[JackStand]

Anyway, back to talking about my track days, as this might help someone thinking about doing something similar at a track near you. We started off with 10 to 15 super cars renting the track on Sundays about ten years ago. We ran it very bare bones, no ambulance, track marshals, nothing. Hell, we didn't even wear helmets, running the event along the model of a sedate advanced driving course, with little or no regard to safety. However, as with life in general, things started changing. The participants wanted something to eat at lunch time, the residents around the track complained about the noise from the track on Sundays, so we got moved to Saturdays at double the cost for renting the track and we got the Lions club who owns a little cafeteria at the track to open and cater for us selling cheap burgers and coffee. Financially it wasn't really making any sense to anyone, but everyone involved enjoyed the event so much, we kinda just continued our little events and turned a blind eye to the financial viability of such a small event.

The track owner, Uncle Dez, liked our little group of enthusiasts and the cars we were bringing to the track. We started introducing safety measures like making helmets compulsory, renting a medical response vehicle and employing professional track marshals, all small scale and on skeleton staff as we were growing. All throughout, we kept the event private and exclusive, by invitation only. Some people thought we were snobs, but it wasn't like that. We were playing with big $$$ cars and didn't want to risk running open track days with hotshot drivers in claptrap backyard jobbies taking unnecessary chances slicing up F12s, 488's and GT3's for bragging rights.

And so we grew our support structure. We increased the number of track marshals on duty, got a professional motorsport commentator, Len, with a fine playlist of good old school rock & roll music keeping the event pumping, a barista serving proper cappuccinos & espressos throughout the day and the Lions Cafe serving burgers and cold beverage. For lunch we have an authentic curry buffet, or a few lambs on the spit with salads and whatnot as side dishes. For our event this past weekend we also had official live timing with transponders.

At times when the budget allowed, we also included some lunch time side shows like the local Royal Caledonian Scottish Pipe Band, some drift car displays and a model F16 Jet Aircraft display doing some amazing tricks...

Our usual entries are around 50 cars, 2 drivers per car permitted. Our Dezzi track day this past weekend pulled 80 entries by invite and ran like clockwork and incident free, but I think it was a small fluke, we will probably level out around 60 entries per event from now on. For me it's a labour of love. This is not a club and at the risk of sounding condescending, I make all the rules and decisions. No Committee and no need to attend any meetings prior to the event. I have my entire support structure in place and they know how I want things done. Organising the whole event doesn't even take much time out of my daily routine, I set up the whole event with a few WhatsApp messages in the evenings leading up to each event.

And it's dirt cheap for the entries. ZAR 2000.00 per car. (that's about US$ 110.00 at today's rate). Not sure whether you could pull that off in your country, but right now over here, I can and do. Entry fee includes the car with 2 drivers permitted. A goodies bag with trinkets and vouchers, 2 x T event T shirts per entry, 2 x breakfast, coffee and lunch vouchers per entry.... We have a local tyre fitment company, TyreMart, on hand to alter tyre pressures and torque wheels. Also have our own event memeber supplying race fuel and topping up cars on demand.

We market the event as a "Family Track Day". Bring your car, bring your family, fun for everyone. Want your kid to sit in a Ferrari, no problem. Want to sit as a passenger for a few hot laps in a GT3, no problem as long as you sign an indemnity. The whole idea is not to take the man away from his family for a track day, but to include the whole family for the event. I also offer driver coaching to participants where possible, novice, intermediate and advanced, all the way up to mastering slip angle driving.

We run 20 minute sessions per group...

Class - A - Advanced. These are very experienced drivers used to racing against each other, so the marshals are instructed not to interfere with overtaking and passing manoeuvres.

Class - B & C - Intermediate. No dive-bombing into corners allowed. That, and a few other minor rules.

Class - D - Beginners, kids, lady drivers and first-timers. No overtaking allowed whatsoever. If you catch a slower car, you slow down, create a gap and start catching up again. This is intended as a class for the next generation track drivers to sample the sport in a safe manner, without being intimidated by fast drivers bombing around them. Driver coaching on hand. This class is really working like a charm.

So that's how I conduct my track events, I will follow up with some pics...