I used to have a similar opinion to Navid about "bang per buck". But I've
realized in the past few years (after 55 or so road races and solo I's)
that an autocross minute is NOT the same as a road race minute. For the
last few years of road racing, I got rather bored motoring down the
straights. Straights don't count much in the track time equation (for ME)
any more. In autocross, time on the straights at full throttle is minimal
compared to cornering. That's why tire wear is greater per autocross
minute compared to track racing minute.
On brake wear however I disagree. I've done about 35 autocrosses and 35K
street miles on my E36 328i with about 1/2 total wear on OEM brake
pads. Cost and _my time_ working on brakes was HUGE when I was road
racing. Heat kills brakes (pads, fluid, seals, etc.), and you rarely get
much heat in an autocross run. Maybe you can calculate that pad wear/min.
is worse in autocross, but to me that doesn't matter. Total brake work on
my car in 4.6 years of ownership = two fluid changes (one was free). Once
I used up a new experimental front brake pad set in practice at Laguna in 6
laps in my old VW GTI!
Dave
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