Sponsored

SCCA Track Night in America - Pittsburgh

chain

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Threads
36
Messages
592
Reaction score
215
Location
PA
Vehicle(s)
2017 Race Red GT
Last week I did my first Track Night in America event at Pittsburgh International Raceway. I have been to one other track day before in another car. Had a great time and realized I might have wasted some money lol. I bought and installed an auto blip a few days before going out but never got time to calibrate it that good. Personally seems like it would be hard to calibrate on the street anyways. I played with it my first outing making sure to only screw with it when no one was behind me in case something didn't go well. Never got it feeling good and finally turned it off. Decided I would try my hand at heel toe braking. I bought the auto blip as I figured it would be hard to learn heel toe and keep up with it unless I'm tracking all the time. To my surprise it seemed to come pretty naturally and I felt that I caught on really quick. Now I wish I would've held off on the auto blip. My second run was all heel toe and felt great. I think I need to move up to intermediate next time. Most everyone had to let me by but I was running the novice group. Must say it does do wonders for your ego anyways. =)

Ended up not getting to run the third time as dude in the Roush Mustang below ate it and jacked up the guardrail. They shut down the track as they said it would be 2-3 hours to repair the damages. The guy was alright, car not so much. He dropped two wheels off on the straight away, over corrected to get back on at speed, spun it around and nailed the guardrail. He didn't have track insurance. To make it worse come to find out it wasn't even his car. His neighbor owned it and passed away a couple years ago. His wife has had it in the garage since and just recently decided to sell it. He told her that he could try and help her sell it if he could take it out some and show it off. He took it out alright. To think of the nerve it must take to take someone's car to the track without their knowledge. I can only hope he does the right thing and buys it.

Anyways had a great time and can't wait until next season. I will do Pittsburgh again and plan to run Mid Ohio as well.
20180912_191853.jpg
20180912_192111.jpg
Sponsored

 
Last edited:

DCC

Active Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Threads
2
Messages
33
Reaction score
20
Location
Akron
Vehicle(s)
Usually taken apart.
Aw, that sucks. I saw him run the first time in the advanced group and he looked really uncomfortable out there. He was holding up most of the field and not pointing anyone by. I thought he got black flagged.
The second run, he was out in my group (intermediate.) I saw him pull back on to the track in-between turns 5-6 just as I was coming over the hill. I didn't see what caused him to go off but he was well of the road when I topped the hill.
I had to leave before my final run so I didn't know that had happened. That would explain the email I got apologizing for not getting all my run time for the day.

Did you like the Track Night format? I was really impressed with it. I like the low key nature of the event and I liked the customer focused tone the website and all the emails had. Best of al the price was more than reasonable. I'd like to do more of those.
 

DCC

Active Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Threads
2
Messages
33
Reaction score
20
Location
Akron
Vehicle(s)
Usually taken apart.
By the way, was this your car? It was sharp!
583939D0-E5C8-4EC0-B9DF-BD672DDE5EA5.jpeg
 
OP
OP
chain

chain

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Threads
36
Messages
592
Reaction score
215
Location
PA
Vehicle(s)
2017 Race Red GT
That was not my car, below is mine. =)

I liked the set up. It was pretty casual and I liked how the passing was handled in general. All that being said I have done an HPDE before that had both classroom and in car instruction and am glad to have had that experience. I was surprised that they let people out on the track with virtually no instruction. Had a blast and will definitely be back for next time. I'll move up to the intermediate group next go round. Hope to see you there.
SCCA Track Night Sept 18.jpg
 
Last edited:

Chez

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Threads
23
Messages
98
Reaction score
18
Location
PA
Vehicle(s)
2021 GT
Wow I had no idea it wasn't his car! He was given a pretty good talking to in the grid that session too.:facepalm: I thought it was really odd they let him run with a For Sale sign in the window.
 

Sponsored

Ryan P

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2017
Threads
3
Messages
199
Reaction score
107
Location
NE Ohio
Vehicle(s)
Jap Crap
Pitt Race is fantastic. I've done a couple of their PDE events and hope to do more next year. How are those track nights? Do they pace you every session? I'll be at Mid Ohio this Friday for the SCCA PDX event.
 

DCC

Active Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Threads
2
Messages
33
Reaction score
20
Location
Akron
Vehicle(s)
Usually taken apart.
Pitt Race is fantastic. I've done a couple of their PDE events and hope to do more next year. How are those track nights? Do they pace you every session? I'll be at Mid Ohio this Friday for the SCCA PDX event.
No pacer, quick tech, low key officials. I've been really impressed with how welcoming the language and customer service policies are. I think they are doing a great job of encouraging novices to come to the track. I thought it was a great value for the money. With the $25 off coupon I got a lot of track time for $125 total. I also got a $50 coupon since the Roush wreck cut into our track time.

Have fun at Mid-Ohio. That's a fun track too. (We are really lucky to have a couple of great facilities within a few hours drive.)
 
OP
OP
chain

chain

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Threads
36
Messages
592
Reaction score
215
Location
PA
Vehicle(s)
2017 Race Red GT
Pitt Race is fantastic. I've done a couple of their PDE events and hope to do more next year. How are those track nights? Do they pace you every session? I'll be at Mid Ohio this Friday for the SCCA PDX event.
Track night was fun. That being said I could see it getting hairy out there with the wrong people since they let drivers out with no experience. There was no pacing in the real sessions, only the parade laps to get familiar with the track. As DCC noted it was very welcoming to beginners and getting new people into the sport.

Is there somewhere I can find online when SCCA does their PDX events out there? I have looked before but was thinking I would have to run with PCA as that's all I could find. Next year I will run Mid Ohio for sure. Looks like such a fun track to run.

Laguna Seca is another I'd really like to run but doubting that will ever happen with their location.
Sponsored

 
 




Top