MarkDFW

It started out so innocently. My better half buys me the Andretti racing experience at Texas Motor Speedway almost 3 years ago. Two, 8 minute sessions in a NASCAR. The midlife crisis had begun. I promptly sell my BMW 3 series and buy a 2012 corvette grand sport as my new daily driver. For Christmas, she buys me a gift certificate to a local road racing track where I can bring my own car for HPDE. "I'll just go once or twice" is what I tell her and myself. Kind of like a junkie is going to just give heroin or crack a try "once or twice".

Fast forward 2 years, a bunch of mods, probably 15 HPDE and NASA Time Trails days, and I have a car that is 50% street, 50% track, and 100% nothing. Something needs to change.

After a lot of thought, sage advice from people smarter than me, and the kind of deep insight you can only know when you reach the end of many good bottles of wine, there was only 1 thing left to do: Sell the corvette, buy a 3/4 ton diesel truck with max trailer package, and buy a dedicated track car. (The enclosed trailer will happen later this year).

I didn't really choose to buy a GTA car. The GTA car chose me. It was the only car I could find that was able to meet my main criteria: Faster than my corvette, much lower operating costs, purpose built for the track and extremely safe for racing. If there is a better bang for the buck to run at the lap times these cars can put down, I couldn't find it.

Friday was my first day at the track with this car. What a huge contrast to the corvette. While the corvette is a bit of a sledgehammer on the track, it does show some manners. The GTA car doesn't care what your name is or expect you to buy her a drink. Just hike her skirt and go to town. It will take a little time to get used to left-foot braking, the feel of the gear box, and the bias ply slicks. I have no doubt as I get comfortable she will easily put down faster lap times than the corvette.

Needless to say, I'm happy with my decision. I talked to a lot of people who have done this for a long time before finally buying a truck, trailer and dedicated track car. Every one of them, without exception, says they wish they had gone that route a lot sooner. I figure I won't regret taking the plunge now rather than later. Next steps will be enclosed trailer and competition school later this year.

Bowchickawowow

Awesome, congrats!

fcarga

Ditto!

Charley Hoyt

Congratulations

bosco022

Congrats, the racer looks great. Your gonna have a blast and be safer doing it.

smellya

very nice....

Supercharged111

It's been going around, people who I saw in HPDE when I first joined getting a race car. I think I was destined for it though, it's just not the path I saw myself taking a couple years ago. Racing is so much more fun, you'll dread the thought of going back to HPDE/TT!

skxf430

Wow, nice choice of cars. It looks like a ton of fun and a real beast.

MarkDFW

HPDE got to a point where it wasn't much fun anymore. My corvette + R Comp tires meant I was spending most of every session having to wait for a point to pass.

Time Trials is better, but many of us get only 2 clean laps before catching the guys in lower classes.

I have some hookups for member days at a couple local tracks. Factor in an eventual comp license with NASA and/or SCCA and my woes are hopefully gone.

bosco022

The ASA cars just make flat out excellent road race cars. Add another 100 HP (which is easy to do) they then can challenge some pretty good regional SCCA GT-1 cars. Our ASA chassis re-bodied with the Howe TA2 Camaro and powered by a 550 flywheel HP LS6 laps Daytona in 1:54 (Bobby Kennedy piloting) ... about the same as the faster Trans Am2 cars. It was put together for about 1/3 the cost of those.

Supercharged111

Dude it was like that for me in my C5 with NT05s, get 2-3 clean laps tops and you're catching people that simply don't belong in HDPE3. When I saw I was putting up TT caliber times on street tires (compared to the TT guys running DOT R's) I knew I could throw aero on my car and do some serious damage in TT, but I saw the exact same phenomenon as in HPDE3 with open passing. I took the plunge to CMC and couldn't be happier. You thought TT was fun? That was just the gateway drug. Wait until you're side by side or even just running someone down like a dog until they choke and know you're the reason they did it even though you've got an R on your car. I toyed with the idea of a roundy round car, but the class was nearly non-existent last year whereas the CMC class here (and especially in TX!) is healthy and competitive. The GTA cars run in SU and have their own rules, more restrictive than SCCA's GTA class. It's ARRS (American Road Racing Series (?), www.arrs.us) and they all run free tires with a 400ish hp/tq cap. Looks real promising, I hope it catches on.

Captain Buddha

Mark looked really good out there, every session/lap he got better/more comfortable with the car. I predicted 3 spins, I think he only had 1...LOL...heck, I actually kept mine on the track ALL day...I did spin on my first out lap, it was a nice 360 and I kept it on the track...wheee! Then Mark comes flying by...Mark is definitely going to be fast in the #02!! Congrats man! Looking forward to going w2w with you!

BuckeyeZ06

Good choice.

My experience was/is very similar. HPDE'd at C5Z twice and sold it to buy a T1 Corvette. 11 years later I am running the Trans Am Series in 850 HP 2800 lb machines.

Crack cocaine would have been cheaper, but not as fun.

So when you coming Pro racing?

MarkDFW

I'll start off regional with NASA and maybe SCCA. In the Texas area, for the kind of car I want to run, NASA seems to be better for regional racing. SCCA has more mature Pro Racing series with Trans Am and World Challenge but I lack both the time and $$ to go to that level right now.

mbeckers

Car looks great. Congratulations!

jcsperson

Congrats on the car. This makes sense on so many levels. I hope to be in a position to do this in a year or so.

MarkDFW

Thanks. I talked to many people who went this route, and none have regretted it.

If I had a bigger budget, I'd probably have a different car. My bank account is that of a mere mortal. The GTA car just seems to be the perfect fit for cost effective and competitive ST1 or GT2 racing.

FNCG

Why do you brake with the left foot?

MarkDFW

So you can keep right foot on gas. You only use the clutch to get going in first gear. you don't touch it after that. And you blip the gas hard on downshifts while braking. Easier to use both feet that just you right foot to do that.

SDF

Hey Mark, congrats on the car! Good Choice! I have a HOWE GTA car that I am in the process of putting back together after a complete overhaul. It's gonna be awhile before I get it back on the track........