[Shotimes] OT: Ebay discount coupons ...now SOLO

[Zach Leahy]

Don, all

You all have good points, both events are fun, this coming from someone who
has done a fair bit of both.  My opinion track days are a better investment
of my time as I get to run a lot more in the day compared to autox.

Additionally in autox one does not have to put a ton of thoguht into which
brake pads take the abuse, and some other hings that become more apparent in
a track day situation (power steering issues for example).

As far as tires are concerned I have run both race rubber and street tires
at a track day.  I had a lot of fun with both of them.  At the last
Gingerman day I was out on Kuhmo ASX all seasons and found that they
performed quites well on the track.  Pretty reasonable tires, and I they
still have lots of life left, they could easily go another track day.

For me I like have a devoted set of track tires, whether they are race
rubber or just really good street tires doesn't matter so much.  It keeps
the usage seperate, and I don't have to worry about getting a nail in the
track tires so much.  So my plan is to go to either a very aggressive street
tire (like a Gforce KD) or to a track tire like a victoracer or other
economical alternative.

Both are a lot of fun.  AutoX requires a lot less setup in general.  You can
bring in almost any car and have a lot of fun with it.  You may not win, but
you will have fun.  Track days, especially DE stuff like I have been doing
is also a lot of fun, you get more out of the day as far as seat time, but
you have to do a lot more prep work on the car (brake maintnance etc.).

One big thing I like about the DE stuff is that I can mod the car however I
like, it is not going to move me into another class, or change my overall
rating becasue I went to a different spring, or swapped a MAF.  Maybe on
some car certani mods allow for a large gain, but on the SHO, there are very
few items which by themselves make a major impact, but all working together
works well.  I ahve to run either a STS or SM class in SOLO2, and that
really makes the car very uncompetative.  While it is still a lot of fun to
do the solo2, it's a lot better when you have a chance of winning.  I used
to win in Gstock before I started modifying the motor significantly.

So for the sheer fact that a Tweecer, or MAF, or spring change won't bump me
into some other class is an advantage to a DE track day.

Z