Road to the Track...

[AgentBishop]

I'm interested in tracking my M4...VIR specifically. It seems the best way to do it is to be a member of a car club and go when they go. But I'm in Virginia beach and the Tidewater Chapter of BMWCCA never does anything more than breakfast on the weekend and the occasional local meet and drive. Which is cool but never any scheduled track time.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if ANY chapter of BMWCCA has track time at any particular track, any member can sign up through them? For example, the Tarheel chapter seems to have frequent track time. So I could sign up with them once I'm a member of any bmwcca club?

Then, during the sign up process you would specify the need for an instructor and chose your skill level/experience group, then work your way up the more track time you have and as your skill increases. Then I would just have to worry about fees, insurance, safety gear, etc...

Thought there would be a "Track guide 101" sticky somewhere.

[MaynardZed]

I used a google search and looked at the VIR scheduled events. The only club, that I see coming up soon that wold suit you is NASA Mid Atlantic May 18-20. You just missed one with them this past weekend.

You would be HPDE 1. Nasa is very structured and will get you started slow and work your way up. HPDE 1 always has instructors at least for first few sessions.

http://www.nasaracing.net/schedule/

[Racing Instructor]

Originally Posted by AgentBishop

I'm interested in tracking my M4...VIR specifically. It seems the best way to do it is to be a member of a car club and go when they go. But I'm in Virginia beach and the Tidewater Chapter of BMWCCA never does anything more than breakfast on the weekend and the occasional local meet and drive. Which is cool but never any scheduled track time.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if ANY chapter of BMWCCA has track time at any particular track, any member can sign up through them? For example, the Tarheel chapter seems to have frequent track time. So I could sign up with them once I'm a member of any bmwcca club?

Then, during the sign up process you would specify the need for an instructor and chose your skill level/experience group, then work your way up the more track time you have and as your skill increases. Then I would just have to worry about fees, insurance, safety gear, etc...

Thought there would be a "Track guide 101" sticky somewhere.

At VIR I would choose either NASA (National Auto Sport Association) https://www.nasaproracing.com/events?region_id=13 or CHIN TRACKDAYS at http://chintrackdays.com/schedule.aspx.

I'm an instructor with both and these guys are both very professional organizations. Sign up as beginner and you'll be paired with an instructor and you'll be grinning ear to ear for a long time. If you plan on going with either let me know and I can point you to some really good instructors at both.

Personally I find the "brand car clubs" such as BMW,PCA (Porsche) Audi not to be the best at track days. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help where I can.

[nicknaz]

+1.

I prefer nasa to bmwcca as well (at least here in CA)

Motorsportsreg is a great site which aggregates schedules into 1 place. In CA most of the track day places use this site

[AgentBishop]

Originally Posted by Racing Instructor

At VIR I would choose either NASA (National Auto Sport Association) https://www.nasaproracing.com/events?region_id=13 or CHIN TRACKDAYS at http://chintrackdays.com/schedule.aspx.

I'm an instructor with both and these guys are both very professional organizations. Sign up as beginner and you'll be paired with an instructor and you'll be grinning ear to ear for a long time. If you plan on going with either let me know and I can point you to some really good instructors at both.

Personally I find the "brand car clubs" such as BMW,PCA (Porsche) Audi not to be the best at track days. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help where I can.

Thank RI. Probably going to go with NASA after I figure out the track insurance thing for myself.

[AgentBishop]

Originally Posted by nicknaz

+1.

I prefer nasa to bmwcca as well (at least here in CA)

Motorsportsreg is a great site which aggregates schedules into 1 place. In CA most of the track day places use this site

great site nicknaz. Adding this one to the favorites.

[AgentBishop]

Initially, I was unsure of the requirements to sign up for these events. I didn't know if you needed to be a member of that club or not to participate in the event. And if so, what are the requirements to be a member? Do I have to be local or attend certain functions etc...?

It seems you do have to be a member but that's just a matter of signing up and paying membership fees...which it seems is about $50~ a year.

Then its just a matter of signing up for the event before it fills up.

[Racing Instructor]

Originally Posted by AgentBishop

Initially, I was unsure of the requirements to sign up for these events. I didn't know if you needed to be a member of that club or not to participate in the event. And if so, what are the requirements to be a member? Do I have to be local or attend certain functions etc...?

It seems you do have to be a member but that's just a matter of signing up and paying membership fees...which it seems is about $50~ a year.

Then its just a matter of signing up for the event before it fills up.

Most clubs require a membership however there a few in the South East that do not. Again, clubs that are part of a car brand typically have a lot of social events, clubs that organizing track days only, typically do not. Another site you can check out is clubregistration.net. I think it is mostly events in the South East but there may be some organizers that have events closer to you.

Or you can come down to Florida for a long weekend and drive at Sebring International Raceway. Pretty cool track.

[Pic18]

Originally Posted by AgentBishop

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if ANY chapter of BMWCCA has track time at any particular track, any member can sign up through them? For example, the Tarheel chapter seems to have frequent track time. So I could sign up with them once I'm a member of any bmwcca club?

To answer the first part of your question, yes. If you are a member of BMWCCA you can sign up for track events in any region, you do not have to belong to that specific chapter, just have to be a BMWCCA member.

As far as instructor, if you are new the BMWCCA will have an instructor in the car with you until you are ready to advance. Even in the advanced groups they ride with you at the beginning of the day to make sure you are good to go.

Others have mentioned NASA which I am a big fan of also and like there ladder system, but I wouldn't knock BMWCCA what so ever as they have good instructors and it is nice to be in a group of other BMW enthusiasts.

[S.Carter]

This is what I do to find my track time. Most importantly for me is which track, I didnt want to take my beginner butt to a track with huge daunting walls and sketchy things, so first was some research. How far do I want to drive round trip to and from the track? Is it beginner friendly? What do others say about it etc? Next go to that tracks calendar and look for which clubs have which days. I found that Hooked on Driving and speedsf (my fav) did a bunch so then find out which of the options you want to drive with. HOD was a bit more expensive and I wasnt very interested in a yearly membership if I do like 5 track days a year. Speedsf has been great thus far. Thats how I would approach this.

[wigaster]

Tar Heel chapter of bmw cca does about 4 events at VIR in various configurations. The advantage of being Tarheel member is that when they do events you get a 1 week registration advantage over other BMWCCA members. You would start in D group and I can tel you that group fills up almost immediately. It's slim pickings after the tarheel members are done for almost any group honestly. Membership is cheap but events are not. Will run you over $400 for the weekend just for the event registration. The event this weekend is $460. Hope that helps.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by AgentBishop

Thank RI. Probably going to go with NASA after I figure out the track insurance thing for myself.

I got a 6 event pack via lockton and it was around $300 per event if I recall correctly.

It basically doubles the cost of the weekend.

[silvergray545]

Look for events with your local PCA. PCA seems to do more and better events than the BMWCCA, in my experience.

[kupcake]

No doubt about PCA doing more DE's, but better? How so?

[adc]

Chin is on the expensive side, but you get lots of track time and high caliber drivers attending. Not sure if they’d be my first choice for a novice. I do Watkins Glen with them, and I’ll try to do VIR as well this year.

BMW CCA (National Chapter) can get full very quickly and they tend to be more safety oriented. They are a good first step for a total newbie IMO, but I’d dump them after 1 or 2 events.

I also run VIR with Trackdaze, it’s a good group. Their November event with 1 day on the Full and 1 day on the Grand is awesome.


See you out there...