Good place to practice driving in SF bay area?

open parking lots are one thing, open track days another. which way are you leaning?

most parking lots - you will have t ouse some discretion

--dan

 

You can take a short drive to Reno. The Reno-Fernley Raceway has many test and tune days that are very inexpensive. It's only a couple hundred for a day.

http://www.reno-fernleyraceway.com/

 

Trackdays cost about $200-300... not $1000, and are worth every penny.

Check out the TrackMasters website for dates at Reno-Fernly, Sears Point, Thunderhill and Laguna Seca.

http://www.trackmasters-racing.com/html/aboutevents.html

there are also other trackday providers, others can chime in with their names and websites.

Reno-Fernly also offers open test and tune, but there is no instruction.

Please dont take this wrong... BUT GET INSTRUCTION. If you go out on your own all you are doing is re-inforcing your bad habits. I'm a trackday instructor for a motorcylce trackday provider, ZoomZoom Trackdays (http://zoomzoomtrackdays.com) and can vouch for the value of getting instruction. I take instruction from better/faster instructors every time I go out. It worth every second. I pass the basics along to beginning/intermediate riders that I teach. It helps a ton, it brings your skill set up QUICKLY.

 

open trackdays are a pain. Drivers/riders of different skill sets all on the track at the same time.... In my book, trackdays with different classes are the best... similar skill sets on the track at the same time. You can trust those on the track with you more.

If you like open days though, they are available... you just gotta ask the tracks and see when they are.

Reno-Fernly has open days for test and tune.

there is aways the option of just going to a plain old trackday... if you find yourself in a crowd, pull into the pits, wait 20 seconds, pull back out on track... bingo, no more crowd. If you are fast enough that you catch them up with them in one session... asked to be moved up to the next group.

 

I definitely prefer an open parking lot/airstrip over an open track day for learning how to drive your car. You can't drive the car on the absolute limit without knowing what that limit is. And you cannot know what that limit is without going over it a few times. If you spin out in a large, abandoned airstrip, so what? But if you spin out a couple of times during an open track day, you get kicked off the track. Furthermore, there are a lot more things to hit on a track (walls, other people, etc.) than there are at an abandoned airstrip. Standard disclaimers apply, of course (don't go out there alone, ensure a working cell phone within range, etc.).

 

Where are there old abandoned airstrips in the bay area? I have been looking for a place to fool around at also, but cannot find anything that is "abandoned" in the bay area.

 

Good question! Around here is difficult to find. We should work on finding the closest ones.

 

Alameda Point has an airstrip, but not "abandoned". GM, Lexus, BMW, etc have hosted driving events here... which I also believe is where the freeway scene to Matrix was built/filmed.

I'm not sure who rents the space, but remembered http://area51-eventcenter.com/

 

I stumbled across this trying to find Livermore air field. If you can get in without getting in trouble it sounds like one runway is still in decent condition (I'm not sure how far concord is though)

http://www.militarymuseum.org/NOLFConcord.html

 

I think a few people might be reticent to publically disclose places that have worked in past.

--Dan

 

I'm telling you, going to some mythical empty airstrip to turn donuts and skid sideways aint the way to do it.

There is NO subsitute for the proper gear, the proper setting and proper instruction.

Trust me, the cars limits are WAY beyond yours. To really find out where YOUR limits of piloting the car are, go to a track, with an instructor.

if you want to turn donuts and lock up the brakes and giggle... go find a parking lot and do until the cops arrest you and impound your car for street racing.

 

A buddy of mine just stacked up his NSX at Laguna Seca after having gone out there over a dozen times. How can this be? Because the rear end of the car got away from him for the first time, and he didn't know what to do.
So why didn't he know what to do? Because you can't do that at that track - you'll get kicked off of it. If he would have gone out to an empty airstrip a couple of times and systematically pushed the car around an imaginary corner until he lost grip, he could have practiced his steering correction/throttling to get out of it. This is way different than doing stupid donuts.

 

http://www.skipbarber.com/
http://www.jimrussellusa.com/

 

Oh, forgot to mention: For tons less money!

 

I don't remember you using much discretion when we had brunch at Red's Java House.

 

Instructor?
Had anyone even remotely told him how a rear/mid engined car reacts when the rear steps out?
Had he gone through a high performance driving scool? or did he just sign up for an OPEN trackday?


again...

proper gear, proper INSTRUCTION, proper setting

I cant believe anyone would argue that the above ISNT the way to learn.


Plus... yer friend had done something a whole 12 times and hadnt completely mastered every aspect of it? Go figure.
Thats like saying... I've picked up a guitar 12 times times and I still cant shred like Eddie Van Halen.

Driving/riding at any sort of quick pace is a very fine skill. Doing alot of driving/riding at even a quick street pace doesnt really teach you squat when it comes to getting to most out of you skills or your vehicles ability.

 

And you remember the cop that showed up after. Besides, I had to turn around, it just took me a couple of rotations to get it right

--dan

 

HAHAHA! That was a fun outing though....who was the one with the TVR again?

Here's a walk down memory lane...
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Hello everyone,
I just wanted to inform anyone who might be interested that every month an hour north of San Francisco an auto-cross is held on what many people refer to as a mini road course. This site is used by PCA and also ESCA. It was initially designed as a driving training course for the local police department. It is a very car friendly course with no walls to worry about. The biggest danger out on the course are the friendly cones used to manipulate the couse each month to setup for a difference driving experience at each meet. The yearly fee is only $18 or $20 dollars to join and additional $30 dollars if you choose to drive at each monthly meet. For the $30 dollars you typically get between 6 - 9 runs usually consisting of 2 laps each. More advanced drivers and instructors on site are always willing to ride along with you if you so desire and give you advice on lines to take and basic to advance driving techniques. Anyway, I won't ramble anymore, but if anyone has any interest or desire feel free to pm me or post here. Hope you all are enjoying your amazing machines.

 

I'm interested!

 

Feel free to let me know what questions you might have and I will try my best to fill you in. I am only a member, so I'm not on the board and I don't benefit at all except for seeing other beautiful cars that I enjoy so much. It would be great to get to meet some of you and talk the car talk. You can pm me or ask here whatever you choose. I am yet to go to any of the drives or SR meets as of yet but hope to at some point. It would be great to see some of your cars and hear them at full hollar.