Track days without helmets

I drove in Europe in the late 1990s and in Japan in the 2000s. Having done both, the subject turns to the systems before it turns to the cars.

Equipment

At European driving schools there was no obligation to wear the three items (helmet, gloves, long sleeves) during free running. The thinking behind it was this.

The moment you are turned out sharply in a racing suit and gloves, you lose your calm judgement. Free running is play, with a margin kept in hand.

For a race, full equipment as a matter of course. At the root of it is personal responsibility. The point was not whether the equipment was worn but that the equipment marked out what kind of time this was.

This does not carry over in Japan. The three items are a given, and comments were made on the videos at the time. I now treat the three as standard. Where the old footage shows short sleeves and no gloves, I treat it as bad practice. Rolling long sleeves up into short sleeves is prohibited as well.

How track days are run

At Misano a 1973 Carrera RS went in flat out and spun. Nobody said anything.

Do the same at a Japanese track day and it starts with talk of manners. In Europe, where everything is your own responsibility, it is like off-piste at a ski resort — help yourself — and that goes for track days and driving schools alike.

The same day a 993 Turbo rolled on the back straight and was written off. The run-off is wide, but the grass is uneven.

There is a path upward

What stood out in Europe was that the staircase upward existed as a system. Driving school → sanctioned club racing such as GTP → national cups. The dealers (Porsche Zentrum) ran the entrance to it and sent end users straight on through.

The standard form of a school was two days and one night. The first day cut the circuit into several segments for repeated practice, the second day had events such as gymkhana plus free running.

Surfaces

Europe is low-friction and flat. In Japan, SUGO, Fuji Speedway, Motegi and Suzuka have very high surface friction. My own view is that this is one reason Japanese drivers find it hard to win in European racing. I have no evidence.

Nürburgring Nordschleife

Public running was about 15 euros a lap. Motorcycles and tour buses share the track. A lap in a tour bus takes about 40 minutes.

For a motorcycle doing 160km/h on a broken surface, operating the indicators is dangerous, so riders kick the right leg out to signal. I have not seen this at any other circuit. I also heard that people go missing in motorcycle accidents there. Having driven it, I could see why.

Costs

Insurance

You could attend a driving school in something other than a Porsche, but a hire car is not covered by insurance. A car you own is covered even on a circuit, was the explanation I was given. That was the situation then. I do not know how it stands now.