What Run Group Do I Choose?

While NCRC reserves the right to make the final decision as to which run group our drivers and riders are in, we don’t want to make registration needlessly complicated. Here are the guidelines for run group membership, and under normal circumstances you should end up in the group that corresponds with your experience level.

For the “number of track days,” we accept car, motorcycle, or kart, open track or race days on real race tracks. Autocross, drag racing, indoor karting, ride-alongs, video games, “canyon carving” weekend drives, or “experience” events where you do a couple laps in some fancy car don’t count. If you have any questions about run group placement, contact Evan.

CARS

GROUP	PASSING RULES	MINIMUM EXPERIENCE
Race	Wheel to wheel racing, under “gentleman’s rules” – no contact allowed.	Previous racing experience, race license with no suspensions, or approval from ARC management.
Chrono Time Trials	Full track mandatory passing with no point-by.	5+ Full Open Passing Track days experience.
Open	Full track mandatory passing with no point-by.	20+ Track days experience.
Point-By	Full track mandatory passing with point-by. Open passing on designated straights.	9 to 19 – prior track days, on multiple tracks.
Solo	Mandatory passing with point-by in designated straights.	3 to 8 – Previous track days of experience.
Novice	School-specific exercises, and mandatory passing with point-by in designated straights.	No track experience to 2 previous track days of experience.

How Do I Move Up?

Run group placement is largely a matter of track awareness and experience, not of lap time. Under normal circumstances, if you meet the above qualifications and let us know what group you’d like to be in when you register, you will be placed in that group.

If you feel you should be moving up through the groups earlier than the above table would allow, you may request an instructor “check-out” at the track. If the instructor approves, we will move you up at the next event. We do not formally schedule these check-out rides in advance, you simply find one of our instructors at the event and ask for it. Drivers that don’t meet these requirements cannot move up early by simply asking to be in a higher group during registration or via email. We can’t get an idea of your driving skill just from an email that says “I’m fast and I drive flat out.”

The Philosophy

Regardless of your rungroup, personal responsibility is a cornerstone of NCRC. This means respecting other drivers and riders and their right to be on the track at the same time as you, and behaving like a mature adult.

We carefully review each application, and if we find that a driver has misrepresented his experience level, he may be removed from the event and banned from the club, with no refunds.