Notes from New Hampshire International Speedway

[Struggly]

What is the entry fee for these kind of races?

Depends on the location. NHIS is 250, Lime Rock is 325 (track is expensive for the association to rent). The Glen is 260, I think.

I should make clear, though, that these are not races. They are HPDEs (track days). Sure, there's competition, but run groups are based on experience, not car, so you have ridiculous mismatches (I'm often on track with 911 turbos and Lotus Elises, for instance). That's why I was saying you wouldn't have to worry about crashes. Some of the people who show up are licensed race car drivers, and some are there just to try their street cars on the track--but everyone is doing it just for the practice and to have fun.

To do actual road races through the SCCA, you need a competition license and an SCCA-compliant car. Cheapest way is to build your own IT racer (I'm doing this with the Protege over the winter). Then you attend a few SCCA driver's schools, get your novice permit, and enter a few races. After that, you're eligible for your license.

As you can guess, each of those steps costs some money. Once you have the license, race entry fees can be pretty large too. Having the license does allow you to do much cheaper open-lapping sessions though.

The cheapest actual racing I know of (besides autocross, which simply doesn't excite me for some reason) is ice-racing. 20 bucks for the year membership, 40 per race. You will want a beater for that though. Bumping, though discouraged, is inevitable.

Clint

[Jho]

Jeez, I didn't know this was so expensive.

I guess I'll just have to watch.