NorCal first track day. Reccmmend a track?

So my wife wants to get me a track day for my birthday. I'm in San Jose California. The nearest tracks are: Laguna Seca 73 miles Infineion Raceway (Sear Point) 82 Miles Thunder Hill 175 miles Buttonwillow 219 miles Which is going to provide the best experiece for a first time driver? Safest track, etc. Thanks, AA

I have done track days at Infinion, and it was a really fun track. Not much run off so be careful!!! I really want to drive Laguna Seca.

Thunderhill is a fun and very forgiving track...Infineion is fun but not forgiving. You can run off the track at Thunderhill without crashing into anything. Infineion has lots of concrete barriers that are pretty intimidating. You are going to have a blast no matter what track you decide on. It's what your car was made for. Happy Birthday!

These are just my opinion. If you want safest track, you want to go to buttonwillow. There's plenty or runoff room with nothing much to hit, and most of the high speed turns are on camber. That track is also very fun with many differnt kinds of turns and elevation changes. If you are concerned about safety, I would go there in early summer / fall. Basically, avoid the rainly season, because the rain will turn the dust into mud. If you ever go off track spinning, chances are you will dig in and roll. If it's not raining, I think it's one of the safest tracks in the West Coast. Thunderhill is similar to buttonwillow in that there is plenty of run off room and nothing much to hit. However, a few of their turns are off camber - that means your car will side toward the outside of the track. Personally I think it's not as fun as buttonwillow, but in terms of safety they are similar. The track that is most fun is Sears Point. However, it is probably one of the most dangerous tracks. I think it will be quite intimidating for a first time track driver, and I would not recommend it to someone who had not done this before. Laguna Seca is another famous track, but it is my least favoriate. The track is famous for its Andredi hairpin T2 and corkscrew T8, but other than these turns, it is essentially a stright track connected by four corners. The intimidation level is also in par with Sears Point. I would go to Sears Point if I had to pick between the two. Hope that helps.

Infineon and Laguna Seca clearly have close walls and punish those that go off track. This is most true of Infineon where there are no run off areas at all. That said, you can still have a very good time at these tracks if you stay within your abilities. Along the way, a good club and instructor are very important and can make the day allot of fun. I suggest the CDS/TM event March 12th. You get great instruction and see a bunch of nice cars and meet allot of great people. http://www.coastaldriving.org/Flyer.html Thnderhill and Buttonwillow are both very safe tracks that are really safe and great places to learn. The only down side to these tracks is that they are located in remote areas where a greasy burger is noted as a gormet meal. Oh, don't go there in the summer unless you want to get well done.

UCrazyKid, when are you planning to go? I live in San Jose also, I was thinking about going with PCA to Buttonwillow on May 25th. Before that I'm going to do the Autocross event at Candlestick on March 17th. I just got my 996 so I need to learn to control this beast before getting it to the track

You can get a nice 3 day weekend at Thunderhill with the Golden Gate and Diablo PCA regions March 30-April 1st. Sign up for the DE and you will get instruction for the entire weekend. You will also have to go to the GGR ground school which is a nice introduction to the basics of track driving. http://www.pca-ggr.org/calendar.cgi?page=driversed

I did my first track day for motorcycle and for car at thunderhill. Of all the tracks close to you that I have been on, I'd have to say that it's my pick for a first timer. Streets of Willow is good too because of it's low speed, but It's a bit far from SJ. T.E.A.M. Racing hosts good events at thunderhill, I used to go with them alot when I lived in SF.