Do you have any indoor go-karting places nearby? Place near me does 30 minute endurance races once a week. Might be a good place to get your feet wet if you're that worried.

Remember anyone with $500 in safety gear can and do race with these teams, you're miles ahead of a lot of the drivers.

I've done a few sessions at the Chonda kart track but it's not enough for me to be comfortable. My big worry is not knowing how far the inside car needs to be to get the inside line. I want to work on that quite a bit more before I run the race. I've been doing open passing for a while, but there is no real defensive action so I don't have any idea how to behave out there, I'm worried I'd be a total dick.

Thanks. :makeout:

You pick it up extremely quickly. This will also vary from team to team. You have to adjust your driving style until you know how the person in front of you will react in certain passing situations and you wont know this until you are out there with them. The skill level is all over the place with chump, as it is with lemons, but you just have more teams taking it seriously.

Your team was filled with a bunch of idiots who couldn't tell you the difference between a torque wrench and torx bit. Their goals and expectations were vastly different than yours for the race. They got what they wanted out of the race, but you didn't because you signed on with the wrong team.

You are over thinking this and have more than enough experience to be competitive out there. Stop thinking about it and just let December happen. Make you mind up then how you feel about it then, not now.

We will race hard in a well prepped car, drink beer, and have a good time. Everything else is a bonus.

I'll give you money for seat time next time I'm in town, then you need to pressure me on how you're counting on me.

You have to put the car into the other drivers view before he turns in. Simple as that. None of this BS I had my front bumper at the middle of his door, and he turned down on me. OR the "I presented myself" BS. If the other driver can't SEE you before he turns in, he will turn in on you 90% of the time. SO, if you commit, late brake, make it stick and are fully beside the car before he turns in you'll be golden (almost) every time. People won't hit what they can SEE.

If you do some half ass last minute dive bomb, and only get partially beside the car, totally in his blind spot, don't be surprised if the driver turns in like normal, and trys to get down to the apex like normal.

I don't care what any GCR says about situation A version situation 2.1, car A is 67% of the way beside car B, etc. etc. etc. The goal should be to NEVER make contact with another car. The easiest way to do that is to make 100% sure the driver you are passing knows you are there, and CAN SEE you.

I've never done a chump car race, but I know a few guys/teams that have done both Lemons and Chumpcar and I get the same impression that other people have already expressed, ie ChumpCar is better, ChumpCar cars are generally better "race cars" etc. etc.

And remember, HAVE FUN (oh, and enjoy your BA driver gear...)

Thanks. I used it at a MSR-C member day so at least I used it for 90-minutes that day.