CVR’s first DE for 2020 took place in June instead of April, due to Covid-19. We were not originally scheduled at Lime Rock Park for a June event since we had a June Watkins Glen event booked. The WGI event was canceled just as the State of CT started loosening restrictions. We were able to late-book two days (June 13 & June 25) at Lime Rock Park.
Our June 13 event was a safe and fun track day for all who attended because we had proper safety precautions set in place by both Lime Rock Park and CVR. Prior to the event, several emails were sent out to the drivers explaining the new guidelines. Masks and social distancing were the two most obvious differences from events held before the pandemic.
For the June 13th event, we ran a two rungroup schedule and all of the drivers got two hours of track time, all packed in between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Getting home by 3 p.m. was nice – the day was still young and the weather was perfect.
Thanks go out to Lime Rock Park for being so diligent in implementing new safety procedures at the park so that everyone would be safe during the event. Prior to our event, the Lime Rock staff worked hard to get their gates open (coordinating with the State of CT, having hand sanitizing stations installed in multiple locations, adding safety signs, and establishing a concise Operating Procedures guide). Who knows (other than LRP) how much ‘behind the scenes’ work had to take place before they got the okay to open from CT.
We had a few members of the CVR Photo Club at the June 13th event taking pictures – Paul Roth, Robert Reinckens and Jay Harder. They were kind enough to send us many of their shots, which were then forwarded to the drivers. Some of those pictures are shown in this article. To see all of the pictures, go to the CVR website and then click thru to the SmugMug site.
Our second June LRP event was held on the 25th. It was a sunny, hot day and Cool-shirts were the norm. For those that didn’t own one, it’s likely they’ll be buying one soon. We ran a three rungroup schedule and all of the drivers got seven sessions on track. It was a great day at the track – the weather, the driving, and everyone following the social distancing guidelines made it a safe, fun event.
We had two new sponsors for the June 25th event: Our first sponsor was European Performance Specialists located in Waterbury CT and owned by Bela Sztanko. Bela can meet any of your car needs from general service to a full-on track-prepared car. Bela has been a long-time CVR member and loves Porsches. Stop in and say hello – his doors are always open.
Our second sponsor was Spark VR owned by Matt McGivern & Joe Eilert. Matt & Joe are new to the Porsche-world but enthusiastic about our Club. Spark VR can meet any of your racing simulator needs. If you have been thinking about a sim set-up or just want to improve what you currently have, you can give them a call, check them out at their store/arcade/racetrack/bar in Vernon, or visit their website. Speaking with Matt & Joe, they could tell me about every bump and crack in the pavement and describe the g-forces in the car at LRP without ever being in a car on track at LRP. Everything they knew was based on what they learned on the simulator, with the track being laser-mapped for 100% accuracy. The pros use the simulators, which should be enough of an endorsement, but so many DE drivers use them as well. Maybe a sim set-up could be on your next birthday/holiday wish list.
We have been working hard to keep our CVR events safe/comfortable for all of our participants during these uncertain times. Everyone has heard the many conflicting reports from the people who are supposed to be ‘the professionals’ and it has become very confusing to know with certainty what is safe and what is not safe. For now, we will continue to protect the safety of all our members, being cautious and not moving too fast to reduce the new safety guidelines that have been implemented. Thank you all for your patience and support throughout these trying times. Thanks to all the hard work that the DE committee has done to pull off these safe and fun events.
Thanks to Chris Musante for coming up in the morning just to run our Tech Line and make sure we start the day off safely. I’m sure it’s tough to get up early to be ready for the 7 a.m. tech inspection and then get back to the shop to take care of customers.
For those of you who have been a little apprehensive about coming out to participate at a DE, I can tell you that your contact with anyone is as little or as much as you want it to be. We have eliminated work assignments so that we don’t have multiple people using the radios, classroom sessions are held outdoors and for now, we still only have one person per car. Our next Solo DE will be held on Monday, July 13 at LRP. If you have any questions, please reach out to me.
See you at the track. Be safe.
Dave
