[Rich]

Woo hoo! Ferrari of Denver had a customer appreciation day at Pikes Peak International Raceway, and they had a silver Elise with the touring package there. We were supposed to have lots of time in our own cars with driving instructors, but I wasn't able to drive my car on the track. After telling me that my car would be fine when I made my reservations, they gave me the (expected) bad news that since I don't have a rollbar on my Miata the PPIR officials wouldn't let me take it on the track. They felt bad for having me drive all the way down there, and let me take 3 laps in the Elise instead. I took it pretty easy (not being familiar with the Elise or the track), but it was still a great experience.

I'd still like to see how it does on regular roads, but I think the brief track time will keep me sated for a while.

 

[MattG]

Cool! Sounds like fun.

Are there many tracks in the Denver/Colorado Springs area? We're thinking of moving out there, but I'm wondering what my track day options will be.

 

[Rich]

I'm only familiar with a few, since 95% of my "racing" time is at autocrosses.
PPIR is a huge "real" racetrack with tens or hundreds of thousands of seats. I can't say I liked the actual track all that much. If you click on the website in my first post you can get to a track map. It's got too many straightaways for my liking and not nearly enough "handling parts".
Pueblo Motorsports park has a great 2.2 mile road course. It doesn't have any seats for spectators that I remember, and is out in the middle of nowhere. It's got tons of dirt paths for off-road vehicles, and the course is fairly complex and tons of fun. The local Miata club has it rented out for just $100 a person on the 23rd, and there will probably be just 20 people at most. Great bang for the buck IMHO.
Second Creek (I think) is a track I hear a lot about. A quick google search of "second creek raceway" brought up a few links. The track map looks more interesting to me than PPIR, but less interesting than Pueblo.

I've never had trouble getting enough track time, but I only go a few times a year.

 

[Palting]

Cool! Sounds like fun.

Are there many tracks in the Denver/Colorado Springs area? We're thinking of moving out there, but I'm wondering what my track day options will be.

Here are some links to tracks/road courses in Colorado:

Grand Junction

Pueblo Motorsports

Second Creek

Once you're there, you can always hook up with car clubs, and I'm sure they can give you other options. I believe the Porsche Club still has DE's at the Continental Divide.

 

[MattG]

Thanks for the links & info!

 

[ace3]

I look forward to a few roadtrips out there next year!

 

[Rich]

Nope. I don't recognize the name from autocross, and that's all I do with SCCA out here. My track days are usually with the P2P Miata club.