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Story of a wanabe, I bet there are a few of these i went to about 15 DE's over 10 years ,PBOC, BMWCCA, SCCA ETC, 3 different tracks RA, Barber, Little Tally, stock car at AIR, autocross...

CONS: never made any friends (my fault), have almost no mechanical skills, wrecked 3 cars, wasted a lot of money, got ripped off by some shops, my wife hates it and would never go, i am 53, had 2 big time shoulder surgery’s, cannot drive on the edge anymore or never could thus the 3 wrecked cars, have to pay to store the trailer and have the car maintained, always wanted to make the jump to (wheel to wheel) racing never could commit the time

Pros: i felt like i could be good at it and got "solo" in all groups, cut a few pretty good laps and felt the MOJO, had some guys compliment me on those laps, got some nice pic's of myself in a race car on a race track, now i have the money to buy the race car i always wanted but do not have the confidence, last time out that tire wall came up so fast and in an instant it was all over again.

To Do List: …..delete all links to race cars for sale sites, sale all remaining race related items, quit telling myself I could just get out there and drive slow, quit telling myself I could get one of those vintage race cars and (race slow), take the wife, dog and camper (traded last race car for) and go sit by the lake, funny how much sense that all makes when you write it down.

Holy hell dude, wrecked 3 cars in just 15 DEs!?!?!

OK if it's really related to your shoulder problem, you just need the right car. One with a powerful PS system, good supportive seats, paddle shifters, maybe quick (but still highly boosted) steering would help?

Edit: BTW what were the cars you wrecked? 911s, Corvettes, that kind of thing? Go low-powered and high-grip for safety, it's fun too!

3 cars in 15 DEs...

This tells me you have trouble sensing when the car is on the edge or that you are not sensing it soon enough and taking action to recover in time. The fact that you were able to cut some decent laps and progress to a point tells me that you are likely driving mainly by sight, compensating, and not really feeling what is happening with the chassis. This is a common problem - maybe not to the degree of loss you have had but I chock that up to not having addressed the root cause before you reloaded the cannon and fired away.

To gain confidence... back to basics. We need to tune your butt dyno and build recovery skills. Autocross will help - but get thyself on a wet skidpad or icy parking lot with an instructor and learn to control, recover and maintain the car on the edge. Catch, pause, recover... over and over and over and over until it's 2nd nature and you can calmly change the attitude of the car early, mid, or late corner without panicking.

Then, hit the track. Don't be a hero - get an instructor who will work with you, tell him your story and don't accept a solo pass. Keep him/her there. A good instructor isn't going to be frightened of you - but you should be prepared to be kept on a leash while he probes your capacity and gains confidence in what you can and can't do well.

Also - try this exercise - when you are driving to work, make only one input change and ask yourself "Is the chassis settled" before you make another. It will help you become attuned to when the chassis is ready to accept change.

If you have a car with soft suspension and street tires - use it at your first couple HPDEs. It exaggerates the time it takes make input changes so you can really feel what is going on.

Get comfortable with timing your input changes to when the chassis is stable and ready to accept them. This needs to become second nature and any work you can do before you get to the skidpad or racetrack will pay dividends.

Confidence comes from being able to get out of the trouble you are capable of getting into.

I don't think he was looking for advice. It sounds to me like he was breaking up with track days.

itsarebuild wrote: I don't think he was looking for advice. It sounds to me like he was breaking up with track days.

It sounded like a cry for help...

This is what I do for fun in the summer... I help race car drivers and wannabes reach some sort of plateau. A lot of good people did it for me when I was learning. There is more reward in saving the basket case than the riding with a prodigy. Maybe I'm just being selfish :)

James - I'm thinking you're ripe for an arrive-and-drive karting league. Nothing to own - just pay to play, whenever you have the time.

I will not blame the shoulder problems, althought they are a huge factor now and i have to accept that, my right arm was almost torn off, only thing holding it on was the skin (computer engineers should not play lumberjack) the cars 1, e30 with ps @ RA and 1 without @ Barber and 1 grand am srt @ LT. (To gain confidence... back to basics).....yes sir that was my plan restart in the a group find good instructor like yourself and not let them out of the car, i had a couple like you that can channel their driving talent through the student, and thanks for taking the time for your reply. (It sounded like a cry for help) it was just that at my last attempt, i made the mistake again of requesting a certain guy, that never worked. i got stuck with a boy wonder who sat there and never said a word the whole time, i tried to get a different guy, not happening, the kid and some dried out slicks did not mix well and into the tire wall we went last session of the last day. (I don't think he was looking for advice it sounds to me like he was breaking up with track days.) bottom line you nailed it. My next mistake was going to be in a single seat busa powered radical which the PBOC would gladly let me run at Barber, my wife gave me the stinkeye and for once i took the hint. thanks for the words guys Glory Day's