Like the title says, I am giving up drag racing and coming over to the dark side, LOL!
My wife and I recently attended an HPDE put on by the THSCC/Triangle Z Club at Rockinham (the old NASCAR oval). It was a LOT of fun, very educational and one of the best weekends we have had in a long time. The best way I can describe it is being on a roller coaster for 25 minutes... and you are the one controlling the direction and speed.
First, thanks to Ed (Edz on here) for pointing me in the right direction on this one. Second, thanks to everyone with great advice on my prep thread weeks ago. http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=321647
After getting home, I did a little calculating... I used to say that I drag raced because it was cheap and easy to get into. That is true when looking at the total cost involved, but after spending a weekend at the HPDE I found that dollar for dollar of track time, the HPDE event is a MUCH better deal. The typical FFW or NMRA True Street event to enter is somewhere around 80-100 (more or less) and will get you 2-3 practice runs on Saturday, 3 runs for the TS competition, 2-3 practice runs Sunday morning, and 1-5 runs in Sunday bracket racing depending on your rounds. So, let's say you run a total of 9 runs for the weekend (2 practice each day, 3 TS and you go 2 rounds on Sunday) and entry fee was $100. If you have a car like our 99, you are actually on the track for 11-12 seconds each time. So, that is somewhere around $55 per minute on the track.
On the flip side, the HPDE we attended got us six 25 minute track sessions, six 50 minute classroom sessions, lunch on Saturday and Sunday, t-shirts, etc... all for $280. My math tells me that we paid about $1.87 for each minute on the track. This may not have been the typical cost of an HPDE, but dollar for dollar it is a much better deal than any drag racing event I have attended. While there are no trophies or money to be won, I just enjoy being on the track and learning! Another bonus is this was much less stressful on the car... we drove it to and from the track and had absolutely no issues during the weekend. I have never been able to do that drag racing.
Here are a couple of pics from that weekend. Most of them have my wife behind the wheel. We are definitely looking forward to VIR in February... and no more drag racing for us!!!
My wife and I recently attended an HPDE put on by the THSCC/Triangle Z Club at Rockinham (the old NASCAR oval). It was a LOT of fun, very educational and one of the best weekends we have had in a long time. The best way I can describe it is being on a roller coaster for 25 minutes... and you are the one controlling the direction and speed.
First, thanks to Ed (Edz on here) for pointing me in the right direction on this one. Second, thanks to everyone with great advice on my prep thread weeks ago. http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=321647
After getting home, I did a little calculating... I used to say that I drag raced because it was cheap and easy to get into. That is true when looking at the total cost involved, but after spending a weekend at the HPDE I found that dollar for dollar of track time, the HPDE event is a MUCH better deal. The typical FFW or NMRA True Street event to enter is somewhere around 80-100 (more or less) and will get you 2-3 practice runs on Saturday, 3 runs for the TS competition, 2-3 practice runs Sunday morning, and 1-5 runs in Sunday bracket racing depending on your rounds. So, let's say you run a total of 9 runs for the weekend (2 practice each day, 3 TS and you go 2 rounds on Sunday) and entry fee was $100. If you have a car like our 99, you are actually on the track for 11-12 seconds each time. So, that is somewhere around $55 per minute on the track.
On the flip side, the HPDE we attended got us six 25 minute track sessions, six 50 minute classroom sessions, lunch on Saturday and Sunday, t-shirts, etc... all for $280. My math tells me that we paid about $1.87 for each minute on the track. This may not have been the typical cost of an HPDE, but dollar for dollar it is a much better deal than any drag racing event I have attended. While there are no trophies or money to be won, I just enjoy being on the track and learning! Another bonus is this was much less stressful on the car... we drove it to and from the track and had absolutely no issues during the weekend. I have never been able to do that drag racing.
Here are a couple of pics from that weekend. Most of them have my wife behind the wheel. We are definitely looking forward to VIR in February... and no more drag racing for us!!!
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