A buddy of mine from out of town wants to fly in and join me at an HPDE. Has anyone had any experiences with bringing rental cars to an HPDE Event (like a Corvette or Mustang from Hertz)? Just like with your own car, I assume the tricky part would be the insurance and what would (or would not) be covered.

Are there companies that rent cars specifically for HPDE events?

Thanks for any info.

 

pretty sure rental agreement would not allow you to take it tracking. having said that, what's there to stop them? worst case, you crash and the car is not under insurance any ways since it's a track event.

i'd say go for it. hertz have vettes which would do the job well.

 

You could also rent a track car for the day. I know there's at least one place in the Bay Area that rents Spec Miatas for HPDE events, and I'm sure there are others if you look around.

 

I've seen plenty of rented Mustangs on the track. It's always nice when it's not your tires or brakes lol

 

Oh, I didn't know Eric@Suspension Performance is renting track cars:
http://www.suspensionperformance.com/rentals

The 944 sounds like an awesome car to rent for the day.

Larry Oka Racing
Phone: 925-862-0172
Spec Miata Rentals

http://www.borellimotorsports.com/
Miata and 325is rentals

 

I've seen rentals on the track before multiple times. Sometimes (most of the time) you get away with it, but occasionally they figure it out and when they do, expect to get blacklisted from that rental company and any of their subsidiaries.

There was an incident on the One Lap of America a few years ago when I ran it. Some friends rented a Hertz Shelby GT-H and actually prepped it with fluid, rotors and pads. They had it for a week prior to the event and actually tuned it on the dyno and found 40hp. Long story short, they got caught because the car had a GPS tracking unit in it and they figured out what was going on. Hertz called and basically said "We know where you are and what you're doing, return the car to the nearest location or we'll disable it and come get it ourselves."

That being said... there was a rental Mustang at the PCA event we attended this weekend and as far as I know, everything went fine.

Moral of the story: Rent a spec miata or 944 from your local race shop. You'll have a more capable car and won't have to worry about being blacklisted from renting cars ever again.

 

That's pretty funny . I didn't think about the GPS tracking ability. I'm guessing they saw the car hitting high speeds and going around in a circle within a relatively small area. Just the opposite of the Nissan GTR in Japan -- where the top speed limiter is turned off when the GPS detects that you're at the track.

 

I've seen a few rented mustangs at the track, don't crash and no one will know.

 

I do it all the time. Fly race all weekend and then fly out. Just don't say you are going to the track. Last one I took back I didn't have time to wash it off and there was rubber all over the rear lol

 

The spec Miata rental is a good idea. I did a session with one at Buttonwillow a few years back, and it was an eye-opener in terms of grip and the momentum those cars are capable of carrying. Also, Speedventures can provide you with a rental car for any of their track days by reserving in advance.