Leave you’re Opinion/Comments/Experiences.....

[Ant97GTR]

Hi Guys and Girls,

As many of you Vic people know I'm currently taking part in our 'club championship' and have just finished a very eventful 4th round at Sandown last weekend. As most of you also know my wife recently gave birth to our first child about 4 weeks ago and as a result we have had my wife’s' family in town (they live in Sydney) over the past couple of weeks. Now I've laid the foundations its time for the story.......

I got home on Sunday just before dinner after spending the day whipping my gtst around Sandown. There I found my wife with a story to tell. Apparently while I was prepping the car on Sat as well as driving on the Sun my wife’s father had a little chat in her ear. To make a long story short he is really unhappy about me racing my car now I have a family of my own and wants me to stop. This is despite the fact that we race against the clock and not against other cars in a very controlled environment. When you consider the facts I suppose his arguments have merits as motor racing is dangerous and I'm sure most performance car drivers have heard this from family members at some point or another. HOWEVER the way I look at it is that this is my chosen hobby - people spend thousands of dollars skydiving or hang-gliding or the like and when you look at the stats there are probably more deaths involved with these types of activities than club racing your car. As I have always looked at it like that both my wife and my family have resigned themselves to the fact that I'm going to continue to track my car.

Another thing that made this hard to swallow is the fact that my wife’s father used to race Morris 1100's and 1600's back in the day as well as the fact he was a water paramedic to earn a dollar. When my wife brought this up her father replied that he purposely stopped racing once he was married with kids (but continued to risk his life on the water day in day out for a living!!). Personally I find it a bit hypocritical for him to sit there and say this to my wife when I'm sure his own wife used to sit at home day in day out wondering if he was coming home in an ambulance. Personally I think I've got a better chance of coming home in one piece after a track day than driving my 'line down the street with all the idiot/drunk/high drivers out there. I also find this very hard to swallow when I think back a few years to the time the aforementioned father got his new car and proceeded to take me on a hot lap around his area - I think its a proven fact that its safer racing your car on the track than on the road.......

Anyway rant over but interested in everyone's opinions, experiences and/or comments.......

[strutto]

Not only is it YOUR hobby mate, it's YOUR choice, and YOUR family... Not your Father-in-Law's... I wouldn't give a moments thought to his "advice"...

You're a grown adult raising a family and it's you're perogative to do that anyway you please within the boundarys of the law...

I feel your pain though... I've got 3 young boys, a father-in-law who couldn't care less about cars / bikes / engines / motorsport, and a severe addiction to motorbikes, fast cars and track days... I'm yet to hear anything about it but I know it's frowned upon...

Keep on doing what you're doing... They will learn to accept it...

[46n2]

tough call mate

as strutto said, it is ultimately YOUR choice. It's not really fair when extended family try and throw their 2 cents in...If your wife and family have accepted it, i'd keep racing

[Jamezilla]

It's your hobby. Keep doing it.

Plus you're pretty good at it!

Don't see it as ignoring her wishes though.

The request is one of concern for you, which is not a bad thing. And afterall, Sunday illustrated pretty clearly that things can go wrong at the racetrack... but like you noted, as an Aussie male aged under 40, statistically you are more likely to die of cancer of heart disease than in a motorsport related incident.

My thoughts - fit a cage to the car.

Sure, it won't improve your times or make you magically impervious to 'when things go wrong' - but if you are to look at likely scenarios of a very bad day at the track, sliding sideways into kitty-litter and rolling would come up pretty high on the list. A cage could prove very helpful in such a circumstance.

Everything we do in life has an element of risk. That's what makes life exciting.

Most of the time we don't even think about it - I mean people choke on food, are you going to stop eating too?

Bottom line - if you feel unsafe, or that you might be risking too much, then stop.

Until that time, take all available precautions - and be a really cool dad that has a racecar!

[Jamezilla]

PS: This goes for you too Snowy

[Bec]

OMG Ant

1. Stop smoking - you 'could' catch cancer and die.

2. Dont drive full stop - it's all dangerous.

3. Dont drink - apparently there are various ways this can kill you.

4. Don't cross the road - you 'could' get hit by a bus/truck/holden driver

5. Never sit on a public toliet seat.

There are a million things that could kill any one of us each day. Doens't mean we stop doing them.

Everything in daily life has risks - unless you are preapred to live in a bubble, then do what you want when you want and deal with problems as they arise.

I understand you have a child now but c'mon you only live once - you better make the most of the time you do have.

If you live your life by what 'might' happen to you if you do something - you'll find you won't have a very eventful time and you'll miss out on heaps of cheap thrills!

My 2c!

[Roy]

Best bet, is to take them for a few laps, show them what its all about...and odds are they will get off your back re the safety aspects of it. It is truly safe, as long as you odnt go punting it too hard with them in the car they will begin to understand.

If they were giving you grief over the economics of it all...then bugger there is no argument there, but the safety aspects should not be a concern:)

[saff_cossie]

I can see his point and he is probably thinking worst case scenario that his daughter could end up being the bread winner or worse sole provider for your child.

However, life is too short to tip toe around and continuously act on the advice of others. The main person I feel you should consult and have respect for is your wife. If she says no, either strike a compromise or give in. The input of your father-in-law should also have no bearing on yours or her decision.

[Snowman]

I think you should quit so I can win the club championship!

[46n2]

Everything in daily life has risks - unless you are preapred to live in a bubble

haha not so true - look at what happenned to the Bubble boy in Seinfeld...oh noooooo...it was the 'Moops'

[Jamezilla]

...unless you are preapred to live in a bubble...

Frickin' sweet!

Sorry - you can get back on topic now...

[ABuSD]

Personally I think I've got a better chance of coming home in one piece after a track day than driving my 'line down the street with all the idiot/drunk/high drivers out there.

:werd:

[RUS]

Ant, as you know my girlfriend and I just became parents as well. I have a different problem though, I took her our for the passenger laps (my father holding the baby in the pits) and she complained that my skyline was not fast enough! oh well.. I guess she can just go back to riding her CBR400RR on the road then. I am lucky, we are a family who grew up with motorsport and love it!

I think you should keep doing track days. Like Jamezilla said, pour your money into safety items, I fitted sparco seats, harnesses and semi slicks, next item will be the roll cage. After that I will work on getting more power from my car.

I will see you at winton!

[Roy]

Congrats Wayne, wasnt aware that your a proud dad as well:thumbsup:

And Ant, thinking about it you should give it away, then at least i may come 3rd in the Club Championship:)

[djr81]

Your best bet is to take your Father in law to the track so that he can see for himself how safe the events are. Having raced before he should understand, but back in the day things were alot more dangerous. This worked for me with my family.

[Bec]

Hope all the advice is helping Ant - although at the end of the day the decision is up to you (perhaps slightly decided by Nat as well).

Keep in mind though - the response you get here may by a little bit biased!

[NickR33]

motor racing dangerous!????

try taking up basketball, im sitting here typing with one hand because i fractured my elbow... last year i needed 6 stitches in my chin because i face planted the court!

and its supposed to be a non contact sport...

bottom line is everything is dangerous... at least safety is actually a concern in motor racing

so just keep doing what your doing but be a little smart about it... lets face it... when that 1st kid arrives the time for taking big risks is over but the fun doesn't have to stop!

oh and your father in law sounds like a w**ker... if he was a man he would confront you and not sneak around behind your back and try and get your wife on side

okay enough of the Dr Phil, im off to the pub

[West]

Take the wife out for a cruise on a nice day, then dinner, then talk things through. Ignore the Inlaw, the wife is all that matter.

[R31Nismoid]

Bah, keep at it Ant.

Everyone has thier interests, driving on a track is no less dangerous to driving on the street IMO. Possibly worse...

At least on the track most people are like minded. On the road some idiot could easily run a red and t-bone you into the heavens. Maybe you should stop dring all together and walk...

Oh, but then you might be hit by the same idiot above whilst walking across the road instead :headspin:

[_IrIsH_]

if ur misses doesnt care keep doing it