We were wondering if you will have trouble with insurance or warranty if you participate in AutoCross, Rally, or drag racing. Is there any else we need to check out? Do you need a helmet?

 

Can't speak to drag racing, but for autocross and rally you will need a helmet. And many posts on this and other forums have mentioned voided warranties when participating in these events. It goes with the game. Of the three, rallying offers you the best cahnce to void a warranty and make good friends with your local body shop. It's also the scariest and most fun if you're talking about rallies in the conventional sense, ie off road and in the trees.

 

Not sure if it is the case for all tracks, but the one I go to, requires a helmet for a sub 14 sec pass.

I've participated in all of them and never had a problem, including open track events.

 

You need to contact your insurance company or agent to ask if you are covered for such events.

Many companies consider Anything timed to be a race and will not cover them.

Most won't cover autocross since they are timed races even though there is only one car on the course at a time at average street to highway speeds.

HPDE's or High Performance Driving Education which are track days at full road racing courses and at full speed, combining classroom education and in-car instruction had many times been covered solely because it wasn't timed or considered a "race" but rather "education". But in recent years with their growth of popularity so to have damage claims and even deaths, many companies will no longer cover these types of track events.

1/4 mile I have no idea since I have never done it.

I am an avid autocross and HPDE driver and member of NASA. I have also driven and raced with SCCA, BMW club, Porsche club and a few more in the tri-state area for the last 5 years.

HPDE's are a complete blast and extremely intense education. I suggest anyone interested to visit NASA and see if there is anything local available for you:

http://www.nasaproracing.com/

If not, try SCCA:

http://www.scca.org/

 

Dan the best rally to go into without voiding you waranty is one that is a timed event .Driving at normal speeds and obeying trafic regulations you should end up at this check point here at this time .The team with the closest time to what they state is the winner you can not be under only over and they will penalty you if your under (tack 10 min on to his time something like that ).
So if you have to be at checkpoint 1 in 10 hours 11min and 45 seconds thats your goal .From checkpoint 1 to 2 same thing etc this can be a multi day event and you need a good navigatior.
Some rallys offer this as well as who can get to checkpoint 1 the fastest 2 etc.

 

I need a helmet when I take part in Autocross events. I also wear a neck brace. I have no insurance coverage when on the track. Just the nature of the beast. Moral of the story is, drive as fast as you can, but not over your head.

I have seen one person write their car off in a bad crash, and just last weekend one guy lost control and hit a workbench in the infield damaging his fender. I still don't know how he got so off line to colide with it, but strange things can happen.

Autocross is probably THE best way to learn how to drive your car to it's limitations and not worry about police or innocent bystanders.

 

wow a race at the speed limit, sounds fun... :notnice:

 

I couldn't agree more.

As well, learning good car control skills at those speeds and conditions gives you a very good introduction to high performance driving on the track.

 

Thanks everyone; this weekend we will be on lookers, and will check with our insurance co for future events.

 

go do it! go do it!

 

How fast do you get in a typical autocross in a parking lot like that? Reason I ask is we have ours on an oval race track and we utilize the infield and drag strip shut down area for a good road course set up. I can get up to about 70mph depending on the track layout (we have fast and slow tracks and no 2 are the same, always different). Those pics look great, I have to get some of mine on the track one day.

I have to try drag racing too some day, there are a bunch of people waiting to see what a 05 will do. 2 weeks and I hit the track again, can't wait.

 

rdh03mach1.

Great photos!

 

thank you very much.
well i'm off to the 6/10 mile road course today so gotta go,
man i love to drive a car like it was made to drive!
:worship:

 

The pictures look great Rich