Yeah- the track day organisers hate open wheel purely because of the chance of injury.TimDogg wrote:No Ads I haven't driven with aero - what will be the difference to a normal car? I like the concept of doing the engine prep myself and trailering it to a track, adjusting the setup etc - just getting involved. I must admit, I wasn't aware of the special 'open-wheel' track day requirements - why is this, ie. why don't they allow open-wheels?
As for aero.... Well... 'Night and day'. It doesn't take a lot of aero to make a big difference. For example the original mk1 Elise had nearly 10 times the downforce over both axles to the s2. The problem was that the car ten got a reputation for some nasty high speed oversteer due to the shift on forces during the corner on windy days. That was only 20kg or so at 100mph. Start adding a proper wing to get into the 100kg area and above then it is very hard. You have to unhook your brain to reassess just what is possible. To my uneducated view, it would be like comparing the agility and acrobatic capability of a Cold War jet with something modern like a typhoon or f22.
The other issue is that aero cars are *much* faster than normal cars and if you end up on a mixed normal Trackday then it's very frustrating - you are constantly holding back waiting to overtake them and its rare that you can get a clear lap. If you go for a more specialised day they are more expensive and quite scary at the start... I had a lot of fun with a radical (when it was working) but had more fun and learnt more from other cars.
Depending on hat you are trying to get out if it there 99% of the fun to be ha with something more mainstream. Even something along the lines of an mx5 can be ridiculously good fun (great footage on YouTube with tuned mx5 vs gt40).
A stripped out e46 is also a very good option (and cheap).
