Why track?

I’ve never understood the idea of tracking a very expensive car to better your driving skills and to compete against your own lap times. After racing SCCA (Alfa to Ferrari) for over 20 years and also taking part in some track days, there is no comparison. Being out on a race course with other drivers is my view tremendously of more value in gaining skills and also enjoying the thrill of competition and perhaps winning.


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Certainly racing is another level compared to track days - but there is some fun in driving the same car on the road, to the track and on the track.
Racing provides different emotions but also requires more commitment, so the enjoyment may fade after a while (unless one is a die-hard racer); it's an incredible experience though.

 

Everyone has fun at their level. It's like the beginner skier has just as big a smile on his face as the guy who jumped in and landed off the lip at Cobet's couloir. Fun is fun!
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This was my third year at Daytona after the Rolex. It is definitely fun and I get better each time. I probably wouldn't "race" my 458, but the occasional track days are good. Gets me thinking about a 458 Challenge car..

 

Night and day between the street version and the Challenge. I won’t drive a street car on a track anymore.

Let me know when you’re ready for one…..
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I enjoy the street car on track, but I'm probably getting closer to a track car. Been racing for 40 years. Normally NHRA, but really enjoying this. I think I would be more aggressive in a car made for the track.

 

Saw this car or one just like it at Sebring yesterday.

 

Besides pose, whats a really fast road car for. Point is if you really want to use your fast street car, track these days is the place.

That's why a Gt3 is in many ways a prefect car, works on road and track.
Yes a proper track car is better, but some few very few road cars do both really well.

in the old days back in SA we could crush time between cities on great roads. Rolling along at 120-150mph was simply fun and productive. The type of car that did this well was a big mercdes, volvo turbo BMWs and jaguar XJS. None of which would ever work well anywhere near a track.

 

I’m guessing the action shot is turn 17 at Sebring and the pose is paddock along back straight.


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Cant say didn't see it running, just saw it in paddock.
Def a Hp track, no elevation, very different to the Ne tracks.
Horses for courses.

This thread does raise some interesting questions. As we know the real skill is in keeping momentum through bends, best learned in a miata. All those really powerful street cars...

to me its all good, all one hobby, from the guy with a vw powered kit car, to the peopel running porche cup cars etc.

 

That was me.

I ran five days - last two with David Murry. It was fast!

Getting too know the track quite well, the car runs strong. I can get the GTS-RSs but not the Cups, lol.....

Goal next time is low 2:15s or even poke into the 14 range. I really focused on fundamentals this time, and running at the edge of grip.

The 458 Ch is a momentum car on steroids (my take).

Car is now back in the shop for some well deserved maintenance.

Should've come by and said hi! Next time....

Are you there for PCA?

 

Correct - pics were taken my previous trip there in December.

The Ferrari chassis is softer than the Cup cars and the BMWs. Turns 17 and 1 are the true tests - my wheel lift is not nearly what I see in the other cars, and I cn actually pick up time on them in these corners. I pay for it in other places, though.

And my back actually feels pretty good after 5 days of Sebring this past week!

 

Not everyone has the time, money or dedication/commitment to go racing. Isn't that obvious?

 

GT3 not a bad car on track, lays it down well. I thought about gutting one out and converting not to a track machine, but my addiction has progressed too far.

I'm expecting delivery on a 992 GT3 Cup car later this month.

 

yes once you go far enough it needs to be a pure track car.

there is something to be said for a drive to the track car. There are very very few that can really pull it off. Basically gt series porche a lotus elige as well as the hot Camaro.

IMO everything else is really a pretender once you’re a few laps in

 

I guess true, but racing a cheap to buy and maintain MX-5 is to me a lot more fun and skill building than tracking a 458.


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Everybody does what they do for different reasons. I'm too old to race now but did do some regional club racing in pre-Swift Formula Fords; I was humbled by the cut-and-thrust competition, even at that level. It was incredibly satisfying, though. Lap time was everything. I didn't need a Ferrari while I was racing as I left it all on the track - no need to "race" on the street. Then I had to quit, and that led to buying my first Ferrari, a 1998 355 Berlinetta, which eventually was replaced by a 2005 F430. I have tracked both of those cars because I feel that's the best place to explore their capabilities - but I NEVER take lap times because it doesn't matter, at least to me. It's not racing. Just my humble opinion.
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Hmmm…why would anyone want to take some of the most awesome cars ever built and wring them out on a track….think….think….I just can’t connect the dots on this one…..


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Whoa, a momentum car. I can’t believe that. She isn’t a turbo but there’s plenty of grunt there to pick you up out of a corner. No?


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Because the things I want to do with my Ferrari, I cannot do on public roads. If I did, I would either go to jail, or end up killing someone, or both.

So I track my Ferrari (and other cars) to fully enjoy them. I don't keep track of my times, and I'm not racing against other drivers at an HPDE event.

I don't care if I am going fast or slow from Point A back to A.

I just care how I am doing it. Not how fast I am doing it.

YMMV obviously.

 

Yes it’s got lots of get up and go. But it really is a finesse car. Incredibly sensitive to wheel input, it trail brakes and maintains throttle really well.

 

I did one day at Sebring in my 458 just to get a feel for handling characteristics and to have some predictability when in street use. Since I know that track very well it was a good test. The car imo is fantastic. Point it and it responds. Balance is amazing and even in my spider (lower and after market springs) it was very stable. Without a cage I did not push to limits but drove harder than I ever will on public roads.

And to the OP, this is why I would track. Plus, it’s fun [emoji6]

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You're getting a 992 Cup??!! Wow!

That's going to be an even bigger delta in performance from your 458 Challenge Car than you experienced going from your street 458 Italia to your 458 Challenge.

That 992 Cup will get into the high to mid 1:40's at Watkins if you have the skill (and the "stones") to do it.

Can't wait to hear about what you think of that machine.

Congrats!

 

Thank you! Life is short as they say.

I saw many of them out at Sebring and had the opportunity to really watch them up close on track. Yes, I’m enamored with them.

I can give a 991.2 Cup a partial run for its money on a track, but not the 992.

I plan to ease into it as I can see it’s a more difficult car to manage, but that’s half the fun.

I should see it end of the month or early March, a 2023 with 28 hours on it.

I don’t know if I’ll hold the Ferrari or not after taking delivery. I do want to say based on my ownership experience that I have immense respect for the brand. It is a hell of a track car!

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The 458 street version is incredibly lively on track. I did 40 plus days in the Spider.

If you ever go Challenge there won’t be much of a learning curve, but the addiction will be much more intense!