All excellent advices... Think quick: which 10 year old or newer used car is fairly cheap, widely available, light weight with 50/50 weight distribution, double-wishbones at all 4 corners, most came w/ a limited slip (otherwise you can add one for less than the price of a Quaife for a VW w/out having to rebuild your tranny at the same time), very reliable and will be (if not already) out in forces racing at the tracks near you across the country? A complete race car for around $5K and still have a chance to be competitive?
No, it's not motorized scooter racing... It's called SPEC MIATA!!! It all depends on what you want to do and your budget. Just don't do what Josh did and then tell everybody about it... :-) Son 90 GLI
From: Matthew Yip <[email protected]> Subject: Re: racing Provided you want to get involved with road racing, I'd encourage you to start by autocrossing. Unfortunately you've already put yourself into Street Prepared (b/c of the springs) but the experience of autocross and the subsequent lessons in car control are invaluable. At the same time, find your local "marque" club chapters (BMW especially) and get involved with them. Most of the marque clubs offer drivers education events at local racetracks - most all clubs require membership but, at least BMW doesn't require marque ownership. The combination of the aforementioned will teach you some of the basics that you'll need to go racing. The biggest piece of advice is to leave the ego at home - you'll probably find yourself getting beat by old guys in "lesser" cars b/c they have skills that you haven't yet developed. Make a point to be the "wide-eyed kid" who gleans as much information from these folks as possible - in other words, take advantage of whatever they'll tell you, even if you think it doesn't apply to you (yet). Lastly, while autocrossing and track events will teach you how to drive, neither will teach you about road racing. For that, you'll need to take one or two SCCA approved racing schools (assuming you want to get involved with SCCA, otherwise NASA offers similar programs). This is an opportunity to put all the driving skills together AND combine them with intelligent and controlled agression. The final word of warning - road racing is EXPENSIVE and ADDICTIVE. Should you find yourself broke and single, don't blame me.
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