Did you get the Track Attack Insurance?

[DUJALA]

I went with my wife and she was a driving guest. We did not get the track insurance and after completing the event I am happy with our decision. I went probably 80% and only had one incident where I came in a bit hot at the end of the straight and had the back end kick out a bit. Easily correctable, but had I lost it, there was tons of sand before any walls.

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[honeybadger]

Unless you plan to drive pretty recklessly, I don't see how you'd need insurance. There's TONS of run off room. $5,000 is fairly steep for the type of damage you're most likely to see.

On the other hand, if you are the type that will worry the entire time because you're not covered, just buy it and have fun. I'm the type that runs HPDE days without insurance, so take it as you will

 

[Epiphany]

Pay for it and let it all hang out if you're the type where your brain may disagree with instinct. You don't want to hesitate.

 

[FPC]

hmmm... doing the experience with insurance and 2nd day comes out to around $2200. Ouch. Is the second day worth it?

How much is the insurance for one day? I don't see it on the track attack website.

 

[honeybadger]

How much is the insurance for one day? I don't see it on the track attack website.

IIRC, it's $125-150 - somewhere in there.

 

[oldbmwfan]

hmmm... doing the experience with insurance and 2nd day comes out to around $2200. Ouch. Is the second day worth it?

I bought the insurance. If I'm driving someone else's cars, I want financial freedom to DRIVE it.

My opinion, day 2 is worth it (helps amortize the fixed cost in time and $$ of getting you to Utah in the first place, plus more track time = better). However, paying the $400 extra for a Boss 302 on the 2nd day is not worth it. BUT, I have a race car so the novelty of getting into a gutted car with cage and harnesses isn't a big deal to me. The $400 I saved paid for an HPDE weekend in my own car later in the same month.

I actually quite enjoyed having a significant hardware disadvantage, but more track experience, and making it my purpose to pass as many of the race cars as I could while driving the GT school car. It was quite fun, and I was surprised at the performance of the GT despite being on street tires.

 

[Lurker_350]

I did the one day and got the insurance...Would’ve needed it too but it was at the Track Attack where I REALLY learned how good these brakes are....I’d get the insurance.

I feel like there is a good story hidden here......care to share?

BTW - I bought the insurance after the check-in staff mentioned that you are also responsible for damage caused by others. I felt like $150 was pretty cheap to just avoid any high-dollar he-said/she-said incidents.

 

[sublime1996525]

I feel like there is a good story hidden here......care to share?

BTW - I bought the insurance after the check-in staff mentioned that you are also responsible for damage caused by others. I felt like $150 was pretty cheap to just avoid any high-dollar he-said/she-said incidents.

I was the same way. I wasn't going to get it until the staff said I was responsible for the car, even if someone hit me. I have terrible luck and didn't want to take that chance.

 

[scannon]

I signed up for the insurance. Will be there July 8 & 9th, anyone else signed up for those days?

 

[Venandakatra]

My $.02 is that it would be a pretty good idea to get the insurance.

Due to the nature of this sort of event you are going to have a high variation in skill with the other drivers going out there with you. From my experience there are 3 ways you get into trouble:
- You screw up and go off. If you're a decent driver and not going all out (they only let you put it in sport and tell you to leave T/C/Stability on), you should be pretty safe as these cars are ridiculously capable.
- You get hit by someone else driving. I saw a couple of people in my group really screw up braking zones and diving to the apex hot and barely make the corner. There is trail braking and then there is 2-4 off at the middle outside of the corner. If they are coming into your rear, this could be bad. There are very likely to be some number of people that considerably over-estimate their ability.
- Someone else screws up and puts you in a bad situation. Some of these people may have the instinct to stop or go excessively slow in the middle of the track. Granted, nothing on this track was blind enough (that I recall) to be TOO scary but these can cause chain reactions and bad situations especially with the unpredictable nature of someone who would stop dead middle of the track. Additionally, there were no corner workers when I was there. There was a flagger on the front straight only so if someone went off a few corners ahead of you, you will not know it until you see the dust cloud, debris, or the car re-entering the track.

I don't mean to make the event sound unsafe or anything, I don't feel that to be the case at all. It just has a few more variables than your average club track day (where you will have beginner with instructor, intermediate, and advanced or the like).

 

[btown93]

I'll never understand why this is such a debate. The entire point of the track attack program is to help you learn about the car's abilites and your abilities in a safe place, using a vehicle that they provide, specifically so you don't have to use your own car. For alot of people, they would never do such a thing with their own car, and by them giving you a car to use, you can focus on learning and driving. the insurance is just an extension of that very same process. While this is a VERY safe environment and the risk is relatively low, these are VERY fast machines...and you have students of all skill levels...and try as they might, there is usually that one person that HAS to be first! For me, both times I went I brought a driving guest and we both did 2 days. If you break out the calculator and start adding it all up, $150/day becomes chump change. One new wheel and tire for these cars is easly over $1k!
For most of us, getting to salt lake city requires a plane ride, so between flights, hotel, rental car, food, etc....I'm not sure why its such a debate. in the end it is a small percentage of the cost of the whole trip. Like they say at UMSC, you already bought a GT350, you don't want to have to buy another one!

 

[Lurker_350]

I think the debate is about whether or not a loss greater than $5k is probable. I agree that $150 is very cheap for the coverage; however, I do not know of any event (not that I have looked into it with any rigor) that has occurred that exceeded the deductible.

Most of the mishaps I am aware of have been on the order of $2k to $3k for wheels/tires. If you had not paid the insurance you would come out $150 ahead since you haven't reached the $5k deductible. I know, +/- $150 compared to $2k to $3k is nothing. But paying the $150 did nothing to reduce your $3k cost for a couple new wheels.

Note that as I said earlier, I did buy the insurance. But I'm not sure if I would again.

 

[honeybadger]

I'll never understand why this is such a debate. The entire point of the track attack program is to help you learn about the car's abilites and your abilities in a safe place, using a vehicle that they provide, specifically so you don't have to use your own car. For alot of people, they would never do such a thing with their own car, and by them giving you a car to use, you can focus on learning and driving. the insurance is just an extension of that very same process. While this is a VERY safe environment and the risk is relatively low, these are VERY fast machines...and you have students of all skill levels...and try as they might, there is usually that one person that HAS to be first! For me, both times I went I brought a driving guest and we both did 2 days. If you break out the calculator and start adding it all up, $150/day becomes chump change. One new wheel and tire for these cars is easly over $1k!
For most of us, getting to salt lake city requires a plane ride, so between flights, hotel, rental car, food, etc....I'm not sure why its such a debate. in the end it is a small percentage of the cost of the whole trip. Like they say at UMSC, you already bought a GT350, you don't want to have to buy another one!

I think the reason some folks don't pay for the insurance is because they are OK with the odds of needing to pay more than $5,150. Even if you have insurance, you're still paying that entire $1K out of pocket for a busted wheel.

Just depends on the person and what they're hoping to get out of it. When I went, I had no intention of driving the piss out of it because I wanted to maximize my time with the instructor and focus more on technique than outright speed. I never felt like I was taking risk, so no insurance felt right to me. Whole thing only cost me $300 (including accommodations and T-Shirt).

But if I wanted to go drive their car flat-out as hard as I possibly could and be on the ragged edge - insurance would probably be a smart move. Just depends on the person, their intent, and their driving skill.

 

[btown93]

I think the reason some folks don't pay for the insurance is because they are OK with the odds of needing to pay more than $5,150. Even if you have insurance, you're still paying that entire $1K out of pocket for a busted wheel.

Just depends on the person and what they're hoping to get out of it. When I went, I had no intention of driving the piss out of it because I wanted to maximize my time with the instructor and focus more on technique than outright speed. I never felt like I was taking risk, so no insurance felt right to me. Whole thing only cost me $300 (including accommodations and T-Shirt).

But if I wanted to go drive their car flat-out as hard as I possibly could and be on the ragged edge - insurance would probably be a smart move. Just depends on the person, their intent, and their driving skill.

all good points, but sometimes, Its not you that is the cause of an incident. sometimes you are collateral damage. I'm glad you got to do it on such short dough! :cheers:

 

[honeybadger]

all good points, but sometimes, Its not you that is the cause of an incident. sometimes you are collateral damage. I'm glad you got to do it on such short dough! :cheers:

Bro - that's why you just drive faster than everyone :lol::lol::lol:

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