RandomTask Posted June 23, 2019 Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 Any one aware of one that welcomes champ cars cars WITH novice drivers? Back story: I have a noob guy I wanted to get instructed to see how he does before I let him in a race environment. He signed up for HOD @ summit point (they say they allow Champ/FruitLoop/Other series). After installing a passenger seat/harness and towing the car out there, the race director promptly walked up to me and spent several minutes bashing the series and how [A threE letter seRies] was way better They told me they wouldn't let the car on the track citing "they didn't feel it was safe for their instructor. Car has passed Chump tech numerous times. When I asked them what could I change to let the car on the track they just kind of shrugged and said "Meh, we just don't want a new guy driving in the car." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted June 23, 2019 Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 (edited) I just posted about this need. Just thrown him in the deep end they say. Edited June 23, 2019 by LuckyKid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators E. Tyler Pedersen Posted June 23, 2019 Administrators Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 59 minutes ago, LuckyKid said: I just posted about this need. Just thrown him in the deep end they say. Not true. Got back and re-read some comments stating to have your significant other complete a practice day before a race or a local track day. To the OP it sounds like that is a Summit Point track issue. Never heard of that before at any of the tracks. I just did a track day at Nelson's Ledges this past Wednesday with a new person in my car and had no issues getting on track. Sometimes we are at the mercy of other organization rules and scrutiny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted June 23, 2019 Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, E. Tyler Pedersen said: Not true. Got back and re-read some comments stating to have your significant other complete a practice day before a race or a local track day. To the OP it sounds like that is a Summit Point track issue. Never heard of that before at any of the tracks. I just did a track day at Nelson's Ledges this past Wednesday with a new person in my car and had no issues getting on track. Sometimes we are at the mercy of other organization rules and scrutiny. I re-read and I stand by my comment. Sure track days are an option, but summit point isn't the only track day that won't allow a ChampCar. The Road America event wouldn't allow us for our planned pre-24hr shakedown so we are going to blackhawk farms. Point being this situation seems to happen alot and it's not only within the vision of the series but may also make economic sense to have a non-manditory drivers school, or rookie sessions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Bill Strong Posted June 23, 2019 Administrators Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 We use http://www.trackclubusa.com/ to do our practice and driver testing. Good group. Been around quite awhile. Mostly Mustangs and Corvettes, but friendly guys just having fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chip Posted June 23, 2019 Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 The BMW Tarheel chapter allows them. They do events at VIR, but nothing coming up until late September. I’m sure other organizations that run at VIR would too. But of course check first.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Coan-Burningham Posted June 23, 2019 Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 I instruct or have instructed with PCA, BMW, Chin, 3 regions of NASA, JTI, PBOC of Fl, Edge Addicts, and Rezoom and as far as I can remember Rezoom is the only one that specifically says no Champ/Lemons cars and I don't recall any of them stating no noobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDChristianson Posted June 23, 2019 Report Share Posted June 23, 2019 2 hours ago, LuckyKid said: I re-read and I stand by my comment. Sure track days are an option, but summit point isn't the only track day that won't allow a ChampCar. The Road America event wouldn't allow us for our planned pre-24hr shakedown so we are going to blackhawk farms. Point being this situation seems to happen alot and it's not only within the vision of the series but may also make economic sense to have a non-manditory drivers school, or rookie sessions. Are you sure Blackhawk will allow racecars at track days? Are you tagging along on another event. We were told no by Blackhawk this spring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Magic Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 A bit far for you but CMP markets to the lemons\champ cars and has dates where we have our own run group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotchkis23 Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Gingermen allows us to run as well with no issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wittenauer Racing Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 We run a lot with 3balls Racing here (Gingerman, Grattan, Pitt race, Waterford Hills), they've always been happy to have us and other Champcar teams. From what I've seen of trackdays around here, the ones put on by the actual track tend to be a bit more strict. We ran a day put on by the Waterford Hills team and a guy was actually going around with a clip board and a checklist for each car. Quick, courteous and professional, so no complaints there. We were running "advanced" so no instructor requirements or anything. I think they were looking a bit closer at the cars that needed instructors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donovan Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 I'm pretty sure NASA mid-Atlantic would be a good place for you. You can reach out to Jack or Zach to confirm before you sign up. (fwiw, I'd have no problems instructing someone in your vette, as long as the seat and harnesses looked safe and equivalent to driver's...) http://nasaracing.net/contact-us/ And if you're just looking for track time, don't care about flags or traffic, NCCAR is relatively inexpensive for private rentals- then you can ride along yourself and assess his/her abilities https://nccar.us/contact.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross2004 Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 www.trackdaze.com is a good group. I've also never had any trouble with the various BMW-CCA & PCA groups that run at VIR. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 On 6/23/2019 at 3:43 PM, RandomTask said: Any one aware of one that welcomes champ cars cars WITH novice drivers? Back story: I have a noob guy I wanted to get instructed to see how he does before I let him in a race environment. He signed up for HOD @ summit point (they say they allow Champ/FruitLoop/Other series). After installing a passenger seat/harness and towing the car out there, the race director promptly walked up to me and spent several minutes bashing the series and how [A threE letter seRies] was way better They told me they wouldn't let the car on the track citing "they didn't feel it was safe for their instructor. Car has passed Chump tech numerous times. When I asked them what could I change to let the car on the track they just kind of shrugged and said "Meh, we just don't want a new guy driving in the car." NJMP has some track days and Lemons has some practice days there before the weekend. You could try that. FWIW The Friday practice day is a nice safe place to get your ears wet, not sure they allow another driver in the car but it is like $350 for the entire day. You can get him some seat time and shake the car down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jab31169 Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) On 6/23/2019 at 2:43 PM, RandomTask said: Any one aware of one that welcomes champ cars cars WITH novice drivers? Back story: I have a noob guy I wanted to get instructed to see how he does before I let him in a race environment. He signed up for HOD @ summit point (they say they allow Champ/FruitLoop/Other series). After installing a passenger seat/harness and towing the car out there, the race director promptly walked up to me and spent several minutes bashing the series and how [A threE letter seRies] was way better They told me they wouldn't let the car on the track citing "they didn't feel it was safe for their instructor. Car has passed Chump tech numerous times. When I asked them what could I change to let the car on the track they just kind of shrugged and said "Meh, we just don't want a new guy driving in the car." From an Administrative standpoint, sounds like HOD or just that CDI/Event Director is a dick(s). If the car can pass the events tech and the passenger safety items mirror the drivers safety then there should be no issues. A rookie driver would be assigned an instructor and that's it. Please don't let HOD's crappy service and attitude bleed over into your opinion of other clubs or HPDE providers. Use https://www.motorsportreg.com/ to find HPDE's near you and shoot an email off to the CDI or whoever is running the event and tell them what you are looking for. Most if not all will be willing to work with you. Edited June 25, 2019 by Jab31169 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee Andrew D Johnson Posted June 25, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 On 6/24/2019 at 7:43 AM, hotchkis23 said: Gingermen allows us to run as well with no issue. I'll be at Gingerman this Friday practicing. Gingerman isn't the best track in the country just because of the track and pit layout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 HOD here in the Deep South has been nothing but welcoming, another track day ( promoter forgotten) had snobbish participants, until we best-ed some of their cars, then everyone got friendly… our first chin event with an untested Infiniti,circa 2009, was met with skepticism and noses in the air but no denial of service. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UMDgrad Posted July 1, 2019 Report Share Posted July 1, 2019 On 6/23/2019 at 3:43 PM, RandomTask said: Any one aware of one that welcomes champ cars cars WITH novice drivers? Back story: I have a noob guy I wanted to get instructed to see how he does before I let him in a race environment. He signed up for HOD @ summit point (they say they allow Champ/FruitLoop/Other series). After installing a passenger seat/harness and towing the car out there, the race director promptly walked up to me and spent several minutes bashing the series and how [A threE letter seRies] was way better They told me they wouldn't let the car on the track citing "they didn't feel it was safe for their instructor. Car has passed Chump tech numerous times. When I asked them what could I change to let the car on the track they just kind of shrugged and said "Meh, we just don't want a new guy driving in the car." As the others have said, it wasn't Summit Point that made that call. I ran a Toyota Prius with PCA a while back to get ready for an event at Summit. Summit didn't care, now some of the instructors with PCA did care, but that was taken care of when I passed my first few cars on point bys, lol. Loved seeing a point by from a Cayman or Boxster in the Prius, great fun. Later I heard that the corner workers were calling in my passes. Great weekend. Take your friend karting if you can't seem to find a group to run with on your timeline. I bet you could tell a lot from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentite Posted July 3, 2019 Report Share Posted July 3, 2019 Make a road trip up to Nelson Ledges. We’ve been getting 4-6 hours of track time for $175. Last Sunday they threw the green at 9, checkered at 12:30 for lunch then green again from 1:30-5. They are super welcoming of new drivers and usually there is a ChampCar team or two there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostmint Posted July 3, 2019 Report Share Posted July 3, 2019 Good call vetting new driver. I have a new driver in training and I decided 20 hours of track time required before going wheel to wheel. Starting from scratch no prior HPDE or autocross experience I figured I had to set a baseline. Agree about Nelson Ledges. Also FWIW I went to Pitt Race back in 2012 for one of their track days. They let me on track in their HPDE program with no instructor even though I had not been there before, and my car was considerably less developed than it is now. They had absolutely no issue with me and my ChampCar being there. We took the mighty Saturn to Roebling Road for a winter test with NASA and no issues there in the HPDE program. I don't know if Autointerests hits any tracks you want to go, but they might be worth a look too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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