What Sparked Your Interest in Road Racing? Options

[Brandon Hey]

Hmm very interesting thread, well lets see the first thing that started the spark was when me and my father built our 65 ac cobra. We met a man named Rick that helped us out along the way who had built a cobra and also built a 69 camaro with a lt1 and a t56 transmission. He took us out in his car and when around a off ramp at some outrageous high speed and I was hooked. I started autocrossing in my mustang sold that and got my firebird. Thats when I met Mike "Junior" Johnson and his wife and then Sam Strano and they have helped me out a lot. I actually heard about hpde's from a fellow autocrosser and decided to check it out and have been hooked ever since. Last season I started in hpde in my firebird and by the end of the season I was in hpde 3. Next season I will go for my competition license. Hopefully I will have the E30 done and ready to race in specE30.
-Brandon

This post has been edited by Brandon Hey: Dec 2 2007, 01:04 AM

[Racerdad916]

My roots are in drag racing, I was at the drag strip for the first time with dad at 3 years old. I will NEVER forget the sound of the Modified Production Vettes leaving the starting line in the late '60s and early '70s. 331 CID, 8500 rpm and an 80lbs flywheel makes an awesome sound!!! Raced BMX, karts in the back yard, anything that was W2W, but drag racing always took my attention away from driving fast in the corners. I found my way to an AX event in the early 80's, had so much fun that I built my '71 Cutlass to go fast and turn with any Vette, but the four wheel, non-power DRUM brakes always seemed to limit my ability to turn in with them. Fast forward to this year. Bought a Third Gen Camaro with the idea of making it everything my Cutlass was, but with brakes that didn't fade after the first corner(my buddy said brakes were over-rated anyway...). Raced BMX again for 6 years, loved the W2W competition(crashing sucked) but I always wanted to go fast and turn in a car. A few spectator trips to Mid-Ohio this year cemented the choice to build the car for AX and track days. My 16 year old son is really loving AX, he made several laps in Trackbird's Tragcially Teal with me behind the wheel, then with Kevin driving, and is hooked for life. I think all the laps in the turned up Miata helped too.....
I am a Road Racer for life......

[V6RSR]

Meeting Mark Donahue as a very young child on my minibike at Riverside raceway watching the CanAm races. I read about him more in a book my dad and brothers had of him and how he was a "driving enigieer". I became intrigued on the design elements of cars before I was ever 10 years old. His death taught me respect of the sport and gave me knowledge that even legends can die and know your limits. I grew up always wanting to wrench on my own things, my minibike, my bycycle, the lawnmower I had to push every week. I learned not to trust anyone else touching my stuff that I was only comfortable if I myself tightend that bolt. Nowadays that is OH so true, When I am doing 65 on the fwy, or 165 on a track, I like to know "I" was the one that last touched all the nuts and bolts and everything was inspected. My biggest fear in driving has never been driver error, its mechanical failure- Thats where the big names in racing world have mostly died- I try to keep my fate as safe as possible rather than relying on other enginneers and crew.

To this day, class racing is boring to me. I like unlimited racing. But that cost bucks. SO... What I like most and only is building a car and taking it to the track- running it, who cares about what other cars just like it do, I do not run for trophies......What thrills me is to bring that same car back the next time I run it and better that cars lap times. Thats done through engineering and setup. I do not have to be a big of HP anymore. I like to take an underdog type car and beat something that it is "not suppose to beat". After all, I do not care how fast you are for your class, if there is 3 groups running at the same time and you are leading the slow group, nobody is watching you, they are mostly watching the fastest car on the track at that time. Everybody expects the big HP car to be fast and your skills get written off as " anyone can win if they drove that 800hp car"..etc.. I like to have the car everyone walks over to at the end of the day and scratch their head looking for the mysterious parts- those are my likes and challanges- thats where I love racing, challanging myself each time I take a new car to the track. I shake down that car to be the best it can be, then I am done with it and then detune the dampers enough to be just comfortable enough for daily use (Shocks have come a long waysince I was a kid). A few years go by, I get the bug again to do something else, I redo this.. build that...change such and such for whatever reason...The track play starts again.

As for what I am doing in racing cars. I am so damn bored with what I have been able to build so far in life that I want to raise the bar biftime in my next build. That will cost money and most of all take massive engineering skills to pull off. Ibought a project a few years back and am waiting in life til I have the machinery and funds to build a retirement so to speak car of my dreams. I am going to build a platform under my vintage '67 Cooper S RHD that I want to rival the cornering abilites of open wheel cars and the acceleation and braking G's to suit. It is going to be areo engineered to stick tot he ground with a 1400lb vehicle max weight, 400Hp mtor goal and a remachined Jag style rearend with inboard discs and lever suspension setups. I want a 5:1 unsprung weight ratio and a very low CG.
I want to then take thois car out and have fun with it grunting and trying to keep myself concious in my golden years of driving this little thing out with some unlimited vintage cars rather than stuck with the fun looking but boring Mini's, Bugeyes, and Sprites. I want something that you just think, Man, I gotta drive that.

And thats why I do not race anymore even though I am still contantly around it. I do the occational jump in the car for a few shakedown laps for others, buts for me? Whats the glory of traveling about to win lets say ESP class in autox at the national when their were other cars that day that ran far quicker lap times in other classes. I want to be as fast as I can in MY car and My budget- without rules- thats where I stand in life. I guess I got into racing way too young and it just gets boring without unlimited pocketbooks.

[wolfgang]

My interest started while in high school in Germany (61-65) My first car magazine was the July 62 issue of Sports Car Grapic. Cover was Phil Hill in Ferrari TR at Sebring 12 hr. Road racing was the only type of events in Europe except for Rallys. Went to the REAL Nurburgring in Aug 64 for the German Grand Prix won by John Surtees in a Ferrari. Still can only afford 1/18 scale models of Ferrari's. Started AX mid 70s then got a Lotus 61 Formula ford in 78 & 79. ran in the SE regional events. Wrecked car at Roebling Rd in 79 _ long story. Then havent raced until 2003 when I started DEs in my 2000 SS. Am trying to get back into real racing in the next couple of years - funds willing. Of course I've attended years & years of spectator events in the SE. Went to my first 24 hrs of Daytona in 1967. Won by a Ferrari - What else did you expect???? hahahahaha