car body. Safety equipment is critically important, it can and will save your life.

2. A track day is NOT a race! No one cares how fast you are and there is no prize money or trophy at the end of the day. There is literally zero reason to drive beyond your ability.

3. At a track day, you are NOT a racecar driver and you are NOT racing the other cars on track with you! Just because you have a fast car and are wearing a helmet and maybe a driver suit does NOT mean you know how to drive fast. Follow the rules, give BIG point by's, pay attention to the flag stations and learn from your driving instructor.

4. When your instructor gives you advice LISTEN to them! We see far too many drivers who think they know how to drive fast on a road course and I can assure you they do not. Most of the time these drivers end up with results like those pictured on this page. Side note, if you happen to get an instructor you do not like for what ever reason, simply request a different instructor. Like everything else in life, there are good and bad instructors out there.

5. Install your tow hook before going on track! I can't tell you how many times I have gone out to flat tow a car off track only to find no tow hook installed. Even worse is when the driver leaves the tow hook in the pits, don't be that guy. Another side note, make sure you have a full tank of fuel. Running out of gas is the number one reason cars stop on track. Again, don't be that guy!

6. Your everyday auto insurance will NOT cover damage done on a race track. I have lost count of how many drivers have purchased a new high performance car then signed up for a track day only to total their new car. I remember one gentlemen in particular who had just purchased a like new low mileage Viper when he arrived at the track it still had a temporary 30 day permit attached. He promptly lost control of the car putting it into a guard rail and totaled it before he had even made the first payment. Also, fun fact you are responsible for any damage to track property. Meaning the Viper guy was billed for replacing the guard rails he damaged. See item #3. BTW, you can purchase single day track insurance from a number of companies.

7. Use some basic common sense when you attend a track day. Drive to your comfort level and don't push beyond. You will regret it if you do.

8. Have fun but be safe, PLEASE!

[andrewb70]

Good tips!

Andrew

[TheJDMan]

This is an addendum to #6 above concerning insurance coverage at an HPDE event, oddly we were just discussing this topic at the track earlier today. This is a subtle detail but it can potentially mean the difference between a claim being paid or denied.

6A. If you do file a claim with your insurance company for on track damage please remember this detail. As far as your insurance company is concerned HPDE stands for "High Performance Driver Education". The key word here is "Education", virtually every HPDE event provides a number of driving instructors which are usually mandatory for novice and optional for intermediate drivers. In that situation insurance companies consider the event driver training and you may stand a chance of the damage claim being paid. I know of two claims for on track damage that were paid because the driver claimed the event was driver training and the insurance company agreed.

6B. Should you decide to purchase single day track insurance, MotorSportsReg.com offers an option to buy single day event coverage at the time you register for most if not all events on their site.

[craulston]

WOW. Great Post. This needs to be a full time thread with some guidance on how to prepare for track days.

[TheJDMan]

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have and would love to see a full time thread on this subject. My primary motivation is to keep everyone safe on track.

I have to say that working at a race track has opened my eyes to just how quickly things can go wrong. So much so that haven't taken Dust Off to a formal track day in at least 5 years. One advantage to working at the track however, is that I can go out and play with Dust Off anytime the track is not booked.

[79 Camaro]

Sounds like something that happened to a car buddies dad.
The dad purchased a new 2012? Mustang GT 500. Track day up in Brainerd MN and dad did about 3 laps before putting the Mustang into the wall. No one was hurt thank goodness. The car was totaled. Don't know if insurance paid up.

[TheJDMan]

This is exactly the sort of thing that people need to be aware of and the part that the HPDE promoters don't like to talk about. I have lost count of how many "new to the owner" cars have I have seen lost in a heartbeat.

[JustJohn]

Anyone who's driven a lot of track days and tried to get better has been "4 off" at least once. It's part of learning to drive and the hobby is not cheap.
This was my too hot entry into turn 1 at Road Atlanta:
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I got lucky and drove the car home - I usually trailer it going more than 2 hours away. It's already fixed, in my own garage.

That being said, some tracks are much more "damage prone" than others and I've seen more cars not drive home from RA than any other in the few years I've been doing this.

[Pedigry]

1. Prep for food, not all tracks have provisions for food.
2. Drink lot's of water, stay hydrated. Surprising how much you sweat in the car, especially if you have manual steering and brakes, lol.
3. Bring tools. You don't have to bring a trailer, but you will need tire pressure gauge, plugs and plug wrench, a box wrench in case you boil your brake fluid and need to bleed at the track. The standard zip ties and duct tape, socket set, screw drivers to keep those pipe hoses on, etc. Just a basic setup for the day.
4. White shoe shine. We used to mark the tires with white shoe shine so you could see how much of the tire was being used (under or over inflated).
5. An accessories bag to put anything excess that's in the car, so that there is nothing in the door cards, under the seats, etc.
6. Small fire extinguisher. Heaven forbid, it may save the car from a total loss.
7. If this is your first event, take it slow. Most cars have never worked harder than on the track. The track will find all of the weak points in the car. Listen to your car, if it starts to tell you it's hurt or there's a vibration you haven't had before, a strange sound, anything like that, get off the track and try and assess the problem. I boiled my fluid going into a corner after a long straight. Hit the brakes and nothing happened, went off into the gravel. Once I bled them, they were fine. But it was a learning experience.
8. As mentioned, the instructers are awesome. Get to know the line, get as much time with them as you can. You are competing with yourself to improve you time and line, not the guy next to you. There will always be someone faster.
9. Wave them by. If you are faster on the striaghts but other cars are faster in the corners, slow down on the straights and let them by. There is nothing more frustrating than gettingn stuck behind a slow driver in the corners, finally passing him or her, and then 30 seconds later having them blow by you on the straights again. If someone is all over your tail, make it easy for them to pass.
10. Run lot's of fuel. I know the car is faster with low fuel but with all of the G's in the corners, you are really taxing the fuel tanks ability to continually keep fuel in the sump. Most cars at track days were not built as race cars. So put plenty of fuel in there so that your not starving your fuel system. Boiling fuel is not cool (see what I did there).
11. Let the clutch engage before you floor it through the gears. One of the most abused things in the car are the brakes and clutch on the track. The clutch will last longerer if your not wide open shifting it. Even a split second hesitation to let the clutch full engage before back on full throttle will make a massive difference in clutch longevity.
12. Don't do burnouts when starting out. Yeah, I know your anxious to rock and roll, but if they line you up to a dead stop and then let you go, take off normally, your car, tires and the flag guy with thank you.
13. Don't bumper draft the guy in front of you. This ain't NASCAR. And if he brake checks you, it could get ugly. If they refuse to let you by, then yes, you may need to tighten up the spacing to let them know you are faster but don't hound them, these guys aren't pros. Which means, If I have a rear view mirror FULL of 79 911 turbo, it's going to make me really nervous, and if I get nervous, I will make a mistake. It's hard not to stare at the mirror when someone is all over your six. So let the person in front of you concentrate on what they are doing so they don't end up in the gaurd rail.
14. Use your warm up lap and cool down lap for just that. Don't run hard on the first or last lap, let the poor girl get ready and then recover.
15. Don't speed on the way to the track! lol, I remember being so excited to get on the track that I would speed on the way, I was already in go fast mode. Try and slow your roll. It sucks getting a ticket on the way to the track.
16. Track days are a ton of fun. Do as many as your wallet allows. Have a great time, make new friends and have some great stories to tell.

[TheJDMan]

Dominion Raceway is located next to I95 and I am always seeing people that tend to leave the track with "enthusiasm" I will call it. Just be aware that State Police and County Sheriff are usually watching you as you leave so drive accordingly.

[79 Camaro]

Kind of a FYI thing. Last fall we upgraded from a 14 Mustang GT to a 20 Mustang GT. The previous owner traded the 20 for a Mustang Dark Horse. He contacted me last week the gave the window sticker and service records. Very cool/nice guy. With the purchase of the Dark Horse Ford included a track day at the Charlotte Speedway road course. Instructor included. They had to get there and no hotels or food.
First part of the day was class room and instructor driving the Dark Horse. Then after lunch the owner was driving the car with an instructor in the passenger seat. The instructor was very clear don't go faster than you are comfortable driving the car.
He said he had a great time. Would do it again in a minute.

[groho]

I was a flagger/course worker for a couple years covering while the racetrack was short handed. One thing I saw more than anything else was novice drivers getting out of their car, screaming, kicking, yelling, after going off course or spinning, literally jumping up/down next to the moving cars. DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!! Staying in your car, if able, unless it's on fire, until safety personnel are there, is critical for your personal safety. Unless you're on fire, stay put.

[TheJDMan]

I was a flagger/course worker for a couple years covering while the racetrack was short handed. One thing I saw more than anything else was novice drivers getting out of their car, screaming, kicking, yelling, after going off course or spinning, literally jumping up/down next to the moving cars. DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!! Staying in your car, if able, unless it's on fire, until safety personnel are there, is critical for your personal safety. Unless you're on fire, stay put.

YES, Great point! If you have an accident or for some reason are forced to stop on track, always, always, always, STAY IN THE CAR unless it is on FIRE. Also, if you run out of gas (don't be that guy) or have a mechanical issue and can't make it back to pit lane, pull as far off the track surface as possible.