Roebling Road Drivers Education TRACK EVENT November 8/9th, 2008 near Savannah GA
08-28-08, 08:25 AM
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Roebling Road Drivers Education TRACK EVENT November 8/9th, 2008 near Savannah GA
I posted this in the SE regonal forum last week, but just realized how close Savannah is to FL (about 2 hours from Jacksonville) and I should let the FL folks know as well.
There is a twice-annual drivers education (DE) event put on by "the Dark Side" www.darksidede.com on November 8th/9th, 2008 at Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah, Georgia. This group also is focused on charity, not profit which is a nice change (this time it's the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island who are showing up for a Family Parade).
My wife drives her E36 M3 track car at these events and I come down to take pictures and be her pit crew / designated windshield washer. We've done the last three Dark Side DEs and I asked the organizers if it was OK to invite the Lexus folks to their party and got the OK!
The Dark Side used to be the DE organizers for a local PCA (Porsche) group but split off last year. All marques are now welcome at their event - just make sure your car is in good, safe working order (no leaks). The event follows the general PCA rules and you can take your car out with OEM safety equipment. You'll need a certified helmet and you'll need to have your car tech inspected before you come at pretty much any shop or mechanic does it free or max $25 (form here).
If you've never done a DE Roebling is a nice track to learn on... relatively new pavement with a good combination of straights and challenging turns. Lots of run off if you miss a turn without concrete walls to stop you. You will be assigned an instructor to coach you. If you aren't certain you want to do it, they offer a "Taste of the Track" which will show you what its all about. One other thing they've done this time is offer insurance for the DE if your own insurance doesn't cover driving events (some do, some don't, most are evasive about answering).
If you are already a solo qualified driver you can also sign up to do a three day event on the 7th/8th/9th, with the 7th just an open lapping day. You get a LOT of track time on the 7th - very much worth it.
The cost for Darkside non-members for 2 days is $250. $375 is the cost for the full 3 day event (including the solo day Friday), which is a great deal. I also believe that this will get you a membership to any future Darksidede events.
I'd love to see some Lexus guys join us at this event. It's a nice group with beer & BBQ after driving time shuts down on Saturday at the track.
The site linked at the top has all the info on the event (schedules, recommended hotels, forms, track map, etc) so I won't recreate it all here.
Helmet Rental
In case you don't have a certified helmet and don't have a local spot to rent one, a little googling found that OG Racing rents both open and full face helmets for a 10 day period at $25 and $35, respectively. I'd recommend the full face helmet for the improved safety. OG is east coast (near Summit Point in VA) so it shouldn't take too long for shipping. Link for helmet rental
http://ogracing.blogspot.com/2008/08...t-rentals.html[/QUOTE]
What's it like?
Not the best quality upload, but here is a video of my wife at the last Darkside DE in her M3 doing one lap on the track.
The track graphic and gauge stuff at the bottom is from her data acquisition system (w/ gps) - she's still adding more sensors and getting it set up right so they're a little wonky. You can see the speed at the bottom right, she hits about 130 mph in the front straight.
There is a twice-annual drivers education (DE) event put on by "the Dark Side" www.darksidede.com on November 8th/9th, 2008 at Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah, Georgia. This group also is focused on charity, not profit which is a nice change (this time it's the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island who are showing up for a Family Parade).
My wife drives her E36 M3 track car at these events and I come down to take pictures and be her pit crew / designated windshield washer. We've done the last three Dark Side DEs and I asked the organizers if it was OK to invite the Lexus folks to their party and got the OK!
The Dark Side used to be the DE organizers for a local PCA (Porsche) group but split off last year. All marques are now welcome at their event - just make sure your car is in good, safe working order (no leaks). The event follows the general PCA rules and you can take your car out with OEM safety equipment. You'll need a certified helmet and you'll need to have your car tech inspected before you come at pretty much any shop or mechanic does it free or max $25 (form here).
If you've never done a DE Roebling is a nice track to learn on... relatively new pavement with a good combination of straights and challenging turns. Lots of run off if you miss a turn without concrete walls to stop you. You will be assigned an instructor to coach you. If you aren't certain you want to do it, they offer a "Taste of the Track" which will show you what its all about. One other thing they've done this time is offer insurance for the DE if your own insurance doesn't cover driving events (some do, some don't, most are evasive about answering).
If you are already a solo qualified driver you can also sign up to do a three day event on the 7th/8th/9th, with the 7th just an open lapping day. You get a LOT of track time on the 7th - very much worth it.
The cost for Darkside non-members for 2 days is $250. $375 is the cost for the full 3 day event (including the solo day Friday), which is a great deal. I also believe that this will get you a membership to any future Darksidede events.
I'd love to see some Lexus guys join us at this event. It's a nice group with beer & BBQ after driving time shuts down on Saturday at the track.
The site linked at the top has all the info on the event (schedules, recommended hotels, forms, track map, etc) so I won't recreate it all here.
Helmet Rental
In case you don't have a certified helmet and don't have a local spot to rent one, a little googling found that OG Racing rents both open and full face helmets for a 10 day period at $25 and $35, respectively. I'd recommend the full face helmet for the improved safety. OG is east coast (near Summit Point in VA) so it shouldn't take too long for shipping. Link for helmet rental
http://ogracing.blogspot.com/2008/08...t-rentals.html[/QUOTE]
What's it like?
Not the best quality upload, but here is a video of my wife at the last Darkside DE in her M3 doing one lap on the track.
The track graphic and gauge stuff at the bottom is from her data acquisition system (w/ gps) - she's still adding more sensors and getting it set up right so they're a little wonky. You can see the speed at the bottom right, she hits about 130 mph in the front straight.
08-29-08, 07:30 PM
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Yes, most all events like this except for NASA you need to be 18 (sorry). I suspect if you were bringing a parent to the event with you (or to drive themselves) they might make an exception. If that's the case and you want me to ask let me know.
If it isn't too far a drive and you wanted to do a 'Taste of the Track' ridealong to see what its like I bet you could do that as well.
If it isn't too far a drive and you wanted to do a 'Taste of the Track' ridealong to see what its like I bet you could do that as well.
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