Sprinting vs track days
Discussion
everyone I talk to who does track days will tell me about a car they caught / overtook in their less powerful car. This tells me they think they are racing. But they are not racing, you are only competing if you know that the other guy is trying as hard as he can. If you want to drive fast do a track day. In sprints you are testing yourself against someone else.
Shoestringracer said:
everyone I talk to who does track days will tell me about a car they caught / overtook in their less powerful car. This tells me they think they are racing. But they are not racing, you are only competing if you know that the other guy is trying as hard as he can. If you want to drive fast do a track day. In sprints you are testing yourself against someone else.
True to an extent but in sprints you are driving against the clock.I've looked at sprinting but the pound per minute factor just doesn't add up compared to circuit racing.
boy said: I've looked at sprinting but the pound per minute factor just doesn't add up compared to circuit racing.
True, but the overall £££ is far less than racing, particularly as you can run a road car with no special modifications, and the runs are short enough that nothing (tyres, brakes, etc.) overheats. We usually manage to get a set of tyres to last all season, and brakes to last several seasons.If I was circuit racing I'd be doing far fewer events, whereas with sprinting I'm out every 2-3 weeks or so.
I'm out almost every weekend sprinting and I now do very few track days as they are 'boring' compared with Sprinting. I would love to go racing but I don't fancy having to repair the car all the time after incidents on-track.
This was me out on Sunday at Debden...7th overall and 2nd in class. I'm still re-learning the car after the supercharger was fitted and I seem to be short-shifting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiwYVg4m7uA&lis...
I still do trackdays at places like Spa or the Ring but I love the competition from Sprinting now.
This was me out on Sunday at Debden...7th overall and 2nd in class. I'm still re-learning the car after the supercharger was fitted and I seem to be short-shifting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiwYVg4m7uA&lis...
I still do trackdays at places like Spa or the Ring but I love the competition from Sprinting now.
agreed, track days are great for sampling classic circuits at modest cost and
are good practice if you are competing at a given circuit beforehand, sprints
are better as they are a proper competition and you end up developing your car and driving and can see the difference in the times, fitting a bigger turbo in your corsa so you can edge up on that GT3 at trackday doesnt appeal.
are good practice if you are competing at a given circuit beforehand, sprints
are better as they are a proper competition and you end up developing your car and driving and can see the difference in the times, fitting a bigger turbo in your corsa so you can edge up on that GT3 at trackday doesnt appeal.
carl_w said:
True, but the overall £££ is far less than racing, particularly as you can run a road car with no special modifications, and the runs are short enough that nothing (tyres, brakes, etc.) overheats. We usually manage to get a set of tyres to last all season, and brakes to last several seasons.
If I was circuit racing I'd be doing far fewer events, whereas with sprinting I'm out every 2-3 weeks or so.
Yes, but you only get 10-15 minutes track time tops on a sprint? Spread over 3-6 runs in a day. Thats a lot of standing around.If I was circuit racing I'd be doing far fewer events, whereas with sprinting I'm out every 2-3 weeks or so.
Admitedly I've never sprinted but I have been to several and although I enjoy the spectacle of all the different machinery, I cant see the appeal of actually competing.
Fair enough, racing is more expensive, but you'll get an hour upwards on track, and thats 15 minutes+ hard driving at a time.
I come from the background of trackdays, people said I wouldn't enjoy them since I started racing but I still get a lot of enjoyment from them. Chasing my mates around a circuit as hard as I c an still gives me a buzz and although there's no timing or owt, it is practically racing.
For pure circuit driving, trackdays are the best value.
Cpt_Crustacean said:
Yes, but you only get 10-15 minutes track time tops on a sprint? Spread over 3-6 runs in a day. Thats a lot of standing around.
I guess you could get more but the goal of sprints is to minimize the amount of time you're on the track 
Standing around depends on the event and organizer. I hated the Snetterton event that was shared with a Nat A event as it was a *lot* of standing around, but at Abingdon CAR-nival you barely have time to adjust tyre pressures before you're queueing up for the next run.
I found sprinting a great experience coming from trackdays. At a trackday you might get a lot of time driving but the best bits are the few minutes where you are closing in on a more powerful car, essentially you are craving the competition. The car takes a punishing and you wallet feels the pain.
At a sprint, you get that same few minutes of proper limit driving trying to beat the clock, yourself and everyone around you, but without all the aimless roundy roundy driving on your own in between that gets boring and wastes tyres/fuel/brakes.
We usually get a group of us from the local car club attending mainland sprint events so the time spent not driving is fairly social.
At a sprint, you get that same few minutes of proper limit driving trying to beat the clock, yourself and everyone around you, but without all the aimless roundy roundy driving on your own in between that gets boring and wastes tyres/fuel/brakes.
We usually get a group of us from the local car club attending mainland sprint events so the time spent not driving is fairly social.
I'm in my 4th season of sprinting and although I still do the odd track day they are not the same. (i use them for testing and set up days)
Sprints give you the rush of pushing the car to its absolute limits (and beyond often) and you learn a hell of a lot more and get a massivly larger buzz doing so.
You couldnt physically drive at 'sprint' pace on a track day, and if you did you would probaly end up in a collision or banned.
Its sprints all the way for me....
Sprints give you the rush of pushing the car to its absolute limits (and beyond often) and you learn a hell of a lot more and get a massivly larger buzz doing so.
You couldnt physically drive at 'sprint' pace on a track day, and if you did you would probaly end up in a collision or banned.
Its sprints all the way for me....
Hi guys, anyone thought of Time Attack, I am involved with the series and just thought I'd mention it.
Some drivers use it as a stepping stone to get into racing, others enjoy it for what it is.
The first round was held at Cadwell last Saturday, if you want to have a look at the report. http://timeattack.co.uk/2011/page.php?a=1&s=25...
Some drivers use it as a stepping stone to get into racing, others enjoy it for what it is.
The first round was held at Cadwell last Saturday, if you want to have a look at the report. http://timeattack.co.uk/2011/page.php?a=1&s=25...
As all the above have mentioned.
Sprinting is far better than just track days. True the time on the circuit/course is limited, but the axileration makes up for it.
As I double drive with the wife, the day is really busy. Also she is keen for me to upgrade & spend money on the car. Unlike when we just do trackdays. So this also keeps the domestic situation perfect.
Sprinting is far better than just track days. True the time on the circuit/course is limited, but the axileration makes up for it.
As I double drive with the wife, the day is really busy. Also she is keen for me to upgrade & spend money on the car. Unlike when we just do trackdays. So this also keeps the domestic situation perfect.
I started sprinting last year as I simply could not afford/justify the extra costs of competing. The licence alone was about £400 more, by the time you add a medical and ARDs course. Anyway, not only did I save a few quid, that I spent on entering more events, I also enjoyed the social element and was made very welcome by other competitors. There's always plenty to do between runs too, so any thoughts of standing around with nothing to do are way out.
I also found sprints to be quite demanding. You have one shot at getting the most from yourself and your car. A single missed braking point, or missed apex, can ruin the whole run. I guess it's a bit like that single qualifying run when you're going for pole? (that's what I tell myself when I'm daydreaming anyway!
) All this is without the added fun of developing your car and improving your driving. As I say, last year I started sprints as I couldn't afford circuit racing, but this year I'm doing sprints because I had so much fun doing them last year! I still do some track-days, although they seem to be getting too hectic of late, and I hope to do some racing eventually, but don't dismiss sprints as just being second best as that simply isn't so.
Come along to Crystal Palace on the 26/27th May and see for yourself.
I also found sprints to be quite demanding. You have one shot at getting the most from yourself and your car. A single missed braking point, or missed apex, can ruin the whole run. I guess it's a bit like that single qualifying run when you're going for pole? (that's what I tell myself when I'm daydreaming anyway!
) All this is without the added fun of developing your car and improving your driving. As I say, last year I started sprints as I couldn't afford circuit racing, but this year I'm doing sprints because I had so much fun doing them last year! I still do some track-days, although they seem to be getting too hectic of late, and I hope to do some racing eventually, but don't dismiss sprints as just being second best as that simply isn't so.Come along to Crystal Palace on the 26/27th May and see for yourself.
I'm in my third year of sprinting and you are correct you get limited time on track but the time you do is very focused and intense. As has been said, one missed apex or late braking is a few fractions which will move you down the leaderboard.
I am doing less and less trackdays as I find them pretty boring unless there is a group of people and I have a passenger to take round. Going round on your own is pretty pointless when you are on your 100th trackday at Brands (for example). I would love to go racing but I can't justify the cost (a Sprint entry is less than £100 typically but a race entry is normally in the £300 plus mark).
I am doing less and less trackdays as I find them pretty boring unless there is a group of people and I have a passenger to take round. Going round on your own is pretty pointless when you are on your 100th trackday at Brands (for example). I would love to go racing but I can't justify the cost (a Sprint entry is less than £100 typically but a race entry is normally in the £300 plus mark).
Startline Al said:
Hi guys, anyone thought of Time Attack, I am involved with the series and just thought I'd mention it.
Some drivers use it as a stepping stone to get into racing, others enjoy it for what it is.
The first round was held at Cadwell last Saturday, if you want to have a look at the report. http://timeattack.co.uk/2011/page.php?a=1&s=25...
Hi,Some drivers use it as a stepping stone to get into racing, others enjoy it for what it is.
The first round was held at Cadwell last Saturday, if you want to have a look at the report. http://timeattack.co.uk/2011/page.php?a=1&s=25...
Any chance of some more details? Couldn't really see too much about how it all worked on the actual website. Are the classes really as broad as they appear?
Cheers
SmartVenom said:
Startline Al said:
Hi guys, anyone thought of Time Attack, I am involved with the series and just thought I'd mention it.
Some drivers use it as a stepping stone to get into racing, others enjoy it for what it is.
The first round was held at Cadwell last Saturday, if you want to have a look at the report. http://timeattack.co.uk/2011/page.php?a=1&s=25...
Hi,Some drivers use it as a stepping stone to get into racing, others enjoy it for what it is.
The first round was held at Cadwell last Saturday, if you want to have a look at the report. http://timeattack.co.uk/2011/page.php?a=1&s=25...
Any chance of some more details? Couldn't really see too much about how it all worked on the actual website. Are the classes really as broad as they appear?
Cheers
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