Here at Pansy Patrol we have done quite a number of track days between us, and pretty much know what to expect. But if you are just getting your feet wet in the world of high performance driving, you may be a bit mystified as to what actually happens at a track day. Well, today I’ll give you a quick run through how track days work and what you can expect.

So here is how track days work: a club or other organization rents a track for the day, and then sells a slot in one of their run groups to you. In exchange for the cost of admission, you get 1) track time (usually 1.5-2 hours or so), 2) an in-car instructor (at least for the more novice run groups), 3) on site emergency services including an ambulance and tow truck. Prices vary considerably depending on the club and the track, but all are a fairly sizable commitment.

There are a myriad of different clubs in all different parts of the country (and world!) including the Sports Car Driving Association (SCDA), Porsche Club of America, BMW Club of America, Corvette Club of America, and NASA, just to name a few. Some of the car-specific clubs are open to cars of all manufacturers, so don’t let that discourage you. Here at Pansy Patrol, we run with Ian Prout at the SCDA, who runs a great track day at tracks throughout the Northeast.

Oh, and some clubs call track days “High Performance Driving Events” (aka “HPDE”). They are the same thing, so don’t let that confuse you.
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THE most important part of your car is your tires. And yes, I did mean to capitalize “THE.” Tires are literally the only part of your car that touches the ground (and if anything else is touching the ground, you should probably have that fixed). This means that ALL inputs depend DIRECTLY on your tires. Power, braking, and steering are all conditioned upon the amount of traction that your tires provide to you.

What Tires Should You Get?

So the next question is, What Tires to Get? Without getting into any specifics, the best thing to do is to pick a tire based on what you plan to do with your car. My Honda CRX is my daily driver, and it has the cheapest, nastiest 13 inch tires one can find. In fact, these were “found” on the car when I bought it, and I haven’t bothered to upgrade (though I did swap my Miata tires onto the CRX when I took it to the track). The reason is that these 13 inch tires do everything I need them to do as I tootle around town.

For my Miata, my tire needs are much more specific. I need tires that will give me maximum performance on the racetrack. So, I pretty much choose a tire from the highest “performance rating” category. I’ve tried a few different ones, and each has their pros and cons. The important thing though is that I get the right type of tire - maximum performance summer tire.

The Black Magic and Voodoo of Automobile Tires

And now we get to why I have selected this title: when you try to maximize your tire traction at the track, different brands and models of tires follow some general principles, but pretty much each march to their own beat.

It really boils down to the current technology used in making automobile tires. Tire is just a rubber compound with different grooves cut into it. And each of the different compounds used in each of the different tire models on the market today behaves differently in pretty much every aspect. These differences are compounded further by variations in tread design. Lets take a walk through some of the major areas:
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You can’t make this stuff up. A proposal to increase the tolls on the Humbert Bridge in England was met with objections, as indeed are most toll or tax increases. In this case, however, the Humbert Bridge Board held a public inquiry to look into whether the tolls should be increased. This inquiry cost over $80,000! (what exactly did they have to “inquire” about that could cost so much?) And the best part? The proposed increase is for roughly 30 cents/car, and the $80 grand must be paid for by the tolls which people did not want increased in the first place!

Bureaucracy at its finest.