Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Va

[LancePearson]

This great road course track of 3.27 miles with 170' of elevation and 17 turns i ran in May, 2012 with my 76 Vette and was thinking of doing another Touring Lights day with my 1991 Zr1 which would be much faster has had some setbacks and now an ownership change this january.

They lost their big moneymaker event for several years running there last year when the Grand Am circuit traded them for Detroit where there are more people, more television and they have not apparently been able to replace it. The man who saved the track fifteen years ago as of Jan, 2013 is now out of ownership and the other owner, a woman named Connie has found some investor who owns some kind of track near Pittsburg also but the program where I ran for a day for a relatively modest fee at the moment is no more on the same basis. As it was with prep work, motels, fees I spent nearly $1,000 for that day since I'm not a member of any sports car racing club and won't be since it is only an occasional whim for me. It looks like you have to now join their club which is something like $5k or more the first year plus $175 a day for any of the 18 days a year dedicated to the club members to get on the track at the moment. Several own condo second homes there. I'm glad I don't as it might be hard to sell one if the track isn't thriving. The grand am ran the DP class and GT class exotics including Vettes, Ferraries, Audies, Porsches, etc. and were really exciting. That circuit is thriving.

I guess I could look into trying Summit Point Raceway's 2.0 mile track up in W. V. but I'm not all that excited about the track when I see it. VIR was set up safely and fun to drive.

Perhaps there is more going on behind the scenes but it is a long way from any major metro center and the signs aren't positive for growth and care at the moment but I hope they make it.

Too far to go to Road Atlanta or Elkhardt Lake, Wis. for me from here.

Lance

[ZZZZZR1]

Lance,

We have 5 that love to go to VIR regularly.... 2 from Southern Va, 1 from Florida that stores his car in Va and another from Annapolis Md.

I think you have met at least one of them and maybe more!

I've been promising at the least, we come to watch and maybe run
a few laps. This is on the TO DO list for 2013!!



David

[LancePearson]

David, et al,

this is a couple laps on VIR from May, 2012 with me driving my 76 Vette. The camera is videotaping in effect as the passenger.

The trick will be finding a way to get on the track now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjK2uPWc9Bk

It is a fun track.

Lance

[Shrek]

We ran 8 weekends at VIR last year with 4 different groups and only had to join one.

The VIR calender looks like the usual suspects again for 2013 with tons of track time oppertunities! http://virnow.com/track/calendar/

Current clubs with more added during the year.
NASA
Tarheel BMW
Chin Motorsports
Tarheel Sports Car Club
Audi Club
First Settlers PCA
SVT Cobra Mustang Club
Potomac PCA
NNJR PCA
TrackDaze


We ran all of the TrackDaze events at VIR last year and their schedule looks the same for this year.
https://www.trackdaze.com/index.php/events

[Kevin]

a good friend of mine instructs there

[LancePearson]

Shrek...I thought you had to be a member of those clubs. Track daze looks interesting. Thanks. I only did it once with thr vir clubs touring light as a complete novice. Thanks!

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by LancePearson

Shrek...I thought you had to be a member of those clubs. Track daze looks interesting. Thanks. I only did it once with thr vir clubs touring light as a complete novice. Thanks!

Some you do and some you don't, while others just charge an extra small fee for non members. The ones that do are usually very reasonable to join. The big National Corvette Museum HPDE event requires you to be a member ($50)
http://www.corvettemuseum.org/regist.../virinfo.shtml

Here's a little taste from one of the TrackDaze events last year!!!!

[LancePearson]

Shrek, Those photos are great. I put down to get a dog sitter for the May 4,5 weekend and am planning on driving down just to watch the Z's run that weekend hoping some do. May 15 I leave for the drive all day to Bowling Green shortly thereafter.

What lap times do you run on the full course? The cars look terrific by the way. The day I ran I was in a touring lights group with a 2009 aston martin with 585 hp supercharged, two bmw's they said were M4's but I think were M3's with 435 hp engines, a couple porsche 911 turbos and one Boxster run by a lady who brought a driving coach and an older highly modified Mustang and me in a 76 Vette with 210 hp. All were faster than I was partly due to my inexperience especially at first then because of the power. After one session and some knowledge I began to take a minute off my lap times each session over the prior one but never got real close to 3 minute lap times...did not have the power or the experience. I'm sure I could do much better with the 91 zr-1 though.

[Shrek]

All three were first year HPDE students and got into the 2:15-2:20 range by the end of the year. Look for the White 91 and Black 93 to be at several events again this year.

The Red 91 (wife's hot rod) is retiring from track duty and being replaced with our old 96 track rat!!

[LancePearson]

Those are good times when you consider a modern zr1 with all that horsepower is what, 1'53-2'? Pretty good driving by all of you. You have a fast wife as well, no pun intended. I'm sure my 91 zr1 would at least get to 3' or under even with me driving it!

Thanks.

Lance