Best place to live for a GRMer?

Grizz wrote: I'll have to look into DE and SE PA, there's got to be something around here for talentless drivers like myself. Course, with the way stuff is going in this county, I could theoretically buy a commercial lot and run events myself.

The Philly SCCA region gets a number of entrants from the DE area. They are also running events at Dover Raceway this year.

While Philly does serve as home-region to a few national champs and tour winners, there are also plenty of talentless noobs like myself.

spitfirebill wrote: Well I've lived in Spartanburg for 23+ years and don't know where you guys get your hardon for the upstate of SC. But that's OK. A lot of other people disagree. Much of what has been said is not very accurate.

Thanks for respecting the opinion. Everything I posted can be backed up with facts and multiple, and I mean MULTIPLE witnesses and sources. No need to post here, PM me if you want me to dig them out.

So do I think we have a small consenus on good areas

Middle NC Atl Pennsylvania. Honorable mention to the Pacific Northwest and Cali

Not NY Not Chicago

I wish I could throw TN in there but we are very roundy-round centered here, despite some of the best mountain roads you will ever drive (biased).

Fair tally up to this point?

curtis73 wrote: I'm going to rate L.A. on this list - (even though I don't live there anymore) Salvage yards? Heck yes. Where the two geologic faults meet in Sun Valley there is nothing but yards for 10 square blocks. There are even brand-specific yards ranging from Ford to Fiat and Mercedes to Mazda.

There are cars in these yards that are so clean, they'd make the average New England car nut cry. Parts-wise, the lack of rust makes them really easy to disassemble in the u-pull-it lots.

Autocross events seem to be rather common in Orange county. Its 10-30 miles away from L.A. depending on where you are.

Cal club runs local events in the Auto Club Speedway parking lot. They used to run them in the parking lot at Hollywood Park at certain times of the year when the horse racing moved to the other tracks.

Average used car price is a LOT lower than you might think. While there is a large concentration of low-income folks who think their 89 Camry is worth $3000 there is a very high percentage of rich-types who think their 99 Mercedes is also only worth $3000. I snagged a 5-series with a blown motor for FREE in L.A. I also grabbed a 62 Caddy CDV that was chopped, dropped, and shaved for $1500 because the builder thought it had "too much bondo." The sheer number of vehicles that are for sale within a 20-mile radius of your front door is staggering. Pick your favorite vehicle of all time. Got to LA's CL page and search for it. Seriously.

The haters will complain about all the d-bags in LA but those d-bags know the price of everything and the value of nothing. It's easy to buy low from and sell high to these folks. Most of them don't even mow their own lawns so anything more sophisticated than light bulb replacement means money can be made.

I've said many times the biggest jerks live in LA. Conversely, the nicest people I've ever met live here too. It's a land of extremes.

Question is.... can you afford a 2br/1ba house in a bad neigborhood with bars on the windows for $350k? I couldn't .... that's why I went to Austin.... but that's another post.

That's what the outlying suburbs are for. We live in Glendale and rather modestly too.

Believe me, the place has many faults and I'm not talking geologically. However, for car friendliness, it's hard to beat.

North Georgia:

CHEAP, rust-free cars.

CHEAP land with little restriction (if that's your thing.)

No emissions requirements (for now.)

Easy to get stuff titled.

Proximity to Road Atlanta, 45 minutes from autocrosses, great driving roads. Soon-to-be minutes from Atlanta Motorsports Park

Your stuff doesn't get stolen like in Atlanta/Metro.

5 hour drive to the Challenge.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!

poopshovel wrote: 5 hour drive to the Challenge.

bahhahahahahahaa11a1a1111!!11111111111!!!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: NE PA. Anywhere between Allentown and the NY border. Junkyards and pick-n-pulls in every direction Racetracks... within a 4hr drive - The Glen - NJMP (2 tracks, 2 kart tracks) - Summit Point (3 tracks, 1 kart track) - LRP (karting too) - Pocono (3 configs) - Beaver Run - Montecello - OVRP (karting/motocross) - Hurricane Hills (hillclimb / motocross) You are forgetting an active PHA hill climb season in including Giants' Despair in Wilkes-Barre and two on the mountain in Weatherly. NEPA SCCA runs a 10 event autocross season with between 6 & 7 runs per event. The Poconos are may be the nicest part if the region. Scenic, low taxes, decent schools, no emissions testing, plenty of room for a huge garage. Monroe County is the more popular county with transplants so get used to a bit of NY / NJ flavor. Favorite car: Tahoe. Favorite performance car: any Vette with an auto trans. Carbon County is less populous. It is backasswards, stuck in 1976 and has a red neck flavor (enough Confederate Flags to make a Georgia native feel at home. Favorite car: Chevy Pickup. Favorite performance car: 1970 Chevelle as automotive technology advanced ceased in 1970. Cool used cars are plentiful thanks to NYC, Philly & greater NJ being within 2 hrs. Dirt / Oval / motocross racing at 20 venues any Friday/Saturday nite. Housing is dirt cheap, especially in the flood plane near the river :)

+1 for the pacific northwest. I'm down in Eugene, so I'd have to add an hour to pretty much all those distances.

If there were a rating system, you'd have to deduct major points for anyplace that sees more than 5 inches of snow on a regular basis. The southeast in general kicks butt. (Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama) Weather allows racing all year round and rust does not attack your cars unless you're near the coast. Next to Southern California, it's hard to beat.

Ian F wrote:

Grizz wrote: I'll have to look into DE and SE PA, there's got to be something around here for talentless drivers like myself. Course, with the way stuff is going in this county, I could theoretically buy a commercial lot and run events myself.

The Philly SCCA region gets a number of entrants from the DE area. They are also running events at Dover Raceway this year. While Philly does serve as home-region to a few national champs and tour winners, there are also plenty of talentless noobs like myself.

I've been considering moving into PA anyway once I get back on my feet financially, people from teh cities(95 runs right through it) have been moving here and turning the area into a suburb of Baltimore, Wilmington, and other areas and are driving up the prices and pushing a lot of locals out. A house that used to sell for 150k is running 250 nowadays.

If I could do it all over again, I would leave for California right away.

NorCal does have some nice race tracks.

Pity I'm 4-5h away from all of them .

ncjay wrote: If there were a rating system, you'd have to deduct major points for anyplace that sees more than 5 inches of snow on a regular basis. The southeast in general kicks butt. (Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama) Weather allows racing all year round and rust does not attack your cars unless you're near the coast. Next to Southern California, it's hard to beat.

We had one of our worst winters ever (200 years or some shnoz like that) back in 06, and it was like 6" total for the entire month. In 09 we got no snow at all.

I don't know what the best place to live is, but I do know it isn't Boston. Far from the worst, (an autox every weekend for the ambitious traveler, Lime Rock is sortof far but not bad, many automotive clubs) but the roads are in bad shape (especially for anybody with a stiffly sprung car), the traffic laws aren't really enforced (I see this as a negative, but I suppose it could go the other way), constant minor body damage to most cars not protected like the president, some D-bag in the government is trying to pass a law to ban all aftermarket exhaust systems that make noise, and any fun roads are too full of traffic.

Also, snow does NOT make for a less fun place to drive. It makes it MORE fun. The salt, though, that screws it all up... Stupid salt... rusting cars... saving lives...

FlightService wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Well I've lived in Spartanburg for 23+ years and don't know where you guys get your hardon for the upstate of SC. But that's OK. A lot of other people disagree. Much of what has been said is not very accurate.

Thanks for respecting the opinion. Everything I posted can be backed up with facts and multiple, and I mean MULTIPLE witnesses and sources. No need to post here, PM me if you want me to dig them out.

No need. Just tell me where one can live that has low property taxes, no income taxes, low crime and good schools and how they do that. I think I can get elected Governor if it can be done.

BoxheadTim wrote: NorCal does have some nice race tracks. Pity I'm 4-5h away from all of them .

On the other hand you are very close to all the sweet roads up in the mountains. I learned how to slide a car around corners out in the high desert running between the sage brush. Good fun.

spitfirebill wrote I think I can get elected Governor if it can be done.

Just go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, that should be all you need for SC.

Tally seems like this

I-85 Corridor (Atlanta to Charlotte)

Northwest GA (Why not just over in Chattanooga I have no idea, you have no property taxes, income taxes, etc)

Southeast PA

Pacific NW

and going back to Cali, Cali,

Miss anything?

Jerry From LA wrote:

curtis73 wrote: I'm going to rate L.A. on this list - (even though I don't live there anymore) Salvage yards? Heck yes. Where the two geologic faults meet in Sun Valley there is nothing but yards for 10 square blocks. There are even brand-specific yards ranging from Ford to Fiat and Mercedes to Mazda.

There are cars in these yards that are so clean, they'd make the average New England car nut cry. Parts-wise, the lack of rust makes them really easy to disassemble in the u-pull-it lots.

Autocross events seem to be rather common in Orange county. Its 10-30 miles away from L.A. depending on where you are.

Cal club runs local events in the Auto Club Speedway parking lot. They used to run them in the parking lot at Hollywood Park at certain times of the year when the horse racing moved to the other tracks.

Average used car price is a LOT lower than you might think. While there is a large concentration of low-income folks who think their 89 Camry is worth $3000 there is a very high percentage of rich-types who think their 99 Mercedes is also only worth $3000. I snagged a 5-series with a blown motor for FREE in L.A. I also grabbed a 62 Caddy CDV that was chopped, dropped, and shaved for $1500 because the builder thought it had "too much bondo." The sheer number of vehicles that are for sale within a 20-mile radius of your front door is staggering. Pick your favorite vehicle of all time. Got to LA's CL page and search for it. Seriously.

The haters will complain about all the d-bags in LA but those d-bags know the price of everything and the value of nothing. It's easy to buy low from and sell high to these folks. Most of them don't even mow their own lawns so anything more sophisticated than light bulb replacement means money can be made. I've said many times the biggest jerks live in LA. Conversely, the nicest people I've ever met live here too. It's a land of extremes.

Question is.... can you afford a 2br/1ba house in a bad neigborhood with bars on the windows for $350k? I couldn't .... that's why I went to Austin.... but that's another post.

That's what the outlying suburbs are for. We live in Glendale and rather modestly too. Believe me, the place has many faults and I'm not talking geologically. However, for car friendliness, it's hard to beat.

Rent and mortgages in California cost stupid money. There is no way around it. They also make you pay registration fees for all of your non-running project cars. How car friendly is that?

A PNO (Planned Non-Operational) reg is maybe 25 bucks a year. You don't have to pay it but once you put the car back on the road you will owe full registration price for every year your car wasn't registered if you opt for not paying.

Jobs in CA pay more to offset the mortgage / rent deal. Rent is nowhere near what you'd pay in NYC, DC, or Boston. I was a rental property manager for almost 11 years so I know. There are many nice neighborhoods where you don't pay outlandish rents. As I said, our mortgage is relatively modest.

Having said that, I'm currently rehabbing a one-bedroom condo in West Hollywood for rental purposes. The rent will be stupid.

Grand Rapids, MI

Close to all the sweet tracks in the midwest. Gingerman and Grattan are about an hour in each direction. If you need to cool off or have fun on the weekend we're 45 minutes from some of the best Lake Michigan beaches.

FlightService wrote:

spitfirebill wrote I think I can get elected Governor if it can be done.

Just go hiking on the Appalachian Trail, that should be all you need for SC.

That's AFTER you get elected.

FlightService wrote: Northwest GA (Why not just over in Chattanooga I have no idea, you have no property taxes, income taxes, etc)

Lots of Tennesseans have moved across the border to NW GA to take advantage of the "free" college education GA offers.

thunderzy wrote: I live in SE Michigan, the greater Detroit area. There is a huge car culture here. A nice local track, Waterford Hills Raceway, in metro Detroit area. Also only a 3-4 hr drive from Grattan, Gingerman, and Mid Ohio! Detroit SCCA hosts plenty events in the summer months. We even have a Gumball Rally (http://www.michigangumball.com/) Almost as many parts stores as gas stations, and decent amount of junk yards. You can also find a gathering, cruise, or show nearly any day of the week. Not to mention the Woodward Dream Cruise, which is said to be the largest organized automotive event in the world. Its mostly american iron but you'll find a group for any model. It may not be the best place in the country for a GRMer, but its pretty cool. In spite of the horrifying economy here, the car culture thrives.

SE Mi for sure, everything a car nut could ever want. And for those that don't have 32' enclosed trailers to carry their rule books and protest forms, or a trust fund for entry fees and don't want to get up at 5:00am or leave a site until 7:00pm for 3 runs, there is the Detroit Council of Sports Car clubs who run great autocrosses so you car ignore all that silly SCCA crap.

Tom Heath wrote: My thoughts- Detroit has potential. Ask me again in 5 years. (and make sure it's during the summer.)

Have I missed something? Are you now, or about to be a Michigander?

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

SE Michigan is nice but has its downsides. You NEED a garage preferably with heat, you'll probably be buying most of your old cars from out of state and the quality of the roads matches the economy.

Die hard Michigander, but I'd probably say anywhere on the west coast. The rust situation here makes almost any older car only usable 6 months per year.