Hey fellas, what can you tell me about the Colorado car scene? My wife and I are considering moving to Denver and of course, I have to find out what the car scene is like out there - that and the weather. I did some research and found Second Creek Raceway, but found that it will be closing soon. Bummer.

I've read about the local drag strip and Pikes Peak raceway being less than 2 hours away... What else should be known about the area? Do they use salt on the roadways when it snows? What octane gas do they have out there? Is there a good group of DSMers? How cold does it really get and how bad is the snow?

Coming from CA, this will all be new to me.

hey theres a drag strip in morrison just outside denver called bandimere its a really nice track one of my favorites and ive been to pomona, firebird, vegas, and others!!!! check out http://bandimere.com/home/index.php for more info and theres a ton of dsm's here cuz of all the snow!!

96profwddsm said:

hey theres a drag strip in morrison just outside denver called bandimere its a really nice track one of my favorites and ive been to pomona, firebird, vegas, and others!!!! check out http://bandimere.com/home/index.php for more info and theres a ton of dsm's here cuz of all the snow!!

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Yeah, that's the drag strip I had already come across. I'm more concerned with the other issues I brought up... and was wondering how the effort was going to replace Second Creek. I'm more into road courses than drag strips.

Do they use salt on the roadways when it snows? What octane gas do they have out there? Is there a good group of DSMers? How cold does it really get and how bad is the snow? How bad are the emissions laws/testing?

i believe there is a road coarse outside pueblo and a couple scca tracks around denver or so ive heard!!! i live on the other side of the mountains it doesnt get real cold here they use mag chloride which is basically liquid salt but not to much on this side denver gets alot of snow compared to my side!!! we dont have emissions down here in denver they have them but are nothing like california's basically have a cat converter and your set!! have you looked for tracks on scca's site?

96profwddsm said:

i believe there is a road coarse outside pueblo and a couple scca tracks around denver or so ive heard!!! i live on the other side of the mountains it doesnt get real cold here they use mag chloride which is basically liquid salt but not to much on this side denver gets alot of snow compared to my side!!! we dont have emissions down here in denver they have them but are nothing like california's basically have a cat converter and your set!! have you looked for tracks on scca's site?

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What's the name of the town/city you live in? It says "gj" in your profile, but I'm not familiar enough with CO to know where that's at.

^Grand Junction

They dont use salt out here.....

sand and magchloride....

sand chips the crap out of your paint and cracks your windshield.... and the mag sticks to your car and rusts you lug nuts. Dam magchloride... only comes off if you scrub it.

Plus you get 91 octane up here for premium, which isnt so bad because of the altitude.

sbiggi said:

^Grand Junction

They dont use salt out here.....

sand and magchloride....

sand chips the crap out of your paint and cracks your windshield.... and the mag sticks to your car and rusts you lug nuts. Dam magchloride... only comes off if you scrub it.

Plus you get 91 octane up here for premium, which isnt so bad because of the altitude.

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Hmmm, actually sounds worse than salt. How often do they use it - how much does it snow? And does it stick around on the roads for long after the snow? Man, the snow is the biggie for me - I'm a warm weather kind of guy, and I hate the effects of salt (and magchloride) on the car. Guess I'm just spoiled right now.

91 octane? Damn, I was hoping for some 92-93. We have 91 here in CA. Any local stations sell race gas at the pump? We have a station around here that sells 100 octane at the pump.

Ludachris said:

Hmmm, actually sounds worse than salt. How often do they use it - how much does it snow? And does it stick around on the roads for long after the snow? Man, the snow is the biggie for me - I'm a warm weather kind of guy, and I hate the effects of salt (and magchloride) on the car. Guess I'm just spoiled right now.

91 octane? Damn, I was hoping for some 92-93. We have 91 here in CA. Any local stations sell race gas at the pump? We have a station around here that sells 100 octane at the pump.

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they have some stations that sell higher octane gas, not totally sure what octanes but 91 is just the premium that is sold everywhere, but you can also get the gas at bandimere, but there are a few gas stations here that sell "race gas"

Ludachris said:

Hey fellas, what can you tell me about the Colorado car scene? My wife and I are considering moving to Denver and of course, I have to find out what the car scene is like out there - that and the weather. I did some research and found Second Creek Raceway, but found that it will be closing soon. Bummer.

I've read about the local drag strip and Pikes Peak raceway being less than 2 hours away... What else should be known about the area? Do they use salt on the roadways when it snows? What octane gas do they have out there? Is there a good group of DSMers? How cold does it really get and how bad is the snow?

Coming from CA, this will all be new to me.

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second creek is 10mins from my house. They arent closing it for another year or so i believe. Even then creating a new track is in the works. Bandimere is great track, but remember the altitude adjustment is gonna kill you We have CODSM out here but i highly suggest not joining them. A complete list of fools, idiots, dictatorship, etc. How cool woult it be to have dsmtuners based out of CO? Where exactly are you looking at moving to?

Ludachris said:

Hmmm, actually sounds worse than salt. How often do they use it - how much does it snow? And does it stick around on the roads for long after the snow? Man, the snow is the biggie for me - I'm a warm weather kind of guy, and I hate the effects of salt (and magchloride) on the car. Guess I'm just spoiled right now.

91 octane? Damn, I was hoping for some 92-93. We have 91 here in CA. Any local stations sell race gas at the pump? We have a station around here that sells 100 octane at the pump.

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Next to cherry creek reservoir in south aurora/almost parker sells 93.5 octane.
The snow isnt bad, we had a very light winter, and have been lately. bandimere has a gas station at it with 100, 103, 108 leaded, 118, etc, etc.

Burnett03 said:

second creek is 10mins from my house. They arent closing it for another year or so i believe. Even then creating a new track is in the works. Bandimere is great track, but remember the altitude adjustment is gonna kill you We have CODSM out here but i highly suggest not joining them. A complete list of fools, idiots, dictatorship, etc. How cool woult it be to have dsmtuners based out of CO? Where exactly are you looking at moving to?

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Yeah, I know the altitude is going to hurt the ego a bit. Oh well. There's always a correction factor, right?

Everything I've read about Second Creek said it was supposed to close last November (04), but got a one year extension (Nov, 05). I did read something about a plan for a new track to replace Second Creek when it closes, but the sites I found with that info are a bit outdated and I couldn't find anyone who could give me the status on how that's going. Is the land already purchased? What phase is that project in?

Also, the CO DSM scene (judging from the traffic in this forum and others I found) seems to be a little stagnant. Is that the case? Or are the forums not a good indicator?

How bad are the emissions laws out there? I'm sure they're nothing like CA, but it would be nice to get some details.... Do they have visual underhood inspections? How strict are those? Do people with sheetmetal intake manifolds and other visual standouts have problems getting tested or is it mostly dependant on whether or not you pass the sniffer test?

I'd love to talk to someone who has relocated to CO from CA that could give me some insight on this and a few other things. If you know someone, please put them in touch with me.

grly95clpsgst said:

they have some stations that sell higher octane gas, not totally sure what octanes but 91 is just the premium that is sold everywhere, but you can also get the gas at bandimere, but there are a few gas stations here that sell "race gas"

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There is 93 octain here, you just have to drive a bit here in northern colorado, I have been buying Sunoco 104 for $4 bucks a gallon. There are alot of DSM's here in fort collins, i just dont know any of them.

Honestly most of the DSM people in CO just dont post here.

www.rmdsm.org is one of the main sites for CO, as well as the codsm(not sure of url)

I'd say for the most part, the DSM crowd doesnt really hang out together or race around on the streets. We get together for dyno days and the occasional track day.

There are always lots of DSM's at the track, but it doesnt seem that anyone really hangs out together up there.



Emmisions out here is easy. Depending who inspects your car (luck of the draw). My brother passed with out a cat before, they didnt even look under the car.

sbiggi said:

Honestly most of the DSM people in CO just dont post here.

www.rmdsm.org is one of the main sites for CO, as well as the codsm(not sure of url)

I'd say for the most part, the DSM crowd doesnt really hang out together or race around on the streets. We get together for dyno days and the occasional track day.

There are always lots of DSM's at the track, but it doesnt seem that anyone really hangs out together up there.



Emmisions out here is easy. Depending who inspects your car (luck of the draw). My brother passed with out a cat before, they didnt even look under the car.

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RMDSM is a joke too, just like CODSM. We never have any cool dsm meets, or maybe i just miss them? Emissions is pretty simple. No underhood visuals. I passed with a gutted cat, 60-1 turbo, 660 injectors, safc, etc, etc. All it took was some rubbing alcohol!

No you didnt miss anything.... they never have meets. Only time they get together is when the dyno queens actually come out to play.

RMDSM has a bi-annual horsepower competition which is always fun, and it seems like there are always people going to second creek.

CODSM's website is co.dsm.org and it is an e-mail forum.

There are no emissions where I live.

How unpredictable is the weather out there? I've read quite a bit of literature (mostly marketing materials) that say the climate is mild and that you usually see over 300 days of sunshine per year. Yet, I've read other articles saying how unpredictable the weather can be year round, and how thunderstorms and hail are somewhat common even in the summer months - as well as tornados:
http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/climateofcolorado.php

Can I have some people give me a detailed point of view on the weather year round for the Denver area? How often does it snow, rain, freeze, etc? What's the average winter day like? spring day? fall day? summer day? evenings?

Well, I guess this post answers most of the questions in the PM I sent you.

http://www.coracing.com/forum1/index.php?showtopic=27405&view=findpost&p=485402

Well, I guess this post answers most of the questions in the PM I sent you on COSR.

http://www.coracing.com/forum1/index.php?showtopic=27405&view=findpost&p=485402

Hope you decide to come out here!

The weather can be unpredictable, but it's usually just a swift change from hot/warm & sunny to rain, or warm/sunny to snow, and vice-versas.

Hail can getcha in the spring months. I only remember getting 4 appreciable hail storms in the last two years, here in the Springs, and only one was major enough to hurt the local dealers.

Yes there closing second creek BUT they are building another one on either the west or east side of DIA

If you move to colorado

move to Douglas County

I hate the snow but there is notning I can do about that now

as for emmission''s
EGR is no longer needed
They do a visual BUT they check for o2 sensor and air pump if your car is equiped with one and CAT of cource
Deponds on which county your in but DC county allows a MAX of 20 co points

as far as the racing scene I think the COLORADO foems ARE not a good source of info on that I go every sunday to the street race's. If not to race just to hang out

weather : Tornados are East
dosent rain that much that's why colorado always has a drought and water conservation every summer
spring and summer are awsome!!!! here it get''s HOT
the winters are not that bad actually unless you were here for the blizzard of 98

Hope you move out here, Make a good choich on which county to live in

P.S. if you need to buy a house and need a good Mortgage loan or Real estate off. let me know send a PM

The import and racing scene is good... just not the "DSM scene"

www.highaltitudeimports.com - Mostly Denver Area
www.coloradoracing.net - Mostly Colorado Springs
www.denverracing.com - Mostly Northern Denver / Ft Collins

Here is some pics of the snow today but it is all melting right now and it is supposed to be in the 70s by wednesday.

ya it snowed out of no where on sunday morning, snowed all day until about 5am this morning and now its like 50 outside and its a big slushy mess now.

I was wondering if I could ask a big favor from all of you guys in the Denver Metro area - would I be able to get you guys to go out and snap a few pics of the area you live in? Just some shots of the neighborhoods, the shopping centers, main streets, etc. Anything you think would be worth taking a pic of. My wife and I would like to get an idea of what the places look like. We'll be heading out there in a week or so to visit a friend and will probably take a drive around the Littleton/S.Aurora/Highlands Ranch area.

I'd really appreciate it, if it's not too much trouble.