Its my first year of racing... I have some questions!
Discussion
Hi All
Its my first year of racing - with the first race of the season in just over a fortnight! (Production BMW Championship)...
My team have pretty much handled everything for me - I'm just doing the driving but there are a few things I've been given to sort out, the cars livery which is currently being done and a few other things here and there.
A few things I was wondering about - firstly, does the series organizer provide cars with transponders or is this something we have to supply ourselves? (or does it vary from series to series)...
Also, where can I get my car weighed? Obviously it has min. weight requirements in my series.
Is there any general advice you can give me for my first year of racing? Specifically on the racing part as all mechanical things are dealt with by my team members?
Cheers
Its my first year of racing - with the first race of the season in just over a fortnight! (Production BMW Championship)...
My team have pretty much handled everything for me - I'm just doing the driving but there are a few things I've been given to sort out, the cars livery which is currently being done and a few other things here and there.
A few things I was wondering about - firstly, does the series organizer provide cars with transponders or is this something we have to supply ourselves? (or does it vary from series to series)...
Also, where can I get my car weighed? Obviously it has min. weight requirements in my series.
Is there any general advice you can give me for my first year of racing? Specifically on the racing part as all mechanical things are dealt with by my team members?
Cheers
Thanks for all the advice guys!
As much as PH isn't what it used to be, its nice to still have friendly people willing to help out!
Looks like I'll be ordering a Transponder at some point this week!
I've done a hell of a lot of track days over the last 12 months (probably averaged about one a month). I'd say that I have the driving part quite well covered... Its the actual racing part that's got my nerves going... That's where I struggle having obviously never raced!
In fact, you can see my inability to overtake here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkknt4TN80A
My lap times were considerably longer behind this MX5 but I just didn't know when to overtake... Hopefully I'll learn a lot this season and be more competitive next year!
My only other worry that I was last on track in early March and then next time I'm on track is the first race in a fortnight... So that's 8 weeks without track driving and on a track day it normally takes me a good hour to actually get into the swing of it - obviously I don't have the luxury of all that practice time!
As much as PH isn't what it used to be, its nice to still have friendly people willing to help out!
Looks like I'll be ordering a Transponder at some point this week!
I've done a hell of a lot of track days over the last 12 months (probably averaged about one a month). I'd say that I have the driving part quite well covered... Its the actual racing part that's got my nerves going... That's where I struggle having obviously never raced!
In fact, you can see my inability to overtake here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkknt4TN80A
My lap times were considerably longer behind this MX5 but I just didn't know when to overtake... Hopefully I'll learn a lot this season and be more competitive next year!
My only other worry that I was last on track in early March and then next time I'm on track is the first race in a fortnight... So that's 8 weeks without track driving and on a track day it normally takes me a good hour to actually get into the swing of it - obviously I don't have the luxury of all that practice time!
andye30m3 said:
If your a few kilos off I think there's some steel plate in my truck which you can borrow to bolt to the floor, I'll be in the paddock from Thursday (car 62) or I've heard of people running with the spare wheel in place just make sure it's secure.
Thank you! I look forward to being on track with you! I'll be the tiny blue dot in your rear view mirror! Once again, thanks all for the advice and Bert thanks for letting me know your pre-race procedure. As it happens, I already visualize myself going around the track 3-4 times per day so I'll just keep doing that!
I do have a competent team sorting it all out for me - they've all raced so I trust them with all the mechanical things and car setup - my job is just to steer the car in the right direction!
As I said I have done a lot of track days and so far just the one test day which was the first time I drove the race car. The last track day I did was with RMA - they allow overtaking on both sides and also in braking zones - it was more like a test day than a track day, in fact only a small percentage of the cars there were road legal despite it being a Road Car only track day!!
Despite the nerves, the way I'm looking at this first season is that I can't lose - I can only learn! That's partially why I chose the PBMWC - good clean racing in cars that aren't really that quick... No need for me to run before I can walk! Once I get into the swing of things I'll look at different series and cars I imagine, providing the budget allows it!
Does it take long to adjust to 'bumper to bumper' driving? On track days I'm very courteous, always letting the faster cars overtake and always giving people plenty of room - I think I'll be ok at holding my ground when a faster driver is behind me but following someone closely is something I reckon I'll have trouble with for the first few races!
I have done a bit of Karting at Buckmore Park (I had the entire track reserved for me and my team at no cost!!) to try to learn overtaking and stuff, unfortunately I'd just come off of a 16 hour night shift so didn't really learn much from it!
Only 2 weeks to go now, half tempted to book a last minute track day just o get used to track driving again!
I do have a competent team sorting it all out for me - they've all raced so I trust them with all the mechanical things and car setup - my job is just to steer the car in the right direction!
As I said I have done a lot of track days and so far just the one test day which was the first time I drove the race car. The last track day I did was with RMA - they allow overtaking on both sides and also in braking zones - it was more like a test day than a track day, in fact only a small percentage of the cars there were road legal despite it being a Road Car only track day!!
Despite the nerves, the way I'm looking at this first season is that I can't lose - I can only learn! That's partially why I chose the PBMWC - good clean racing in cars that aren't really that quick... No need for me to run before I can walk! Once I get into the swing of things I'll look at different series and cars I imagine, providing the budget allows it!
Does it take long to adjust to 'bumper to bumper' driving? On track days I'm very courteous, always letting the faster cars overtake and always giving people plenty of room - I think I'll be ok at holding my ground when a faster driver is behind me but following someone closely is something I reckon I'll have trouble with for the first few races!
I have done a bit of Karting at Buckmore Park (I had the entire track reserved for me and my team at no cost!!) to try to learn overtaking and stuff, unfortunately I'd just come off of a 16 hour night shift so didn't really learn much from it!
Only 2 weeks to go now, half tempted to book a last minute track day just o get used to track driving again!
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