Observations From My First Track Weekend

After spending my first weekend at the track, I thought I would provide some insights into some of the interesting and unexpected things you may not know going into your first weekend at the track. But first the obvious, it was amazing and I can’t wait until I get back to the track as soon as possible.

1 You have to pack lots of stuff: While I didn’t use half the stuff I brought with me, I was prepared to work on my car with all the tools I needed. With rain expected I brought a tent (that blew away), a folding chair for down time, a cooler with food and drinks and a backpack to hold my personal items while I was out on the track. You can pack a good bit in the M2 which makes it a great daily driver to take to the track.

2 The novice group is fun too: Between the green wrist band and green sticker on my car, it was easy to identify me as a novice. I was under the impression that our sessions would be relatively tame with little to no passing. This was far from the truth. I could push the car as hard as I and my instructor felt comfortable with and I passed plenty of slower cars on the track in the designate passing zones.

3 The orange X of shame: I know I wasn’t the only first timer, but I was the only car on the track to display the orange X on my rear window. This was to tell other cars coming up behind me that I am new at this and to be extra cautious when passing. I can only imagine that others were ashamed to display their first timer status, but the idea behind HPDE weekends is to go home with you and your car in one piece after a weekend of hard driving.

4 The paddock is fun: I made some new friends with the guys who were parked around me in the paddock. Most of us happened to be in the novice group together. Everyone is super friendly and happy to talk about their cars and experiences. We had Duluth PD next to us as they use events at AMP as an opportunity to give their officers high speed driver training. It was really fun to get to go flying by the police out on the track!

5 The car doesn’t matter: There was everything from a beat up old police issue chevy caprice to a brand new race prepped M2 running in the various skill level groups. The car doesn’t matter nearly as much as the driver. At the beginning of the weekend I was getting passed by Mazda Miatas and by the end I was passing a Porsche 911 GT3. We all drive at our own comfort/skill level and try not to get in the way of anyone else’s fun while on the track.

Bottom line is, if you are remotely considering going to the track, take what ever car you have and sign up for a weekend. You will have a blast!