Advice to beginners
Having competed in NASA’s TT series for 2 seasons, and as a rookie racer, I have learned quite a bit in the last 2 years. Given that, I would like to share a little bit of what I have learned. There is more to it than what I’m about to cover, but this should give a beginner some general info to think about. The following is some general knowledge I acquired through others which then became realized through my experiences. The following is actually my response to a recent thread. I’ve noted most of it in previous threads, but this is my most recent one. I may from time to time modify this page with other info also. Here is my advice based on what I have learned:
If you are a beginner, know that I understand where you are coming from because not too long ago I was a complete noob to motorsports. One of the many important qualities I’ve learned is patience. It’s best to spend less on your car, and more on the driver. Why? The driver will reward you more success than anything else. If you have money to spend, instead of modifying your car, spend that money on instruction and running an entire season of HPDE’s. That will be more expensive than you may think you know. However, that experience will be significantly more rewarding than any tricked out car with all the fancy bits. So the question is, do you want to be a fast driver a year or two from now, or have a fast car right now that you will never learn how to drive properly?
If you want to be fast at the track, you need seat time, because experience will reward you faster lap times in the long run. And in order to get plenty of seat time, you not only need a car that is setup well for your level of experience, you also need it to be reliable so that you can participate in many events without any headaches. Therefore, the last thing you want to do as a beginner is add power to your car. I’m sure this doesn’t sound at all appealing right now to most, but you will understand better in time with what I’m saying here. Extra power is not only going to mask your mistakes, it is also going to overwhelm you (which will entail more mistakes). Beyond that, mods will prevent you from improving. Why? As a noob there is a great deal to be learned. Your mods will not allow you to know how much you’re improving. And you will not know what needs to be adjusted when you get to that point because you will not know what those mods provided in the first place since you never learned how much you’ve improved vs what the mods have done for you. Most importantly, you will not have learned how to drive properly so you will end up with one huge confusing puzzle.
Most life lessons, like dont jump in head first, apply here also. You want to proceed with caution. So start off simple, and take your time. The more money you spend on mods, the more you will take away from what you could have learned. Besides, if this is something you really get into, in time you will realize what really matters (which is pretty much what ive covered here). At a competitive level, even for weekend warriors, the factors that are a necessity $$$$$, generally speaking include tires, gas, fluids, entry fees, rotors and pads. Not to mention all the tools, replacement parts, and miscellaneous items you will need. So be careful on what you spend your money on now, because the more parts your mod/add, the more $$$$$ you will spend later for maintenance, because everything needs maintenance. So the more mods you have, the more you will spend to maintain, repair, or replace it. And if something expensive breaks and needs to be repaired/replaced, your expenses will go through the roof. Luckily I never made those mistakes, but I’ve seen quite a few people go down that road.
In closing, I want to say one other thing. I’m going to have to steal this quote from an instructor. All too often we hear the saying, practice makes perfect. Consider this also, practice makes permanent. So if you want to spend money, spend it on the driver. Anyone can drive fast, but not everyone can do it properly.