Hallett is like nowhere else I've been, everyone is cool, respectful, and the rules are more relaxed than any other track...and I racked-up 60-hours there in 9-months. I've had consistently terrible social experiences at TX tracks where people brake check at speed, lots of blocking, Porsche Cup ******s like to bump mid-corner and push you off track, and I had someone do me a favor of parking on top of my stuff because they were in a Viper and get to be a dick.

You should be ok in the newb groups though. If you understand to hold your line and let faster cars go around you (don't get out of their way), you'll be just fine.

I always take an extra:
front rotor
rear rotor
pads all the way around
timing belt (timing light)
water pump belt
8 plugs
spare coils (COPS)
brake juice
oil
$10 tire plug kit (used it twice at the track)
front wheel bearings
now an extra CAS
extra

I basically take a spare anything that is, affordable enough to buy a spare. In my 3-years of track action I've used the spare rotors, pads, bearings, and serp belt. Its a little money up front, you'll need these parts eventually, and it feels great to put the spare on and keep going all day rather than going home early.

 

That's not tracking.

 

Obviously its not tracking but autox cost next to nothing... and it will hopefully be enough to give me a little experience until I can afford to track.

How are cars classed in track days? Are they similar to auto x?

I used to race RC cars (which can get extremely competitive) down to tire compound, toe, camber, tuning, ect..
...Hustler nothing is worse than having to go home because you break.

Thank you for all the responses this is very helpful.

 

Nothing like AutoX, at least the events I've been to. Novice group for complete beginners, Intermediate for people with some experience, advanced for people with a lot of experience, and professional. The pro's had race only car, with stickers. There were also occasionally a wicked fast street car in there, just because he was friends with a pro, or simply too fast for the advanced group (not for the "I have a Ferrari so I should be put in the fast group" reason though).

 

Track days are based on experience and cars. If you're a seasoned driver in a ford pinto, you won't be in the advanced group per-say. But if you have a turbo miata, make sure you note that it's turbocharged. I had a friend go do a track day recently and they stuck him in the slow group because he just put down "miata with little to no track experience"... suffice it to say he was pretty bored all day.

 

Depends on the type of track day.

Some clubs are driver-ed classes only. The run groups are divided by driver experience, and to a lesser extent, the capabilities of the car. There is no competition, and as such, no "class".

Some clubs are a combination of driver-ed and time-trails. Time trials are similar to autocross in that the competition is gauged by laptimes (ie: fastest lap time in a particular class wins that class). Like autocross, the competition is basically you, your car and the track against the stopwatch. That makes it sound much more tame that it actually is, but that is effectively how the competition boils down.

The driver-ed portion of the TT event is similar to other clubs, where run-groups are divided by experience (licensed high-power cars, licensed low-power cars, intermediate students, novice students). The time-trial practice sessions are divided by competition class. The time-trial competition sessions are either divided by average lap times or car class, depending on the club/organization.

Each club has its own rules. The rules will be much more similar to SCCA road-race classes (Showroom Stock, Improved Touring, Production), and not SCCA autocross classes (SS, SP, ST, etc).