- 05/29/2018
- 1 Min Read
- By: Michael Roselli
Why You Should Do A Track Day If You Haven't Already
Ever see those videos that say "professional driver, closed course?" That could be you. Well, so long as you follow a few steps first.
SCDA stands for the "Sports Car Driving Association" and their primary purpose is to get people that haven't been on track before, on it. Safety comes before all else, but after that, the instructors want you to have fun. And when we visited Thompson Motorsports Park a few weeks ago for a high performance driving event, that's exactly what we saw.
One Volvo wagon owner, with 300,000+ miles on the clock (actually sold to the current owner by a former FCP Euro employee, Volvo Bob), was there for his first track day because of the FCP Euro discount ($50 off the signup fee and a $50 parts credit) available through this link. It's a great deal to get both you and your car ready for your first track day.
Our video team, along with Nate Vincent, driver of the #72 Volkswagen GTI TCR in the Pirelli World Challenge series, were there to capture the action at Thompson Motorsports park. These types of events are a really low-key environment where everyone can learn the basics of how to succeed at a track day. There truly is no better way for a first-timer to learn.
So, why do a track day in the first place? Besides going flat out on a closed course, like the professional driver you've always wanted to be, you will genuinely learn aspects of driving that you can directly apply to driving on public roads—especially if you bring your daily driver. Learning your brakes, for example, and how much pressure needs to be applied before the ABS (or not, depending on your car) kicks in, can become extremely valuable when driving in hazardous conditions. If your car has stability or traction control systems, driving on a track will teach you when they kick in—and how much—so that you're not surprised when it does driving on a public road.
Did I mention driving on track is just...really fun? Come and join us at the next one! The schedule is here.
