Amen. Cars are made for driving. Sport cars are made for driving hard. I'm very much like you on this one. I take good care of my vehicles. Regular maintenance, good oil, good parts, keep everything in top shape... but drive them hard.

My current car (my Audi) is nearing 3 years old. This is actually the longest I've ever owned a car. I've tracked it many times. (Although not nearly as much as you, Raceboy!) And I *love* the twisty backroads, of course, which I do as often as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is perfectly reasonable to keep a car for a long time! In a lot of cases, it's probably better. For a lot of people it might be a financial burden to keep replacing their car every 2 or 3 years. For others, they probably just don't care about a new car as long as their current one is doing the job.

To be honest, I'd love to be able to get a car, then keep enjoying it for many years. I've got friends who purchased cars 5-7 years ago, and still like them as much as the day they got them. I'm pretty envious of those guys and gals. To not be making a car payment each month... wow. I can't even imagine such a thing.

But I suppose that's why I don't have a family or own a house. These darn cars keeping pushing themselves to the top of my financial priority list. Stupid cars.

 

When I got married, it was an excuse to get 2 new cars every year instead of 1! I think the Z is a keeper though, at least for 2-3 years for me.

 

My house is paid for, and my wife and I can't stand kids (they make my skin crawl to tell you the truth. So if I have to deal with 50% depreciation on a car in 3 year, I really don't care. That is the price of fun for me.

New cars are great for trackwork because they are fairly bulletproof. It's when they get some mile on them that you start to have problems. Let someone else deal with the problems, that is the real cost of a used car. I paid for my part of the car already.

 

I haven't raced my Z nearly as much as I would have liked to, but I have drag raced, auto-Xed and have a track day scheduled at Summit Point. The Z really comes alive on the track, I drive mine daily but it doesn't really shine unless you are really pushing it.
Coming from a domestic background where performance is usually the first concern, it seems silly to me all the people who spend thousands on body kits, suspension parts, turbo kits, etc. and don't race their cars. I've known a few people who have a fully built motors but they are "just for show". What is the point of that?

 

Haven't yet, but I want to.

Any words of advice from you track guys for a absolute beginner (heck I'm still learning to heel-toe.)

I have been on the track ONCE long time ago with my Honda CBR600F3. Sear's Point, whoops what's the new name now? What a blast! Except I was slow as hell, because I didn't know what I was doing and I have a healthy appreciation of what sliding on the ground in jeans does for yer legs!

So any words of advice on how to learn to track safely? My big concerns are, what if I suck as a driver so I'm either too slow or too dangerous. And what if I crash.

But I will eventually be on the track one day, my friends are trying to get something together soon (2 BMW's, 1 Audi 1.8T.) Maybe I will be able to join up with them...

I really wish I could have made that Mazda Rev It Up event to get SOME sort of feel of tracking/autocrossing...

 

I'm addicted to the track. I've FINALLY taken my Z out, and I'm going back this coming weekend (taking little sis with me, too). I'm now officially addicted to this autox stuff.

I grew up around racing (drag mostly), and I can't imagine someone having a 500hp Viper and not driving it as hard as they can. What the hell is the point??? It's sure not fun to have something like that as a daily driver--it's got a super stiff ride, it's loud as hell, etc.

I want to take the Z down to the drag strip eventually, but I'm in no hurry because, honestly, I've gotten bored with it. Been in drag racing for so long that taking a street car like the Z out just isn't fun--now if I were in a super comp car or Pro Stock, that'd be a WHOLE different story! But these road courses are all different--all kinds of new stuff to learn about them.

I want to keep my clean looking good, too, so I wash and Zaino it frequently, and I have a few cosmetic touches because they weren't expensive and easy to install. But mostly, I want that baby to run and run hard--and every time I go out, I want a quicker lap time.

 

My Z will see some track time once it cools off around here...nothing starts up again untill mid/late September.

 

If you haven't run at a track before, then I'd recommend going to a high performance driving school at a track. You get an instructor to ride along with you and give you pointers on what you're doing right and wrong. It's amazing how much you'll improve after just one day of that.

I see your personal info says you live in the "East Bay". As in the Oakland, CA area? A very fun and inexpensive track school is up at the Thunderhill track in Willows. (on I-5, maybe 90 minutes north of Sacramento.) I believe the cost is currently about $175, and you get a full day of track instruction. Check out their webiste for more info:

http://www.thunderhill.com

It's a fun track with a technical side and a fast side, so you really get to exercise just about every aspect of your car. Plus, there's lots of run-out room, so if you go off the road it's just grass and dirt and such.

The rule of thumb for learning to drive fast is to start out slow, and work on getting smooth and taking the right lines. Once you start getting good at that, you'll start getting faster automatically. If you go to a track school, they'll teach you all that in the classroom sessions.

 

Deluded:

I highly recommend SCCA Street School at Thunderhill or checkout http://www.ggc-bmw-cca.org/ for one of their driving schools. They used to fill up and were never available to non-BMW's but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Top notch instruction and safe. The SCCA street school actually has lots of BMW instructors as they ask all different groups.

I have seen quite a few Z's on track for such a new car. My last two NASA events at Infineon (I am an instructor) there was one each time. One was an instructor and the other was running in group 4--both doing quite well. Having blown an engine on track and rebuilt it I can say running a car under warranty would be great. My car did have 161,000 miles on it when it let go and it does have 325hp from 3.6 liters so I really can't complain. It just wasn't cheap.

 

Once you get a puff of that speed crack pipe you can't put it down

 

Yes, it is addicting. Being married helps control it.

 

Westpak, I was just at Sebring this weekend Unfortunately, I was beside the track at the Panoz Audi school (won the trip), and not on it. Pretty fun, nevertheless, and there were lots of cool cars running down the track. GT2s, Vipers, Porsches of about all models, etc.

I'm a newbie at this stuff, and I'm going to stay off the high speed stuff for awhile. I'll stick with boring (to some of you guys) but relatively safe autoX for awhile.

 

Westpac. No need to pass the pipe...... ......I'm an addict!

Great pics!

As to driver ed.......check out your local Porsche Club of America chapter (PCA). They have very experienced teachers for free! I learned a LOT!

 

I guess I got REALLY lucky, then. Hubby will go with me to the track! Or at the very least, he'll go to the drag strip when I go to an Auto-X.

 

My professors always say that no question is a stupid question ... well ... I beg to differ.

Why am I not on the track? Hmm ... well, let me think ... oh yeah, as much as I love getting my car up to 130 (as I did today and the day before that ... and the day before that, and last week when I raced an M3) on the Interstate from time to time, life can be somewhat hectic and busy for most of us. So - my $.02 ... when I'm not in class, studying, or working I like to tend to things that I am unable to do most of the time. My track is the highway ... And, I have fun in my car when I use it on a day-to-day basis to get places.

The 350Z is a "revival" of a classic - to quote D'oh. Very well put! IT'S A CAR - I bought it because I love everything about it ... It is nimble, stable, quick, agile, beautiful, stylish, etc ... and overall, a badass car. I always wanted the old 300Z ... but, if I had only been born earlier!

No one said it was meant for a specific reason ... it's a Z ... not a F1 race car ... you are allowed to buy cars if you like how they drive and look ... not just to say, "Oh, I have a new Z! I bought a new Z because it was the latest toy! It is the new hip car to get!"

Some people ... You think they are somewhat rational and use logic in their thinking ... and you're proven wrong again ... just like my professor.

Drive and let drive ... Peace!

 

I'm going to Buttonwillow for their performance driving clinic on the 27th. This will be my first time on a track of any kind.

My friends think I'm nuts to drive all the way up there just for one day. They don't understand. I think I owe it to myself, and the car, to get it out there and see what I can do.

 

Buttonwillow is a great first time track, virtually nothing to hit. People always forget the other great benefit of taking their cars on track. You will actually learn how to hand the car in an emergency situation without thinking!! It can save your life.

Didn't I just read on another thread that this is the first stick shift car you've owned and you aren't even comfortable driving it yet??? Seen Fast and the Furious too many times haven't we??

 

So you're jogging me out of my autoX habit a bit ... doing a search for "track days" gets me lots of instructional formats and schools -- is that what you guys mean by a track day?

Not that the instruction is a bad thing -- and I will certainly need it -- but I had the idea from your posts that clubs n folk were able to just go out and run (for a fee). Not true? J

 

I was talking about the latter, just being able to go out and run laps as fast as you are comfortable running.

 

Those same clubs that have intructional club days have solo track days so look into their schedules to see what they provide.