£200 to stand around chatting
Discussion
Aloha!
For the small handful of people who may remotely care..! Since I have last materially posted I have still not replaced the BINI but I have a son and an almost finished moderately big house. Result. And an excuse for me disappearing!
So. My post.
I have done 4 trackdays this year. In a ph sheddy but well prepped car.
But one of my main observations I have made is the number of people who either turn up to stand around gassing or mending their car... For the princely sum of £200+ a go
Am I missing something? Is there some sort of mates rates thing? Or did we approach it all wrong by paying and planning on driving a car around the track and then actually driving the car around the track?!
(Mods can you leave the thread here unless absolutely necessary!)
For the small handful of people who may remotely care..! Since I have last materially posted I have still not replaced the BINI but I have a son and an almost finished moderately big house. Result. And an excuse for me disappearing!
So. My post.
I have done 4 trackdays this year. In a ph sheddy but well prepped car.
But one of my main observations I have made is the number of people who either turn up to stand around gassing or mending their car... For the princely sum of £200+ a go
Am I missing something? Is there some sort of mates rates thing? Or did we approach it all wrong by paying and planning on driving a car around the track and then actually driving the car around the track?!
(Mods can you leave the thread here unless absolutely necessary!)
I'm not the most sociable at track days but I do find it mentally exhausting. I also like to let my (road biased) car cool down between sessions and calm down a bit myself. Whilst it might be odd chatting to strangers it's quite sociable as they are usually like minded and it's less odd than standing there like a lemon.
If you'd have said bike meets I'd be right with you but thats free..
If you'd have said bike meets I'd be right with you but thats free..
Yeah sure I do get that (cooling down).. It's just that at the end if a recent day at bedford gt where we did about 420 miles (!!) I remember thinking... I never saw that or that or that or that on track (and let's face it in a 100bhp an Elise should have passed us at some point!!) but it seemed like I saw people next to the car talking about dabs of oppo etc!
;-)
I guess we have a shared car. And it's not like it's got a £10k engine or sonething..
;-)
I guess we have a shared car. And it's not like it's got a £10k engine or sonething..
If you are running your daily driver at a track day, then spending more than about 25 minutes per hour on the track is going to have a detrimental impact on your car. So of you drove it there, and you me driving it back, and then probably work the following day, you probably have 30 odd minutes an hour to fill. Any more than that, you'll probably knacker the disks/pads and tyres. Maybe even boil the oil.
And yes, meeting and chatting to like minded people is enjoyable and part of the day.
There also the cost of the fuel.
If however you own a track special, and can afford to put track tyres on and replace all the consumables, than it makes sense to use all your time. Especially if you are a socially inept loner.....
And yes, meeting and chatting to like minded people is enjoyable and part of the day.
There also the cost of the fuel.
If however you own a track special, and can afford to put track tyres on and replace all the consumables, than it makes sense to use all your time. Especially if you are a socially inept loner.....
TTmonkey said:
If you are running your daily driver at a track day, then spending more than about 25 minutes per hour on the track is going to have a detrimental impact on your car. So of you drove it there, and you me driving it back, and then probably work the following day, you probably have 30 odd minutes an hour to fill. Any more than that, you'll probably knacker the disks/pads and tyres. Maybe even boil the oil.
And yes, meeting and chatting to like minded people is enjoyable and part of the day.
There also the cost of the fuel.
If however you own a track special, and can afford to put track tyres on and replace all the consumables, than it makes sense to use all your time. Especially if you are a socially inept loner.....
Boiling point of engine oil is in excess of 300 degrees, no?And yes, meeting and chatting to like minded people is enjoyable and part of the day.
There also the cost of the fuel.
If however you own a track special, and can afford to put track tyres on and replace all the consumables, than it makes sense to use all your time. Especially if you are a socially inept loner.....
SteveSteveson said:
People pay a lot more to join a golf club and only ever go to the club house. If thats what they enjoy doing with the time they have paid for, why knock them? Means less people on track with you.
i am not knocking them.well only a bit! ;-)
i was intrigued to know if there is some sort of secret society of going on a track day cheap
and of course to many people £200 isn't a great deal of money. I accept that.
And from the point of view of taking your 330i or whatever and going to work i do get that and by not having to fund a trackday car you are more than able to 'not get ful value from the day'. It is just solving for a different variable in the man maths equation.
noell35 said:
DonkeyApple said:
Congratulations on having a son. You are now only a short time away from realising why some blokes will happily pay £200 to go and stand on a remote, disused airfield and stare mindlessly into the distance for just a few hours. 
Actually laughed out loud at that BigBen said:
I find it knackering to drive quickly round a track all day. I recently went with a neighbour who must have completed 2 x Grand Prix distances on the day which I could not have done unless I was driving slightly more slowly than I like to on track.
I actually started referring to it as the Bedford GT 400!yes i am a loser!
by the way I am not knocking the 'community' element.
more the not doing the thing you;ve paid for!
I've done the working on a car thing too many times! It happens sometimes when ironing out niggles and problems on a new or unfamiliar car - often things that only a track day can show up. And it sucks! Would much rather spend my time driving.
Its nice to spend some time wandering around the paddock and speaking to builders/owners of interesting machinery though. Part of the attraction.
Its nice to spend some time wandering around the paddock and speaking to builders/owners of interesting machinery though. Part of the attraction.
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