The SVRA Wants To Get You On-Track
What exactly is the SVRA? Why, it’s the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association. Your humble author held an SVRA comp license for a few years in the previous decade, because for reasons I do not understand the SVRA was the official sanction of One Lap of America. In my case, the sanctioning was legit because I was running an old 190E Mercedes, which managed one or two mildly surprising results in my hands.
In general, however, the SVRA restricts itself to old-car racing, with all the over-restoration and 7/10ths driving that implies. To bring more potential drivers into the fold, the organization has come up with an outstanding program that would be appropriate for any car and driver combination from E-Type to F-Type.
Classic Motorsports reports that the SVRA now offers a Driving Experience for would-be racers. For $495, you can get your own car on track and enjoy a series of exercises designed to bring you up to competence in a hurry. While there are literally dozens of trackday organizers in the United States, the SVRA program differs significantly from what you’d get at a typical lapping day. The most significant advantage is the presence and involvement of Peter Krause. Mr. Krause, like Ross Bentley, is among the gold-plated elite of driving coaches and his time typically costs a lot more than you’ll pay to work with him at an SVRA event.
If you haven’t been on-track yet, and you’re interested in getting started in an environment that is designed to protect both you and your vehicle as much as possible, I’d recommend giving it a shot. If you’re feeling slightly more adventurous than that… well, I’m coaching most of the TrackDAZE events this year, starting two weekends from now at Summit Point. Sign up already!
More by Jack Baruth
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First up I'll defend (some) of the SVRA drivers. I go to at least one or two SVRA events every year, and it's impressive watching the way some of those guy manhandle those old cars around the track. Sebring is especially entertaining for this because those bumps are constantly upsetting those cars and their old suspensions, especially around the faster corners like 17, 1, and 2. @ icemilkcoffee, I take it your Miata isn't a spec or competition Miata? I believe the cutoff is 25 or 30 years if its a production car, but only a year old if it's an actual racecar. I've seen late model spec miatas at SVRA races, along with year old Le Mans GT and Prorotypes (I remember one year an ex Penske Porsche RS Spyder was racing in vintage racing while Greg Pickett was still actively racing his in the ALMS. Also, last year Andrea and David Robertson started competing their Le Mans GTE Ford GTs in SVRA even thought they were still legal to and could have been raced in the ALMS for one more year (SVRA was much less expensive than ALMS).
For the most part it is 7/10ths but sometimes stuff like this still happens: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3528/3898278833_1ecca30b2d_z.jpg