Also Mooch, fantastic footage, looks like a blast!
Thanks!
As for horror stories, here's the only one I've had: Same event from the vid above (Summit Point Shenandoah Circuit with Trackdaze, but 1st session on day #1. Raining hard as hell. I got tagged by a Mini - of all vehicles - in turn 2 (the Hammer, see attached track map). Spun me around 270 degrees. Thankfully, because of the rain there was no damage, just some paint transfer which was easily buffed out. Doesn't cost a dime. When we came in to talk with the event staff, come to find out he thought point-bys carried over. I gave him a point-by 3 turns previous and he didn't take it. He quite literally thought that he could pass freely at the very next opportunity without receiving another point. Note to new guys: wrong. It's one point and done. They don't carry over. Ultimately, I kept my cool, my composure and a smile. There was no damage to my car, no harm to me. And I didn't want to ruin the guys weekend by blowing up and demanding this and that. It was his first time ever on this track, he lives like 6 hours away or something and he was by himself at the event...and he also looked visibly shaken when we talked. After the incident, so many people were like, "Man if I was you I woulda been like...," yadda yadda yadda.
What I meant by thankfully because of the rain there was no damage: a wet track is a very slick track. In an off camber turn in a downpour, the slightest nudge will send me spinning. If it had been dry conditions and I was delivered the same hit, I would've received some body damage due to the car not sliding out because of good traction. So, the rain was actually a good thing.
I'm really not trying to scare anyone, here. These types of things do actually happen...it is just pretty uncommon. You just have to be careful and know the "rules". Unfortunately for me, I had one of those guys behind me who shouldn't have been in the position he was in. The guy, he immediately got assigned an instructor (he didn't have one) and then bumped down to the blue (intermediate) run group. Oh, and he actually had to replace some plastic on his Mini, too.
One last note: what really keeps me from overdriving at the track is knowing that I need to be able to drive my car an hour and a half or more back to the house at the end of the weekend. As long as I keep this somewhere in my head during the weekend, I'm fine.
Track days are really friggin fun, by the way.
(And 2 passes down the 1/4 mi.)
12 runs X 1 min. = 12 minutes of excitement. It looks boring to me.
