Tracked at Putnam Park

MarkB · 16 September 2003

I tracked my car, the first time for me and my car, at Putnam Park in IN on Mon. It was the greatest experience for me in decades. Mine was the only NSX; however, there were a couple of Hondas.

There were also Vettes, Z's, a Supra, BMW's, Ferraris, Esprits, ...

The outting was sponsored by the St. Louis Area Lotus Lovers club.

The track is roughly 1.75 miles long w/ 10 turns set on a slightly rolling landscape.

I the site for the photos is available: http://www.kamainc.com/STALLS/Putnam/album1.html and http://homepage.mac.com/ampoulos/AMP/PhotoAlbum20.html.

len3.8 · 17 September 2003

Hey Mark Glad to see ya made it home fine. I saw you yesterday coming down I270 in North St.Louis at about 7pm or so. My friends were the Father and son that were driving the Mallet equipped vette's. His take on the day was a lot like yours.
Glad you had fun.
Len

MarkB · 17 September 2003

I remember Mark but forget his dad's name.

Apparently, theuy had trouble with the black Vette and left a little early.

Yep, time sounds about right to have been me.

len3.8 · 17 September 2003

Mark's dad is Jim. The black Vette always has a problem. You would think the 100k flagship of Mallett would be bullet proof.
He was talking to me on the way home. I am pretty sure that the car is on borrowed time. He also spoke of a Race car that looked like the MR2 that was pretty darn fast. He said the builder(s) were a South African company selling them for 50K+ minus the drive train.

I know it was you, I had a pretty clear look at you through all of that glass up front.

Len

RP-Motorsports · 17 September 2003

Now you just gotta find time to head to some of the best tracks in North America right here in the Midwest.......Road America, Graten, Mid Ohio, and Gingerman!!!! So many tracks so little time

MarkB · 17 September 2003

Bell turbo B18C1 said:
....Road America, Graten, Mid Ohio, and Gingerman...

When I hear of a track day when my NSX is welcome, I will try to attend. So far the only one to which I have been invited is the Putnam Park event and it is the only track event I have come accross on Prime since I started looking for them.

...So many tracks so little time...

Since I'm retired, I have all of the time in the world.

Is there a single (or at most 2 or 3 sites where one might find out about these track days? I checked the calendar here on prime and found very little aside from b-days.

sjs · 17 September 2003

mbartlett4 said:
...Is there a single (or at most 2 or 3 sites where one might find out about these track days? I checked the calendar here on prime and found very little aside from b-days.

http://www.drivingevents.com/

ncdogdoc · 17 September 2003

mbartlett4 said:
Is there a single (or at most 2 or 3 sites where one might find out about these track days? I checked the calendar here on prime and found very little aside from b-days.

www.trackschedule.com

Covers some of the midwest tracks, and most of the east and southeast ones.

MarkB · 17 September 2003

Thanks!

Feffman · 2 October 2003

Len:

The car Mark Proctor and his dad are looking at is the Diasio. It's a motorcycle engined (Honda 1100 I think) powered Porsche 962 knock off. Not my cup of tea, but pretty quick none the less.

I'm trying to convince Mark and his dad to buy a Lotus Exige. Similar weight as the Diasio but a real car with a real car engine.

Mark Pfeffer

RP-Motorsports · 3 October 2003

Too late for this year Mark, but for next year www.roadamerica.com then click on "clubs" Some fun NSX friendly events are Windy city BMW, Speedseekers, Alpha time trials, Badger BMW, Track time.

At Gingerman in Michigan try www.cgimotorsports.com and www.speedtrialusa.com, and the BMW events are there to and also at Blackhawk in IL and Graten in MI. Thats just a start!!!

The Alpha event was last weekend (rained) this by far is my favorite. You are in groups by experience in the mornings, door to door and then in 5 car groups all afternoon spaced 15 sec apart, so you can run solo and click off lap times. There is a big lap time brag board in the pits. A total blast!

len3.8 · 3 October 2003

Feffman said:
Len:

The car Mark Proctor and his dad are looking at is the Diasio. It's a motorcycle engined (Honda 1100 I think) powered Porsche 962 knock off. Not my cup of tea, but pretty quick none the less.

I'm trying to convince Mark and his dad to buy a Lotus Exige. Similar weight as the Diasio but a real car with a real car engine.

Mark Pfeffer

Hello Mark, I know what the Diasio is. This was supposedly something else that was running.
I don't think they are going to do the Exige.
Just wondering who works on the Lotus cars in St. Louis anyway?
Len

KGP · 3 October 2003

len3.8 said:
Just wondering who works on the Lotus cars in St. Louis anyway?

There is a Lotus dealer here now Len. Can't remember their name off-hand, but they were at the Frontenac thing, and are also the dealer who sells the Mini's.

atatexan · 27 October 2003

Putnam Park is great

The BMWCCA/Hoosier Chapter runs a driving school at Putnam Park in April. I have taken my Mercedes E420+ there twice. Really good school and track. $350 for BMWCCA members for TWO DAYS and lots of driving. Ken Saxs is an instructor there. All sorts of cars are to be seen despite it being a BMW event: Porsches , Vettes, Mustang Cobras, even a (poorly driven) NSX that I lapped twice in the E420+. I plan to take a soon-to-be-acquired '91 NSX to it next year. Should be even more fun than the Benz!

nsx1164 · 29 October 2003

Re: Putnam Park is great

atatexan said:
The BMWCCA/Hoosier Chapter runs a driving school at Putnam Park in April. I have taken my Mercedes E420+ there twice. Really good school and track.

Other BMW chapters run schools there as well:
- Buckeye chapter in May
- Bluegrass chapter in June (HPDE + Club Race) -- will instruct here

There's also the Hikari/Wheel Source school in October, that some NSX folks attend.

The CGI schools at Gingerman are pretty good, and offer a lot of track time for your $$. Several BMW chapters run there as well... Windy City, Motor City, etc.

Putnam and Gingerman are both GREAT tracks -- lots of challenge, a good array of "features" (elevation changes, linked turns, fast/slow turns, etc) and very safe for novices and advanced drivers alike.

nsxtasy · 8 November 2003

MarkB said:
When I hear of a track day when my NSX is welcome, I will try to attend. So far the only one to which I have been invited is the Putnam Park event and it is the only track event I have come accross on Prime since I started looking for them.

There are a lot of track events where your NSX is welcome. Other posts here have mentioned most of them. As far as tracks go, Putnam and GingerMan are excellent for novices as well as experienced folks; Mid-Ohio and Grattan are better after you've had a few events under your belt elsewhere. These are my favorite tracks in the Midwest.

The website for BMW CCA is http://www.bmwcca.org When you join, you will be assigned to your local chapter, but you will be entitled to attend events held by ANY chapter. Not all of the track events are listed in the Roundel or on the national club's website, so you'll need to check some of the websites for the individual chapters. These are extremely well-run events; every student has an instructor in the passenger seat, which is not always true elsewhere, and there are extensive classroom sessions as well. And you don't have to own a BMW to join or to drive in their events. The only trick is to find out about the events early and get familiar with their sign-up procedures so that you get in rather than getting put on the waiting list if/when they fill up.

The events that have the most NSXs, by far, are the CGI Motorsports events that Phil runs on Mondays at GingerMan. They also have the most track time; you'll typically get as much track time in one day with CGI as you will with two days in most other events. 'nuff said.

Beware of solo events like the Alfa event mentioned above. You won't get anywhere near as much track time as you will with the run group type events such as BMW CCA's.

As for an invitation, I would like to personally invite you to any and all of these events, including the May event at Road America by Windy City BMW, the Memorial Day event at GingerMan with CGI, and the June event at GingerMan with Windy City BMW.

I have driven in the Hoosier BMW event at Putnam for about twelve years in a row. However, if it is held on the same weekend as usual - the third weekend in April - then I will be missing it. I can't tell you why yet, but you're going to want to go where I am going that weekend, too. It's going to be a great time for NSXers. And you WILL be invited to that, too.

nsx1164 · 9 November 2003

nsxtasy said:
The events that have the most NSXs, by far, are the CGI Motorsports events that Phil runs on Mondays at GingerMan. They also have the most track time; you'll typically get as much track time in one day with CGI as you will with two days in most other events.

The recent CGI season-ender at Gingerman had several NSXs (at least 5), plus several ITRs and other fun cars in attendance, including the GT2 track-car prepared by Acura of Brookfield.

More photos from this event here -- http://public.fotki.com/nsx1164/cars_and_motorsports/club_events/gingerman_cgi_1003/

Tracked at Putnam Park

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