Asking for a friend.. How to get involved in Motorsports in/near NJ

A friend from the UK is moving to the east coast (New Jersey, I think) and he loves UK style trackdays and would like some ideas on on how to do that sort of thing on a 'normal budget'..

He's got the car and experience just doesn't want to do the whole "Race Track Members Club $30K/year" bizarre country club type thing like NJMP (lol, I've .. I've heard things!).

Think more 'trackday bro' - Is there a sort of AutoX thing that bleeds into reasonably priced track time ?

Also, what's the trackday etiquette like ?

I have a few ideas. Just posting so I remember to come back when I have a little more time.

I'm a stranger at every new autoX. I say, just go and experience it. That's the whole point of life. I've been to many a Corvette club meeting and decided they were more disgruntled political organizations rather than sports-car enthusiasts.

There are a lot of options in the area. NJMP, Watkins Glen, Limerock, and if an adventure drive is on the menu, VIR or Summit Point are fairly easy but longer drives.

NASA runs a pretty structured HPDE program, but there are other HPDE organizers like the one I work with that offer more style and social interaction. Just be aware of how some organizers run their events, so put in some research so that your friend’s intentions and style mesh with their events.

If he is tracking his only car, I suggest he look at Trackday insurance. Hagerty and others offer comprehensive coverage for this. Be aware, too, that each track has different fees incurred for incidents. These can include oil-dri, barrier repairs, k-rail damage, etc. Trackday insurance can help cover this and car/personal damage.

Some organizers are very serious and have pretty aggressive classsing. Some are very laid back and are much like car meets built around some track time. Some are very inclusive, others are very selective or elitist.

NY/NJ Trackday season is sort of short; usually April - October. Here in Atlanta, we run March through November, sometimes into December, but we are also close enough to FL to stage events at Daytona or Sebring during our normal “off-season” months.

Long story short, there are tons of options, put in some due diligence and see which one suits his style and needs.

Trackday or automotive event organizers off the top of my head in that area:

PCA (Porsche Club of America)
BMWCCA
NASA
SCCA
Gridlife
Chin Motorsports

There are a number of regional organizers, too.

Some others I have a good opinion of are MVP, Just Track It, Jzilla Track Days, Speed Ventures, SCDA.

I can tell you the vibe is different for each organizer. From my perspective as general manager of one of largest HPDE organizer in the south, we focus LOT on customer experience and safety.

The time we spend building and responding to our community pays off. I work hard to train our staff to make the experience as chill and fun as we can. There is a sense of camaraderie we instill in our events and our customers love that. Others don’t and that’s ok.

We offer a bunch of events for the true novices (novice driving clinics, HPDE with certified instructors) to open-lapping, open track at premier venues for the most experienced drivers. We also do off-road driving skill events, karting, and sometimes a casual iTrack league we stream live.

We also do adventure drives, fly a limited number of guests to drive select, legendary tracks. We have done a couple of these for the ‘Ring in Germany, Spa, and are planning one for Laguna Seca, Infineon, and possibly Thunderhill. These are like arrive and drive vacations.

We try to make our events as stress-free and entertaining as possible.

Organizers like Gridlife, it’s a party. I know some of the events they have staged at Road Atlanta were pretty lit: HPDE, time attack, and sometimes a surprise concert at night.

Organizers like Chin are all about time/dollar. There have very serious drivers and classing systems, but you will get a lot of seat time.