The CVR DE program started off the 2020 season with our Winter Workshop Car Control Clinic at Lime Rock Park, with sold out attendance. As the drivers came to the Lime Rock chalet, they walked by a 2018 white Macan GTS and a 2020 grey metallic Cayenne. Both vehicles were supplied by Danbury Porsche, for visual enjoyment. They were two really nice vehicles. The Macan GTS was so nice it had customers at the dealership asking for it that day and sales manager Chris Partelow, was just waiting for us to bring it back – I believe they sold it the following week.
It was too windy to put the Danbury Porsche giant banner up outside, so we put it up inside the chalet, for everyone to see while they ate (both breakfast and lunch). Part of the light breakfast consisted of donuts, muffins, and bagels that were donated by the North Street Dunkin Donuts store in Danbury. Thanks to them for their generous donation of assorted treats.
Before the morning activities started, we heard from Will Corr of Hagerty Insurance and from Bobby Fantarella of Elm City Trailer. Both Will and Bobby have been long time sponsors of the CVR DE program. If you need insurance or a trailer, these are the two guys to call.
The morning driver’s meeting started with Travis of Indian Summer describing some simple rules and guidelines, along with an explanation of what the drivers were going to experience throughout the day. We had hoped to have a little snow on the ground to make the car control part of the event a little more on the difficult side but as you know, this was the winter with no snow. Temps were on the cool side (30’s) which was good because no one’s tires really warmed up or got good grip.
The drivers were given three different exercises in the morning: The first exercise had the drivers learn about weight transfer, slowly increasing their speed as they got more comfortable or until they spun out. The second exercise had the drivers utilize full ABS lock-up, going straight and into a turn, then driving the full course with a bit of trail-braking added in. The third exercise was set up in B paddock by the master himself, Bob Green. Bob came over on Friday, and put a lot of thought into the course – he laid it out as a mini road course / autocross track, even lining the perimeters of the track in flour. Yes, flour. I thought it was odd, but when he was done, the flour outline made it awesome for visualizing the entire course. You could see where he had short fast straights and hard 90’s to a big sweeper that led into a quick left/right. It was lots of fun for everyone.
As we neared lunchtime the skies got cloudy and we had a snow squall come through. Perfect.
Lunchtime gave everyone a chance to warm up inside, with a wide variety of sandwiches, deli salads, chips, fruit and three types of cookies. Thanks to Danbury Porsche for sponsoring the food for our Workshop. Besides warming up and eating, the drivers also got to talk to Will about insurance and Bobby about trailers. Everyone ate and was giddy to go back at it.
For the afternoon session, Travis and his two coaches decided to turn the two upper exercises into one large mini road course where drivers got to put together everything they had learned on the two courses in the morning. With the snow from the squall, it made for some great sliding / car control moves. It is always a challenge when the track surface gets wet, for car control, for autocross, for the track. This Workshop was the perfect opportunity to test a car’s limit, in a safe environment.
We know that the drivers all had a great time based on comments and emails. One driver even wrote, “this should be mandatory for all Porsche owners”. If you were not able to attend this year, plan on coming to next year’s event. It’s for everyone – instructors, solo drivers, students, even first timers. While most of the cars were Porsches, including Macans and Cayennes, we did have a few ‘other cars’ including 2 VW GTI’s, some Audi’s, a Jeep Cherokee and a Cadillac CTS-V coupe.
Everyone that participated in the Workshop received a long-sleeved t-shirt. Thanks to our four shops for always agreeing to sponsor our DE shirt give-aways. You know them, we love them: Automobile Associates of Canton, Musante Motorsports, Daniel Jacobs LLC and Speedsport Tuning. Our shirts are always a limited-run production so technically, you could call them ‘collector items’. Thanks to the shops for their continued support.
Final thanks to Travis and his coaches – they spent the whole day outside, braving the cold, running the event. This was our third year holding this event and it runs like clockwork. Thanks to Tom Masino for coming up from NY to help out. If you’re a regular DE participant, you know that I ask Tom to help out a lot. And he usually says ‘yes’. Thanks to Bob Green for his terrific B paddock course. When you need a place to stay near Lime Rock, give Bob a call to reserve a room at his B&B. Or go to his website: www.greenworksatwhitehollow.com Thanks to Danbury Porsche, Hagerty Insurance and Elm City Trailer for always saying ‘yes’. We couldn’t ask for better sponsors.
We returned the Macan and Cayenne to Danbury Porsche late Saturday afternoon. The Macan still had snow on the hood and roof when we pulled into the dealership lot. On Sunday, we took the extra food to the Dorothy Day Hospitality House, for them to distribute to their guests. That wrapped up the Workshop weekend for us, with the thought that it was a winner.
Hopefully, we are back on track soon. Our April events were canceled, but we are hoping that our May event can take place. Watch the CVR website, check in on the social media sites or just send us an email. We will keep everyone posted, as soon as we hear any news.
Stay safe, stay healthy.
Dave
