Kiddo’s first day driving a Race Car on a Race Track…
 

My 13 year old son got to participate in a race school on Saturday. He drove my Miata and did really well. The instructors were very impressed with his car control.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1715637642.jpg

getting a passenger seat into my SM car was no easy feat…

Excellent.
Track experience will make him a much better driver on the street when the time comes.
He will be aware of everything going on all around instead of staring only at the bumper of the car immediately in front, like so many average drivers.

That's fantastic . A positive activity to be part of . If he has a passion for it encourage him and watch him grow .

He's had kart experience. There so much more brought to the car when you have good kart control. It's just proven. Now we have sims. I bet he's even familiar and comfortable. And he has a racer dad. I didn't have any of that except karts that I did my own 14 YO level work and some other dads that might toss a bone. I needed to focus on wheel nuts and cotter keys while they were doing set up. Set up. ? What's that? Oh, front toe? I can do that.

Not many bones on race day though. I couldn't even get the skinny on tire temps. The ones that offered were not fast. Or they lied. There is a LOT of that.

How cool is that!

At 13, I had outgrown my Schwinn Stingray (still have it) and was riding my Schwinn Continental. Driving a car, was three years away.

I'm jealous! At 56, I'm just now getting seriously into driver ed track days. I really wish I'd done it a long time ago. I've road raced motorcycles and shifter karts along with a whole bunch of autocross. The one thing I've never done is spent a lot of time with a proper instructor in the car next to me. I'm relatively fast due to all the track time and a little instruction but I'm not really fast and I attribute that to not having proper instruction a long time ago. The instructor makes all the difference. You really need a pro or at least someone with a ton of experience. Also need different instructors to get the most.

Lucky kiddo, my favorite book for track tips.
I didn't read it till I was 40, found it helpful.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1715699243.jpg

best car, best class, best place to learn.

for some baseline steup ideas, check out old posts by advanced autosports. 3-3.5 camber, small toe, and max castor. square as you can get on the corner balance, and hot tire pressures of 34 and lower. the tire wears better at higher pressure, but it is faster at lower pressures.

a lot of spec miata racers believe in magic engines and magic setups, but i dont. i set my fastest lap within .5 second of the lap record at blackhawk with a 1/4 inch toe out in front. in a 1.6, compared to a vvt. ie, you dont have to have the setup that good to go fast in these cars.