[s-cars] Las Vegas

[manuelsanchez at starpower.net]

John,

Schools are tons of fun.  The schools are what I think Crack
must be like. I'm totally hooked.

In my area, the Motorcycle (M)helmets are allowed, the Special
Application (SA) are more expensive and preferred by
roadracers. You can read about them on-line, but basically I
think the M helmets are not fire rated while the SA's are.
There is a whole thing about the testing method as well, Snell
vs DOT. If I remeber correctly motorcycle helmets are tested
for 1 impact, when the rider falls, cars are assumed to have
multiple impacts, as the car rolls and you go along for the ride.

Check this link out for testing definitions

http://www.smf.org/articles/dot.html

http://www.na-motorsports.com/Journal/1997/3/Helmet.html

It's your head so you can make the call. I've had a bike since
college, so I decided to go the motorcycle route and bought my
ugly helmet on clearance for $50USD from denniskirk.com.

My tires were very worn when I attended my first school, they
were still street legal when I went, but I destroyed them at
the track, they chunked (Dunlop SP8000's) in some spots and I
wore them thru to the cords on the sidewall. My car at the
time was lowered but without any camber plates, so I think
that's why the cords wore thru.

I bought EBC Autocross pads for my stock G60's, thinking they
would be a good compromise between stock pads and track pads.
I have used EBC's on my motorcycle for many years without
trouble. I put 1 weeks worth of driving on them before the
event and I wore thru them completely, half way home from the
track i was metal on metal. I must like to brake hard. I now
bring an extra set of pads, just in case. So far the big brake
kit has not worn nearly as quickly as the stock set-up, but I
haven't driven the exact same course to know how much the
course lay-out effects the braking results.


I have been to 2 different tracks (and hope to see more), the
events are run run by the same club chapter, but I found that
the beginner group training to be different. I was lucky in
that my first event involved alot of car control exercises
other than the skidpad, which gives you a better feel of your
ride without worrying about hitting anything other than a cone.

My first school started me on the slippery slope, the first
mod was a set of Big Red brakes, after all the stock G60's
were toast.  A bit of warning, it could be all downhill after
your first school.

You will need to check with your insurance carrier to see if
they cover NON timed driving schools.

The manual will probably be more fun.

Again, I would encourage you to go, it's so much fun and it's
legal. The skidpad is a great learning tool as well, although
maybe the water evaporates too fast in Vegas.

-manny
95.5 UrS6 Avant







Message: 3
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:26:57 -0700
From: John Farr <alightman at earthlink.net>
Subject: [s-cars] Las Vegas
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Message-ID: <B446DAB1-66EC-4199-ABC1-BC1344EB7B25 at earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes;
format=flowed

I'm thinking of attending the ACNA driving school in Vegas in
April.  
Although a long time lister, I've never been to a track event
before.  
Kind of sparse here in Utah. A few questions for you wise men of  
listdom:
	-A helmet is required. What kind of helmet?
	-Is it worthwhile as a rookie?
	-Should I plan on wasting a set of tires?
	-What are the insurance implications of a worst case
scenario? (from  
a bent fender to upside       	 down)
	-Which car should I take, the old one ('93 S4) or the new one
('02  
S6)? Probably depends on
	 the answer to the above question.
Thanks for any input, sorry to be such a newb.

John Farr