PSU_Vette

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good group to book with at Laguna Seca. I have a newer Z06 and a friend with a modded C6Z. My concern is the noise limits that Laguna imposes and the noise level of newer sports cars. I'm interested to know how difficult it will be to get on the track there...

Also, if anyone has run at Sonoma and knows of a good group, I'm interested in that as well. I hear it's a great track to drive. Thanks!

Nowanker

Sonoma:
NASA 29-30 Oct
Speed SF 5-6 Nov
Haven't run with Speed SF, so can't comment.
NASA... make sure you know who's around you. Watch out for squirrels.
Most Laguna dates are 90db, but occasional 92 days pop up. Trackmasters Racing sometimes picks those up.
Watch out for the walls at either place!

Cyber Greg

HOD
Hooked On Driving

Bill32

HOD is one of the best if you really want to learn high performance driving.

https://www.hookedondriving.com/hook...on/Norcal-Reno

Sears Point (I won't call it Sonoma ) is my favorite track out of the big 3. I've been racing there for 25 years. It's very technical and very fun. But as Nowanker said: Watch out for the walls.

ThunderHill is the safest especially for newer drivers. Very fast.
We (Reno SCCA) are running a HPDE there in October at a very reasonable price..

http://renoscca.motorsportreg.com/

If you want to run Laguna, I'd do it soon, it's questionable how long it will be in operation. Probably thru next year though.

Laguna is third on my favorites list but it's hard to rate all 3 since they are such great tracks.

PSU_Vette

Thanks to all for the advice! I've heard great things about Sears Point and have wanted to go there for years. I've done a few HPDEs now (Daytona, Sebring, etc) and would like to hit a couple of the west coast's best. Laguna has the "flash" appeal, but almost everyone says Sears Point is the better track. ThunderHill is now on the radar as well...

moose.b3

Is Laguna closing?

63Corvette

In my opinion:
If you are going for the history, and the emotional experience (of, say, the Corkscrew)...then do Laguna Seca...noise limits and all.
BUT, if you are going for the "Driver's experience", and the technical expertice of the track, then, by all means do Sears Point. It is a much more demanding track, and a better overall experiencee if there is NO crowd at either location.
Have fun and post your results

Bill32

The future of the track is up in the air. The Monterey County Board is searching for a management group to run the track and 3 groups are fighting for it. It's REALLY screwed up. Even some NASCAR people involved which would mess things up.

And IF one of the groups gets it, millions will have to be spent on the facilities.

Since the track is owned by the county government, all bets are off.

RichieRichZ06

If you don't have on track experience then I would highly recommend Thunderhill first. It is *nearly* impossible to hit anything there and the track feels like it was made for a Corvette.

A really good event to run up there is next month. It's an all Corvette track day that we sponsor with Hooked On Driving.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-oct-13th.html

I agree with the others that recommend HOD. If you want the best track experience, especially for beginner/intermediate drivers then they should be your pick. They are more expensive, but in my opinion the safest and best group to run with.

Let us know what you end up signing up for and you may see more of us there.

RICH

Bill32

Exactly , especially the "if there's no crowd" for street cars.

Here's my buddy Tom who I raced with a lot. He's running a Club Formula Ford (with fairly hard slicks), the cars in front of him are newer Formula Fords running very sticky slicks.

The vid doesn't show the speed you feel, the lap times are faster than a Z06.

hungryhippo

To me, sonoma much funner. Laguna is pretty overrated. Thunderhill is the most underrated track around, especially if you have the opportunity to do the 5 mile configuration. HOD and trackmasters are both good, don't bother with NASA.

Nokones

Also, there is NCRC (Northern California Racing Club), the Shelby Club. You can go to www.thunderhill.com to check out the schedule to see who has the track scheduled.

flash911

I've run with the Shelby club. Good group of guys, though you can count on at least one knucklehead in any group. Sears Point blows all the SoCal tracks away in terms of fun factor (for me, although I have yet to run Buttonwillow).

TrackAire

I agree with Nor Cal Racing Club (www.ncracing.org) and also Checkered Flag Racing Association (www.cfra.net).

Both are great groups to run with.

With CFRA there is a vetting process where you do an open track with them as a guest. After the event a poll goes out to all the members via email asking if "the new guest" behaved on the track and is a good candidate for membership. If somebody you were on the track votes you down, you're not allowed to join. CFRA also does some tours, destination drives and usually a couple of dinners per year for Xmas, etc.

In NorCal we are fortunate to have 4 world class tracks to play on. My favorite would be in this order:

1. Thunderhill 5 mile with bypass on the west side
2. Buttonwillow
3. Laguna Seca
4. Sonoma