Well, I just got back home from an incredible event at Barbers Motorsports Park in Alabama, hosted by Chin Motorsports (www.chinmotorsports.com). For those that are unfamiliar with Barbers, it truly is a country club of motorsports. Everything about Barbers is top notch, and if you ever get a chance to visit or better yet, race there, jump all over the opportunity. http://www.barbermotorsports.com/index.html
About Chin Motorsports
These guys did an excellent job putting on this event that they call "The Ultimate Sunday Drive", and rightfully so. The event was very well organized and I got ALOT of track time. I had 208 miles on the ticker at the event which equates to approximately 90 laps!! What a day!!
This was my first track day in a car, although I have raced motorcycles for several years previously. I signed up for the track day as a novice driver which gets you your own instructor for the ENTIRE DAY.
I couldn't believe that when they were pairing us off. The track day fee was $330 and the instructor fee was $50. I had hours upon hours and lap after lap with a top notch instructor for a mere $50. The instruction I recieved alone was worth the entire price of admission and then some. Jeff Miner was my "personal" instructor for the day...man what a screamin' deal that is for $50. He's a veteran racer who certainly knows his way around Barbers, and he got me up to speed very quickly. Jeff is a great guy and I can't say enough good things about him. The personalized instruction that Chin offers is a superb deal and I urge anyone to check it out. I had so much fun today that I now have a perma-grin attached to my face.
The Cars
If that's not enough, you wouldn't believe the roster of cars that showed up for this event. Luckily for those of you who didn't make it, I took LOTS of pics. Here's what I saw today:
Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche GT3
Several 911s
Several 944s
Several NSXs
Several Corvettes
Several Vipers
Several Lotus Esprits
Several Miatas
Ferrari 360 Challenge
Ferrari 430
Noble M400
Lotus Elise
Lamborghini Diablo
Several BMW M3s
Mazda RX-7
Toyota MR2
350Zs
Some Prototypes
The bottom line is there was some killer cars in attendance. ***PICS*** All of the images I took are located at http://www.mr2board.com/files/misc/barbers. The pics I copied to the web server are 800x600. If anyone wants any of the images in hi-res, please let me know.
The MR2
I took the non-turbo, all stock, dialy-driver MR2 to the event today (just getting warmed up for my future NSX). It was a blast to take around the track. The car was very neutral and far exceeded my performance expectations. I need to change the sway bars and get it setup to oversteer a bit more easily, but overall, for a completely stock 11 year old car, I was VERY impressed. It ran like a champ the entire day and the car itself was completely unphased by the event. I did manage to do an uneventful 360 in turn 2/3 (don't brake while cornering, duh) and a little squirrelly in turn 5 when we were testing the cars limits there. At the end of the day, I had a very good feel for what the car will do and can't wait until the next track event.
Nitto NT555
Prior to today, I have only street driven on the Nitto NT555. I was pleasantly suprised at how predictable and consistent those tires performed at the track. We were abusing those tires all day long and they just took the abuse like there was nothing to it. They gained my confidence very quickly at the track and they have been a good "daily driver" tire. I have been a big fan of the Toyo T1-S (now T1-R), but the Nittos scored major points today.
You know, I'm not sure I can do a track day....
Anyone can get out there and benifit from a track day like this and you don't need a supercar to do it. Hell, there was a Ford Taurus out there today. Admittedly, that was kind of funny, but I can guarantee the guy was having a great time. I had a blast in my 130 HP MR2. A track day like that will help you learn what your car is capable of in a controlled and safe environment. It will make you a better driver, all while having a great time doing it.
About Chin Motorsports
These guys did an excellent job putting on this event that they call "The Ultimate Sunday Drive", and rightfully so. The event was very well organized and I got ALOT of track time. I had 208 miles on the ticker at the event which equates to approximately 90 laps!! What a day!!
This was my first track day in a car, although I have raced motorcycles for several years previously. I signed up for the track day as a novice driver which gets you your own instructor for the ENTIRE DAY.
The personalized instruction that Chin offers is a superb deal and I urge anyone to check it out. I had so much fun today that I now have a perma-grin attached to my face. The Cars
If that's not enough, you wouldn't believe the roster of cars that showed up for this event. Luckily for those of you who didn't make it, I took LOTS of pics.
Here's what I saw today:
Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche GT3
Several 911s
Several 944s
Several NSXs
Several Corvettes
Several Vipers
Several Lotus Esprits
Several Miatas
Ferrari 360 Challenge
Ferrari 430
Noble M400
Lotus Elise
Lamborghini Diablo
Several BMW M3s
Mazda RX-7
Toyota MR2
350Zs
Some Prototypes
The bottom line is there was some killer cars in attendance. ***PICS*** All of the images I took are located at http://www.mr2board.com/files/misc/barbers. The pics I copied to the web server are 800x600. If anyone wants any of the images in hi-res, please let me know.
The MR2
I took the non-turbo, all stock, dialy-driver MR2 to the event today (just getting warmed up for my future NSX). It was a blast to take around the track. The car was very neutral and far exceeded my performance expectations. I need to change the sway bars and get it setup to oversteer a bit more easily, but overall, for a completely stock 11 year old car, I was VERY impressed. It ran like a champ the entire day and the car itself was completely unphased by the event. I did manage to do an uneventful 360 in turn 2/3 (don't brake while cornering, duh) and a little squirrelly in turn 5 when we were testing the cars limits there. At the end of the day, I had a very good feel for what the car will do and can't wait until the next track event.
Nitto NT555
Prior to today, I have only street driven on the Nitto NT555. I was pleasantly suprised at how predictable and consistent those tires performed at the track. We were abusing those tires all day long and they just took the abuse like there was nothing to it. They gained my confidence very quickly at the track and they have been a good "daily driver" tire. I have been a big fan of the Toyo T1-S (now T1-R), but the Nittos scored major points today.
You know, I'm not sure I can do a track day....
Anyone can get out there and benifit from a track day like this and you don't need a supercar to do it. Hell, there was a Ford Taurus out there today.
Admittedly, that was kind of funny, but I can guarantee the guy was having a great time. I had a blast in my 130 HP MR2. A track day like that will help you learn what your car is capable of in a controlled and safe environment. It will make you a better driver, all while having a great time doing it.
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, we should cut him some slack because he is really ignorant about how the format works and what the quality and quantity of instruction is. He doesn't realize that the CMS instructor is a one-on-one dedicated assignment. When he says 'instructor included all day', what he means is 'whenever your run group is on track all day'. He leaves out the fact that at most other typical track days, the instructor has multiple students, which splits their attention. That is only possible within a 'run-group' structure, which means that there are limitations and deadlines on your track time. Those deadlines and multi-student assignments don't exist at a CMS event. So, a CMS instructor is your exclusive private driving coach literally all day. He suggests he gets similar track mileage in a day, but overlooks that fact that you guys got all those laps and miles, and still didn't use all the available track time! He doesn't realize that the field is always capped at CMS events, to keep the field small and exclusive. You'll never find 100+ cars registered like at BMW/PCA events. It should be known that I instruct for many of those organizations in the SE region, so I have first hand knowledge, not speculation. Value is relative, and the old adage 'you get what you pay for' certainly applies here. 
So if CMS instead said "instructors are included, but if you qualify, you get an experienced driver discount of $50 (since you wouldn't need the instructor)", and that would be ok, but adding an instructor fee of $50 is not ok? 
