i know many of you have done track days and also race aswell but i need some information about track days
such as what is the average time your allowed on the track and are there different sessions through-out the day?

Me and my 2 brothers have got a car for track day use so we are wondering if track days actually have 2 hour sessions or something... you know just to make our time fair on the track

Depends on the track\group organising the track day.

I'm a member of the Subaru Impreza Drivers Club and the track days I have attended at knockhill have been open pit-lane types where between 09:30 and 13:30 you can come and go as you please.

But some days run a session type of timetable, whereby 10 - 15 cars go out for 15 minute sessions, whilst the next group queue up. In which case you go out for 15 minutes, then the next driver joins the queue for the next available session, and so on.

Sometimes it's arranged with different groups, such as novice, intermediate and experienced (in which case your 'team' would go out in every third session, and each driver once in every 9 sessions), and very occasionally by car speed (slow, medium, quick cars), and again your car would go out once in every three sessions.

Open tracks tend to be better overall, unless some drivers stay out for far too long and hog the track, but this is quite rare, as most track day people tend to go out for 15 minutes or so at a time anyway.

It all depends on wether someone either runs out of fuel on track or puts a car on its roof, in which case the sessions suddenly become very short and the involved driver has to leave very quickly to prevent himself getting lynched.

I am sure it is different for each club/track/location. But around here, all the clubs run something similar. There is generally 4 run groups. Novice (always with instructor), Intermediate (sometimes with instructor), Advanced, and the Instructor group (Instructors get a session for themselves as a bonus for instructing).

All instructors are free or covered in the price for admission. All new drivers will have an instructor, no exceptions.

Each group runs a 20 minute on-track session in order. Each group gets 4 sessions in a day (assuming nobody prangs a wall or dumps 16 quarts of oil on the track... stupid oil cooled Porsches ).

Corner workers are present so you need to know your flags. Passing is only allowed in certain areas and a point-by is usually required.

Be careful. This habit is like crack. It is tough to quit once you start.

Generally the bigger better organised track days are open pitlane days, where you can come and go and change drivers at your leisure. The issue with open pitlane days are there is a limit to how many cars can be on track at a time, often the trackday is sold as a 3 session type day but gets converted to open pitlane if the entry isn't too high.

Yup, just like Hallen said, you get about 20 minutes per session and 4 sessions per day. Run groups I've seen have all used colors with red usually being the most advanced group. Passing requires a point-by, usually on the straights, but the advanced group usually allows open passing. Events are usually around 150 USD per day. And yes, they are very, very addictive!

Depends on the organizers and on the track.

The group I go to has a continuous block of 3-4 hrs track time. Run as much as you want. On a cool 13*C day, I had the car on track continuously for more than an hour, with cool down laps every 15 minutes or so. Then it was time to fill up the gas tank.



In addition to being fun and addictive and all that, you might never look at sims in the same way again.

Quote from buntatofu86 :

Yup, just like Hallen said, you get about 20 minutes per session and 4 sessions per day. Run groups I've seen have all used colors with red usually being the most advanced group. Passing requires a point-by, usually on the straights, but the advanced group usually allows open passing. Events are usually around 150 USD per day. And yes, they are very, very addictive!

Only 4? Really? All the motorcycle trackdays I've done (with Team Pro-Motion) have had 3 groups and 20 minute sessions and we usually get about 7 or 8 sessions per day.

My club (and I'm fairly certain most other motorcycle trackday clubs) splits riders based upon skill level, never on bike performance. There's a saying that goes, "It's not the bike, it's the rider." It's not unheard of for a rider on, say, an EX500/GPZ500 () to keep up with or pass other riders on, for example, a 600 supersport, especially in the beginner group on a tight circuit. For TPM, the groups are White (beginner), Red (intermediate), and Blue (advanced). Other clubs just use the letters B, I, and A.

I don't know about cars, but with bikes, the first thing the instructor tells you on your first trackday is, "Track riding will ruin street riding for you." I did 8 trackdays in 2008. I stopped riding on the street after 4. I'm planning on doing as many as I can in 2009, probably somewhere around 30. I just registered for my first 6 of the year and spent about $1000 doing so (NJMP Thunderbolt, Summit Point Shenandoah, and VIR Patriot).

Hmm, I was going to do trackdays to improve my bike control skills so I can put that into practise on my favorite local roads.. guess not.

Not getting your knee down and stuff, but just so you have the confidence if it looks like you're gunna run off the road... you invariably don't if you actually stick to the corner.. start to sit up, slow down or even worse, brake and you're gunna crash..

I've yet to find an open pit-lane format motorcyle trackday, all the one's I've seen are the session ones, because you have novice, intermediate and the fast group.

Quote from Forbin :

I don't know about cars, but with bikes, the first thing the instructor tells you on your first trackday is, "Track riding will ruin street riding for you."

Our head instructor is famous for telling us "there is nothing we can do at the track to increase the value of our cars".

Anyway. The group I run with does the novice, intermediate (sometimes two groups), advanced, and instructor. We all start with an instructor, but are signed off when the instructor is satisfied. 20-30 minute sessions, 3 or four runs per day. There is also a mandatory classroom period. The classroom bit is required for the insureance company. That way, it's a school and easier to get a dented fender covered by your auto policy.

Speaking of insurance, this comes from another forum I'm on, from a track riding instructor:

Quote :

Typically insurance covers track days as a school, not a race. And it's not supposed to be a race so this should not be a problem. I know a guy who claimed two bikes totalled in one year. :eye-poppi They paid. Great.... except now he can't get any insurance for less than the price of a new bike each year. His street riding is done and I suspect it effects his car insurance as well, not sure. And he's likely to have that problem for years to come. The same would apply to the street if you crashed a few each year. You'd soon be done, un-insurable.

Best advise? Cover your track bike out of pocket. And don't ride on the track any less in control than the street. Just because you're on the track doesn't mean you have to ride out of control. It's still your skills that count both for speed but also safety and that's where to acquire those. Stay in your comfort level and let your skills build with experience. That's why there are skill level groups. If you push outside your envelope then expect problems, same as on the street. If you're not ready to accept that, maybe don't do it.

thats good advice. Especially if you are going to a track day where your car is also your ride home.

Quote from Forbin :

Speaking of insurance, this comes from another forum I'm on, from a track riding instructor:

Yep. That is one of the reasons I stopped using my daily driver and bought a track rat. It has liability on it, but that is only to get back and forth to the track. www.griplimit.net

Most insurance companies for cars will NOT cover track days at all anymore. Read the fine print. It will say anything done on a track is not covered. Period. They won't care if it is a "school" or anything else. If it is on track, it isn't covered. There is track day insurance that you can get now, but I would only do it if the car/bike I had was worth a lot.

I have seen a number of $100k Porsches stuffed into walls. Probably around $10k worth of damage each. And even though I have seen that, it is still a pretty rare occurrence. Nobody has ever gotten hurt while I was there.

Quote from Forbin :

I don't know about cars, but with bikes, the first thing the instructor tells you on your first trackday is, "Track riding will ruin street riding for you."

I don't know about "ruin" it.

I would recommend bike trackdays to anyone, it gives you a safe(ish) place to find you and your bikes limit.

I have found all my bike trackdays have improved my road riding.

I have seen open pit lane trackdays, but they are expensive, and few and far between, I went to one at Snetterton, but this was a semi-private one.

I would say do it, even if it's only once.

In the UK you will not be covered by your insurance on a track day. Unless you're driving something exceptionally valuable and hard to fix once a year on track insurance is likely to be a waste of money.

Quote from ajp71 :

track insurance is a waste of money.

Corrected for you

Since it's not actual racing, the odds of someone hitting you can't be that much higher than a motorway - probably lower since there's less traffic to do random stuff in front of you. I wouldn't rule out some pillock underbraking into a corner behind you though, so if you're running with other amateurs it might be worth a day's insurance

I'd love to start doing some track days but I just can't afford it.

Quote from Dajmin :

Since it's not actual racing, the odds of someone hitting you can't be that much higher than a motorway - probably lower since there's less traffic to do random stuff in front of you. I wouldn't rule out some pillock underbraking into a corner behind you though, so if you're running with other amateurs it might be worth a day's insurance

I'd love to start doing some track days but I just can't afford it.

You'd be suprised at how some muppets act on trackdays, I have found the best group to stay away from most of them is the inter's.

The novice group normally has wobbly grannies in, and the speed differential is unreal, and the fast group is full of racer wannabees with tyre warmers, these are the ones who tend to get the track closed while the air ambulance is dragging them of the track.

As for price, it's a cheap days fun IMO, I pay around £40-£50 for a day at Snetterton, and a few tanks of fuel.

£50? The prices I was looking at were like 3 times that. Even then, £50 for a day is about £50 more than my normal weekend's entertainment Bedford seems to be the closest most reasonable one, but I guess Snetterton isn't that far away.

I'd be in the grannies group, but I have no fear so the danger in that one may actually be me

Are we talking car trackdays?, maybe they are more expensive?

Snetterton Sat 28 Feb 09 - £59.00 - BOOK NOW

Thats a bike day.

My track days cost £50 to enter. But then it also cost me the following:

£100 - fuel
£150 - set of brake pads
£350 - set of tyres
£150 - track insurance

£800 for a morning entertainment. Sore one.



Car's changed a bit since then:

Quote from Forbin :

..."Track riding will ruin street riding for you." ...

Hehehe. Another proof that I'm a mutant.
I still prefer exploring roads to shaving off split seconds and going round the same bends over and over again.

... and some 'experienced' trackies drive/ride as if everyone on the track was experienced - which is a very dangerous thing to do. that's kind of the only thing you can't control yourself when on a track.

and then the instructor goes: "you don't have to care about what's behind you. that's the rule. everyone just cares about what's in front."

yeah, sure. and right when you want to turn in some idiot dives into your corner. naaaah.

Quote from Dajmin :

I'd be in the grannies group, but I have no fear so the danger in that one may actually be me

not necessarily. the most dangerous participants are the ones who act in a totally unpredictable way. usually these are bloody beginners or just people who don't care.

maybe I'm a bit paranoid or over-anxious, but EVERYtime I hit the brakes, I prayed no one would kiss my arse... and I'm a late-braker IRL.

Quote from SabersKunk :

My track days cost £50 to enter. But then it also cost me the following:

£100 - fuel
£150 - set of brake pads
£350 - set of tyres
£150 - track insurance

£800 for a morning entertainment. Sore one.

I'd cut the insurance for starts, it's worthless IMO, and as for tyres, jebus, my bike at its worse, does about 1000miles on a set of tyres, and the pads have been in since I brought it, and I have done about 5 trackdays, a couple of Euro trips, and laps at the Nurburgring

I took the track insurance as I had just got the car, I probably wouldn't do that again. I was getting 9mpg on the track, ouch, and I trashed the tyres and brakes.

Sometimes the track days have slick for hire, which are worth it in my opinion. For scoob events a rally truck would turn up fully kitted with scooby wheels with slicks fitted.