CHetz45 Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 I’m new to champcar but have been looking to run in an event for a while and recently have been doing some research here on the forums to see what the best way to do that would be. Seems that the consensus is that the easy route is to pay for a seat rather than try to build your own car on the first go around. The thing is that from what I’ve seen here and for obvious reasons people don’t want rookies driving their cars and running the risk of seeing something they spent a ton of time on ruined due to some amateur mistakes. Hence my question: What is the best way to gain experience so that when I do finally approach a team about driving I can be confident and know that I’ll drive decently, and more importantly safely? If someone could tell me where to start that would be great, and I am by no means in a hurry, I’ll take as long as I need. I feel I should also mention that I can’t/have never tried to drive a stick, let alone heel/toe, so I’m really starting from square one, but I’m passionate and want to do this the right way. Sorry for the lengthy post, didn’t intend to ramble on, but thanks in advance for the help 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Welcome! Good news: There are teams that take noobs Bad news: We are a extreme minority running a auto, doubtful you will land a team with a auto trans. Saying that: Attend or better yet, volunteer @ a champcar race or 5, you can learn a ton (and they feed/pay with race credits) Time is on your side? Pick front or rear drive then buy (pretty much anything) manual trans car, drive it on the street till confident with clutch/shifting/mechanical condition of the car, replace tires, brakes AND fluid then sign up for some track days at the local track, they will provide a ride along instructor and usually a rental helmet(ask). Good luck! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 I will also add (and shamelessly promote) the ChampCar iRacing Series as a great place to: Develop skills that will translate to real world racing with respect to learning track layouts, managing traffic, and driving wheel to wheel in a safe and controlled manner Meet a wide range of drivers and team owners from the real-world ChampCar series and get to know them/build connections before attending an event in-person Whilst not a full manual transmission model, you can get used to the idea of managing gears/revs and downshifting whilst braking If you get lucky and win the random draw for participants at the end of the year, you can start your adventure with $1500 of ChampCar credit with which to rent a seat or enter your own team 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 10 hours ago, CHetz45 said: I feel I should also mention that I can’t/have never tried to drive a stick, let alone heel/toe, so I’m really starting from square one, but I’m passionate and want to do this the right way. This is the most glaring issue right now and you need to remedy before you consider renting a race seat 1) Buy / borrow a manual transmission street car, get a friend to teach you, and practice for a few weeks 2) Do some HPDE events in the manual transmission street car 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Bill Strong Posted February 1, 2022 Administrators Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 13 hours ago, CHetz45 said: I feel I should also mention that I can’t/have never tried to drive a stick, let alone heel/toe, so I’m really starting from square one, but I’m passionate and want to do this the right way. Depending on where you are looking at racing, there are some very successful teams that race cars using automatic transmissions. I would search them out. In the Florida area, Infinity Ed has a car that he uses for new drivers that use an auto. It's something that we are seeing more and more of as people just don't have the opportunity to drive manual transmission cars as the old-timers had. We see this at pit in and out a lot, They are ok at speed, but struggle when coming to a stop. Nothing wrong with that. Most people have no clue how to drive a car that requires manual adjustment of the ignition timing today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMiskoe Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Might be a heavy handed approach, but buy a manual transmission car as your daily driver. It doesn't have to be fancy, or fast, or sexy. It just needs the three pedals. Having coached two drivers through getting on track who did not know how to drive a manual, it was a bit of a step. What finally got them better at it was when they started driving with a clutch on the street every day. Their time on the track was just that much easier once they were dealing with a clutch on a regular basis. One less thing to have to think about. Second reason for this approach is you can then take the car to a track day as others have said. In his Hell's Angels book, Hunter Thompson noted that no amount of time learning martial arts will prepare you for getting your nose broken the first time, so the guy who has had this done a once or twice will hit harder and faster than the guy who hasn't been in a fight before. This is a simile for driving. No amount of screen time will prepare you for being on the track. It can help, but it is not a complete substitute. Learning to drive on the track with a competent instructor at your side is also invaluable. Look up the tracks that are closest to you, then look at their schedules and find the clubs that are doing non-racing track days (lapping, time trials, driver education etc). They are the ones that will have methods for getting you out there. Many of the marquee clubs (Porsche/BMW/Ferrari) will allow cars that aren't their marquee. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enginerd Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 (edited) It helps to have a crazy friend too. I was in your situation (only difference is that I had been daily driving a manual for 8 years) and a friend trusted me enough to put me in his car in a ChumpCar race. No HPDE, no training, no nothing. But don't expect this from a normal car owner who is renting out seats... he was doing me a huge favor with this. Oh, and when you do start driving on track, the best tool you can possibly use is a GoPro (or similar). Mount it at eye level in the middle of the car so you have almost the exact vantage point that you have while driving, and study the video to see what you are doing right and wrong. Study video from a better driver and see what they are doing. Edited February 1, 2022 by enginerd 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimS Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Develop the basic operations of a car with a manual transmission or track down one of the few teams running an automatic. Communicate with the team(s), volunteer to help at races with anyone, this will help you find the best team or teams to race with. It’s hard to track down teams without going to races. All of started with no experience at some point. Jump in and get started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitsbain Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 1 hour ago, enginerd said: trusted me enough to put me in his car I was just gifted with seat at the end of the lemons race @ Loudon. I had never driven the car (other than about an hour during test day). I have been with the team since 2018 ish. Just the cook and crew. Find a team and a race near, go and hang out, help, see what its all about before you spend money/buy gear/your own car. Plus your new friends might be willing to give you a shot once they know you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuaTTro Posted February 1, 2022 Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 Where are you located @CHetz45 ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHetz45 Posted February 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 2 hours ago, QuaTTro said: Where are you located @CHetz45 ? Cincinnati Thanks for all the detailed and helpful responses everyone, really appreciate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMiskoe Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 I'm sure there will be teams looking for help at Nelson Ledges 24 hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHetz45 Posted February 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 2 hours ago, MMiskoe said: I'm sure there will be teams looking for help at Nelson Ledges 24 hour. Ok great, I'll keep that in mind. May also consider Mid-Ohio as well, as that is a bit closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Jass Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, CHetz45 said: Ok great, I'll keep that in mind. May also consider Mid-Ohio as well, as that is a bit closer. You are about equal distance from National Corvette Museum, the series will be there in March, no need to wait till summer. I will second (or third) that you absolutely should volunteer, it's how I got my start and really wish there was a practical way to make everyone do it before driving. https://champcar.org/web/volunteer.php Edited February 2, 2022 by Hugh Jass Added a link 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.