tracks around the world - african tracks

[sickmint79]

hi all -

i run a travel blog http://www.igobyplane.com/ that not even my mom reads but hey, i'm trying and it's fun!

one of the angles i am going for is to be a cool place to see different car experiences around the world. when you go to my site and click on cars, instead of reading about civics at hertz or avis, you will see different race tracks, kart tracks, and other experiences around the world you can do. examples of some things i've done: an international kart track in brazil; the nurburgring in germany with a gutted swift; dirtfish rally school with a brz; yas marina f1 track with a formula 3000.

at the moment i'm looking at a new job, one where i take a decent pay cut but get to be able to work 99% of the time remotely. if this happens i'm looking for more tracks and places to visit, and on here in particular looking for people that could show me around their local scene.

i'd like to do articles/videos on local tracks, info about how to access them, your car, your experience there - any way i as a tourist might be able to get on them as well. cool kart tracks and regular road tracks specifically. i'd put more effort into cooler article/video features but some examples -

autobahn race track - joliet, il, usa - http://www.igobyplane.com/2014/08/13...hn-in-america/
gingerman raceway - south haven, mi, usa - http://www.igobyplane.com/2014/07/15...gridlife-2014/
granja viana international kart track - sao paulo, brazil - http://www.igobyplane.com/2015/04/15...-paulo-brazil/
killarney international raceway - cape town, south africa - http://www.igobyplane.com/2015/03/18...way-cape-town/

killarney was great, i just happened to get lucky meeting up with a fellow 86 owner from this site whom i met on facebook. i'm basically looking to do that, but with more of a plan around meeting someone and their track, and doing a feature on them and their car. eventually i want my site to be the place where car enthusiasts can go and check out cool car related travel things they can do - whether they are already visiting some area, or are making it a point to travel to a destination for a driving experience there.

TL; DR - looking for people that can show me their local tracks around the world, to do feature stories on your car and your track.

what i can bring; currently what's in my bag -
helmet
gopro 3 black
gopro 4 black
808 keychain camera (can velcro somewhere and get feet)
garmin virb elite (vid + gps data capture - 1 hz)
aim solo dl (gps and optionally obd2 data capture - 10 hz)

2 camera 1 hz kart vid - yas marina kartzone - abu dhabi, uae
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a5CIaWgBcE"]Karting at Yas Marina Kartzone - Abu Dhabi, UAE - YouTube[/ame]


1 camera 10 hz track vid with more data channels - autobahn south - joliet, il, usa
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO0qReRlq20"]Gridlife 2 2015 BRZ at Autobahn South Race Track - YouTube[/ame]


3 cameras (too many really) with 10 hz data - gingerman - south haven, mi, usa
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhXB7vVND60"]Wangfest 2014 Session 3 Intermediate Gingerman BRZ - YouTube[/ame]


i also have a buddy working on some cool new mounts!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHQsjLNftXY"]Rustic Roads - SW Wisconsin #81 - Marty Road - YouTube[/ame]

if you want a copy of any of the raw footage i record, bring a laptop and we can copy it all over.

if you are by a cool track that i should visit and can show me around, please let me know! i'd love to plan a visit some time. in the US i may or may not try to bring my own BRZ. anywhere else i'll be looking for something i can rent, or appreciate a ride in your car, or really appreciate a drive if you were open to it. let me know in here or PM if you'd be up for meeting up some time and working on something together. and if you're ever in chicagoland (and it's not winter!) i may be able to show you around to any of our local tracks (1 in about 2 hours in any cardinal direction).

[Alang]

Originally Posted by sickmint79

hi all -

i run a travel blog http://www.igobyplane.com/ that not even my mom reads but hey, i'm trying and it's fun!

one of the angles i am going for is to be a cool place to see different car experiences around the world. when you go to my site and click on cars, instead of reading about civics at hertz or avis, you will see different race tracks, kart tracks, and other experiences around the world you can do. examples of some things i've done: an international kart track in brazil; the nurburgring in germany with a gutted swift; dirtfish rally school with a brz; yas marina f1 track with a formula 3000.

at the moment i'm looking at a new job, one where i take a decent pay cut but get to be able to work 99% of the time remotely. if this happens i'm looking for more tracks and places to visit, and on here in particular looking for people that could show me around their local scene.

i'd like to do articles/videos on local tracks, info about how to access them, your car, your experience there - any way i as a tourist might be able to get on them as well. cool kart tracks and regular road tracks specifically. i'd put more effort into cooler article/video features but some examples -

autobahn race track - joliet, il, usa - http://www.igobyplane.com/2014/08/13...hn-in-america/
gingerman raceway - south haven, mi, usa - http://www.igobyplane.com/2014/07/15...gridlife-2014/
granja viana international kart track - sao paulo, brazil - http://www.igobyplane.com/2015/04/15...-paulo-brazil/
killarney international raceway - cape town, south africa - http://www.igobyplane.com/2015/03/18...way-cape-town/

killarney was great, i just happened to get lucky meeting up with a fellow 86 owner from this site whom i met on facebook. i'm basically looking to do that, but with more of a plan around meeting someone and their track, and doing a feature on them and their car. eventually i want my site to be the place where car enthusiasts can go and check out cool car related travel things they can do - whether they are already visiting some area, or are making it a point to travel to a destination for a driving experience there.

TL; DR - looking for people that can show me their local tracks around the world, to do feature stories on your car and your track.

what i can bring; currently what's in my bag -
helmet
gopro 3 black
gopro 4 black
808 keychain camera (can velcro somewhere and get feet)
garmin virb elite (vid + gps data capture - 1 hz)
aim solo dl (gps and optionally obd2 data capture - 10 hz)

2 camera 1 hz kart vid - yas marina kartzone - abu dhabi, uae

1 camera 10 hz track vid with more data channels - autobahn south - joliet, il, usa

3 cameras (too many really) with 10 hz data - gingerman - south haven, mi, usa

i also have a buddy working on some cool new mounts!

if you want a copy of any of the raw footage i record, bring a laptop and we can copy it all over.

if you are by a cool track that i should visit and can show me around, please let me know! i'd love to plan a visit some time. in the US i may or may not try to bring my own BRZ. anywhere else i'll be looking for something i can rent, or appreciate a ride in your car, or really appreciate a drive if you were open to it. let me know in here or PM if you'd be up for meeting up some time and working on something together. and if you're ever in chicagoland (and it's not winter!) i may be able to show you around to any of our local tracks (1 in about 2 hours in any cardinal direction).

Nice idea, and lucky man getting to travel to all those tracks! We're all tracking at a place called Red Star Raceway next Saturday. It's actually a bike circuit, but they've recently started letting cars on so that's great for us! http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89873

I'm also doing a gymkhana tomorrow at The Rock Raceway.
Other tracks you may want to look up in South Africa are Zwartkops Raceway, Dessi Raceway, Roy Hesketh, there's lots more but don't forget Kyalami.

This may also help https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...acks_in_Africa

[sickmint79]

is it a skinnier track then? i think gingerman by me was originally designed for bikes. although there is one i think is even skinnier to the west of me.

south africa looks like it has a lot of good spots. although i'm not sure how quickly i could get used to trying to drive on the other side of the car if i was to try and venture out there myself!

[Alang]

Originally Posted by sickmint79

is it a skinnier track then? i think gingerman by me was originally designed for bikes. although there is one i think is even skinnier to the west of me.

south africa looks like it has a lot of good spots. although i'm not sure how quickly i could get used to trying to drive on the other side of the car if i was to try and venture out there myself!

Not actually sure why it was only for bikes, it may have been a marketing thing? It's veery twisty, @Fish Eagle has posted some nice vids in the thread of laps there. Also, very flat but still good fun.
We'll have to teach you how to drive on the right side of the car (literally)

[sickmint79]

i've done it (a while back) on some work trips, but even there i was whacking my right hand into the door. so to try and do it at speed, while doing heel toe, on a new-to-me track, would certainly take some juggling!

[Dammod]

Hey @sickmint79 , it was great to meet you and to have you along for the ride. Loving the blog and the whole idea of doing "features" of drivers and their cars.

Let me know if you make your way down to the Cape again!

[sickmint79]

Originally Posted by Alang

I'm also doing a gymkhana tomorrow at The Rock Raceway.
Other tracks you may want to look up in South Africa are Zwartkops Raceway, Dessi Raceway, Roy Hesketh, there's lots more but don't forget Kyalami.

This may also help https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...acks_in_Africa

is roy hesketh open? from wikipedia and google i can't really tell. i was in kzn a bit (in ladysmith)

Originally Posted by Alang

Not actually sure why it was only for bikes, it may have been a marketing thing? It's veery twisty, @Fish Eagle has posted some nice vids in the thread of laps there. Also, very flat but still good fun.
We'll have to teach you how to drive on the right side of the car (literally)

some of the older tracks in south africa seem rather loopy. that red star racing track does look very cool and twisty though!

Originally Posted by Dammod

Hey @sickmint79 , it was great to meet you and to have you along for the ride. Loving the blog and the whole idea of doing "features" of drivers and their cars.

Let me know if you make your way down to the Cape again!

thanks, awesome meeting you too and will definitely look you up if/when in town again! i actually drafted a trip to go to SA to visit my kitties and hop through UAE again on the way back to get in some more car stuff there, but i didn't book it in the hopes that i get this new job and will be able to be more free and perpetually traveling. unfortunately i don't think the internet is reliable enough to actually do the job from the cat place in kzn.

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by sickmint79

is roy hesketh open?

Yes and no.
There are noise restrictions at Roy Hesketh.
It can be used for track days, dealer demos, etc, but they have permission for only 2 "loud" events per year.

Contact Mike Fogg http://www.heskethmotorclub.co.za/contact-us.php

Here's a video of a lap of Roy Hesketh which I took a few months ago...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6RV7VaByBo"]Roy Hesketh 2015-01-24 1m19.4 - YouTube[/ame]

[sickmint79]

what's with the dude walking on the track at 40 seconds??

[Fish Eagle]

Originally Posted by sickmint79

what's with the dude walking on the track at 40 seconds??

Pedestrian ha-ha!! Welcome to Africa.

Here's the same guy at a different spot a lap earlier.
The big trees alongside the track, the pedestrians, and wild antelope (which I saw but didn't get on video), makes for some very interesting driving.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTL2VQwNKrw"]2015-01-24 Roy Hesketh 357-411 Pedestrian - YouTube[/ame]

[sickmint79]

made a map with tracks and track day brotatos - https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?m...ss&usp=sharing

[Freedom]

The tracks next to the coast line must be beautiful and could be distracting if you are able to see the birds on the beach