Moving to Ft. Lewis (Tacoma, WA), any dragstrips/tuners in the area??

mrose75

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Well, the initial course you have to take is the 1 Day High Performance Driving course, and it's $555 with your own car, $955 for a school car or $1155 for a Lotus Elise. Thy also offer a Mini Cooper S for $1050 or so. Lapping sessions are $370 forthe first one after the 1 day course for further instruction, then $245 thereafter.

Site: One Day High Performance Driving | ProFormance Racing School
 

ShadowFist

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Well, the initial course you have to take is the 1 Day High Performance Driving course, and it's $555 with your own car, $955 for a school car or $1155 for a Lotus Elise. Thy also offer a Mini Cooper S for $1050 or so. Lapping sessions are $370 forthe first one after the 1 day course for further instruction, then $245 thereafter.

Site: One Day High Performance Driving | ProFormance Racing School

It is worth it. Where else can you consistently drive 100+ without the police on you? Or take corners so fast you can feel the blood draining from your head? Oh yes... Turns 3a and 3b are heavily banked and you can grip there like none other. :dancenana:

The whole day class teaches you skills that you can use in every day driving. Its not just 'go fast' driving either. Everything from proper mirror set up to emergency avoidance maneuvers are covered.

One thing to note - it is both physically and mentally TIRING. It isn't easy driving fast so be prepared to become the consistency of a wet noodle afterwards.

From their website:

"The day starts out with a 90 minute classroom session followed by exercise in advanced car control and street survival skills. An in-depth knowledge of vehicle dynamics, skid control, and brake application is established. The afternoon is a total driving experience on the road course utilizing all of the skills and techniques acquired in the morning sessions. Always accompanied by a qualified instructor, participants develop a more proactive driving relationship with their car. Our goal is to teach you to think faster than you drive. The use of your personal car is recommended for skill and relationship development however school cars are available.

If you are driving your own car we require:
Brakes should be in excellent condition
Tires good condition, adequate tread depth, and no “plug repair” to punctures
Seat belts must be present and functional for both driver and passenger seats
Soft top cars must have roll-bar or pop-up roll-over hoop"
 
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ShadowFist

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I highly recommend this. Not only does it make you a better driver, its FREAKIN FUN!.

Just be prepared to budget your first borne when you get hooked though. Motorsports racing isn't cheap...
 

mrose75

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Yeah I spent about an hour on their website last night reading and watching Vids. I REALLY wanna do this. And I will, hopefully this summer though. I don't wanna try to test myself and my car in this damned WA rain!! So you've done this with ProFormance, ShadowFist?
 

ShadowFist

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That I have. The lead instructor there races in the 24 hours of Le Mans so he knows what hes doing.

I would HIGHLY recommend leaving your car as stock as possible (minus safety concerns, etc). The more built up the car is the more it can hide driving errors. For example, street tires versus full on racing slicks. Street tires give feedback and you know when they are about to lose traction. If you drive crappy, the tires will let you know so. Slicks on the other hand, are more grippy and hide your errors quite well. They also give NO notice that they are at their limits and you will most likely end up in a wall or in a field somewhere.

Also, I'd run as low boost as possible. It helps keep the motor cool and you don't need 470 rwtq when you are learning (that comes later!).

Check out the Open Track subforums here and there are plenty of topics on 'I want to track my mach/terminator/whatever. What do I do first?'
 

mrose75

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The comment on keeping it stock is what worries me. I am about to throw on my Stage V Steggy and supporting mods. What I don't have though is any cooling mods. And with that power level and no cooling I'm sure I'll get it pretty warm, pretty quick. On top of that I'd need an upper pulley with a hub so I can switch to a larger upper and run less boost and another tune for low boost tune. I guess I'll head over to the open track forum with all my track aspirations. Thanks for the input!!
 

ShadowFist

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Porting actually helps in cooling (I believe) as long as you keep the boost levels 'low'.

Your first couple times out shouldn't really be a problem since the instructors want to keep you from killing yourself so they try to limit your speeds (depends on instructor though).

A good rule of thumb is the more boost you have, the less IN boost you can be. I've heard some people were still able to run flat-out all day in a pullied cobra and not have any issues. I've also heard people running near stock that would overheat and go into limp mode. I guess best advice is to check your guages!

I ran 17 psi on my KB2.2 for all my track days but I never really ran the car up past 110. There was no need since the straights are the most boring part of the track. The only times I came close to overheating were on hot days and I was trying to keep up with cars like Nissan GT-R's (I failed miserably)
 

ShadowFist

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Here's a fun vid of Pacific Raceways:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC18CBMTLWs"]YouTube - 2003 SVT Mustang Cobra at Pacific Raceways (7/31/07)[/nomedia]
 

mrose75

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Wow! Is that you? I checked out 2 other vids by "pstoppani", f'n sweet!! PIR looks like a lot of fun with the S at the end if the straight.

This means I need another $150 for a new pulley hub and two pulleys. Street and track. Wife should be pleased.
 

ShadowFist

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Thats my car, but a better driver is driving.

That 'S' is turn 3a/b. Arguably one of the funner corners since they are heavily banked. The last time I was out I was getting good enough that I could literally feel the blood in my head draining turning into A. Yeah, its FUN!
 

mrose75

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Nice!! I'm so pumped right now and I'm nowhere near ready to do this yet. Well, I am but the car isn't. LOL.:burnout::burnout::burnout:
 

ShadowFist

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Honestly, you could do it right now. I've seen people go out in beater cars and have a blast. As long as you keep it within reason (no blasts to 160 on the straights) you should be fine.

I've been doing this for two years and my car is still three times more than I can handle.
 

mrose75

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Well, come this weekend, I may just be able to do that. Got something cooking!!
 

Proto

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The Black Cobra was tinted and had some kinda blue paint or decal near the fender Cobra emblem, no bumper inserts and machined stock wheels. I'm on north Fort and I see a Redfire Coupe, a Silver Coupe and a Black Coupe every once in a while. I've seen two other DSG Coupe on main post. There's also a White/Blue GT500 on north Fort and a Black/Black GT500 on main.

I definately gotta watch it in the cooler weather. I laid down about 50 feet of rubber leaving my neighborhood the other day all too easily. On the way home this morning I passed a car on Mounts road and felt it slip a little just from accelatation, I was going 40 and got into it. Crazy!!

The black/black GT500 on north fort would be me. :)
 

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