Track Day Car/Own Car
Discussion
Hi all.
Although this may seem a stupid question (or questions) to some I am not so sure about rules and regulations and such when it comes to track days.
First of all; Are there any track days where you can drive one of the tracks car?
Does normal insurance on your own car cover you on a track?
And finally is there an age requirement on track days (when driving)?
Although this may seem a stupid question (or questions) to some I am not so sure about rules and regulations and such when it comes to track days.
First of all; Are there any track days where you can drive one of the tracks car?
Does normal insurance on your own car cover you on a track?
And finally is there an age requirement on track days (when driving)?
Benjamin Shute said:
Hi all.
Although this may seem a stupid question (or questions) to some I am not so sure about rules and regulations and such when it comes to track days.
First of all; Are there any track days where you can drive one of the tracks car?
Does normal insurance on your own car cover you on a track?
And finally is there an age requirement on track days (when driving)?
Hi.Although this may seem a stupid question (or questions) to some I am not so sure about rules and regulations and such when it comes to track days.
First of all; Are there any track days where you can drive one of the tracks car?
Does normal insurance on your own car cover you on a track?
And finally is there an age requirement on track days (when driving)?
There are some trackday organisers that rent out their cars (usually old BM's) with usually quite a high deposit, also there are other independant "track car renting 'agencies'" who will deliver the car to the track etc....... it all gets awefully expensive if you're not careful though.
Normal road going insurance DOES NOT cover you unless specified by your insurance company, Track insurance policies are available for the day at a pretty reasonable sum. Usually this only covers cosmetic damage opposed to mechanical damage.
In terms of age (obviously as said above you must have a full road license) most trackday organisers let me run my car when I was 17, I had to have a signed letter of permission from a parent or guardian as you have to be 18 to sign the indemnity forms etc. Best thing to do if you have a query is to ring them up and speek directly to the organisers.
Hope that helps.
Benjamin Shute said:
That is absolutely perfect. Thank you ever so much Jacko, that tells me everything I need to know. Do you have any idea how much these rental cars from the track cost roughly? Also do track days usually work in laps or as half-days/days?
No problems.Not really sure I've always driven my own car or friends cars on track (never rented) most organisers have a recommended company to rent from or have their own cars to rent out. Can't imagine it being less than twice the cost of the actual trackday.
Again it depends on what day you do, there are :
-Sessioned days that let you out for an hour at a time and then let another group out etc.
-Open pitlane (my preferance) as many laps as you want, free to come in and go out when ever you want other than the lunch breaks as there are no marshalls.
-Novice days sound pretty lame to me, they limit your tracktime and follow people around, no tyre screetching etc etc (that is based on what I have heard, have never done a novice day so cannot justify these things)
They are also broken down into a morning session only of afternoon session only or some do evening session.
Take a look on some trackday organiser websites to get a feel for how they run things.
http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/
http://www.clubmsv.com/
Take a look on some trackday organiser websites to get a feel for how they run things.
http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/
http://www.clubmsv.com/
You get the odd philistine that is an annoyance but on the whole people usually get out of my way/ if some one is clearly quicker than me and awaiting a gap to get past I back off on the next straigh to aid their overtake time etc, so aslong as you keep an eye on your mirrors and get out of the way when safe to do so with clear indication there should be no problems.
I had a '400bhp'(claimed) skyline up against me on my last trackday which is all well and good in a straightline but he was an utter bus through the corners and wouldn't let me past, naturaly I let him know of my grievance when I saw him in the paddock 
..... to answer properly yes on an openpitlane day you could have anything from 1.2 hatches to Caterhams on slicks to highly tuned jap turbo nutter barges with all levels of driving ability/car control, whereas a novice day you would still have a mixture of cars but as everyone is just starting out there would be a similar speed with everyone and no one trying to urgently get passed etc.
I had a '400bhp'(claimed) skyline up against me on my last trackday which is all well and good in a straightline but he was an utter bus through the corners and wouldn't let me past, naturaly I let him know of my grievance when I saw him in the paddock ..... to answer properly yes on an openpitlane day you could have anything from 1.2 hatches to Caterhams on slicks to highly tuned jap turbo nutter barges with all levels of driving ability/car control, whereas a novice day you would still have a mixture of cars but as everyone is just starting out there would be a similar speed with everyone and no one trying to urgently get passed etc.
Benjamin Shute said:
Yeah sorry.
Just remembered what you said about Novice days earlier. Do you not think it would be advisable to go to one for my first time?
Entirely depends how confident you are within your driving and awareness to go out with alot of expensive and quick machinery.Just remembered what you said about Novice days earlier. Do you not think it would be advisable to go to one for my first time?
Personal preferance, only you know what you want to do. Speak to some organisers, it'll help you with your decisions.
Try a novice day at bedford run by MSV. Thats where I started, lots of space incase you come off, massive track. You will start with a follow the leader thing with one of the instructors showing the ideal lines for 2 laps. Then its open pit lane and you go out when you want 
Also organisers like Gold Track have free familiarisation tuition at the start of the day which is great for learning a new track
Also organisers like Gold Track have free familiarisation tuition at the start of the day which is great for learning a new track 
Some further points regarding trackday insurance:
- Most trackday policies cover only damage to your car, i.e. there is no third party element, plus you may have to pay for recovery of your car from the circuit
- As a rule of thumb, the premium for a single-day trackday policy is 1% of the value of the car, with an excess of 10% of the value of the car
- Many trackday participants choose not to insure their cars for trackday use
- Some circuits will not be covered by some insurers, so check before taking out a policy
HTH
theturbs said:
Some further points regarding trackday insurance:
- Most trackday policies cover only damage to your car, i.e. there is no third party element, plus you may have to pay for recovery of your car from the circuit
Just to add to that for the OP. I think it's fair to say that everyone on track accepts that they are on there at their own risk and if there is an accident, I dont think Ive ever heard of anyone expecting the other driver to pay for their own damage? I could be wrong.- Most trackday policies cover only damage to your car, i.e. there is no third party element, plus you may have to pay for recovery of your car from the circuit
Having said that Ive never seen a car on car accident although I'm sure they happen. Rare though. Much more likely to have an unplanned meeting with some tyres/kitty litter.
Mechanical wear/damage is a much higher likelyhood in my experience.
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