We wrapped up our 2020 DE season on November 7 with beautiful 70° weather and lots of sunshine.  Yes, the track days were a bit different without students, but with all of our COVID precautions in place, we had a very safe, successful season. CVR had six DE days at Lime Rock Park and two DE days at Watkins Glen. Usually, we have four days at WGI (two in June, two in October) but restrictions early on in the season cancelled our early summer event.  It was a shortened and modified DE season but it seems like our drivers had a good year at the track despite some of the event cancellations.

We are in the planning stages for our 2021 DE season and hope to have the dates firmed up by years end or at the beginning of January. As soon as we get our dates confirmed we will post them so you can block your calendar for the CVR track days.  As of right now we don’t know when we will have students and instructors together in a car.  A lot depends on when everyone is able to get the vaccine and how comfortable the instructors are with the safety protocols we are working on.  We want to make sure that everyone is safe and feels protected.

CVR has been and still is very fortunate to have such a supportive group when it comes to track days. Thanks to all of you who came out to an event this year and supported the CVR DE program. Without all of your support we could not have such a successful DE program.

COVERING THE DECADES:

Usually we give our DE awards out at the PhotoFest/Annual Meeting, but like everything else, that event was a casualty of the COVID cancellations. It was nice to be able to give the awards out to the DE drivers, at a DE event. Our first award was for the Enthusiast of the Year and this year we had two drivers that were very deserving. Rather than try to pick one, we gave out two Enthusiast of the Year awards. Both drivers raised it to another level from last season.

Our first recipient was Josh Zwick, because he was at the driver’s meeting at the November DE at Lime Rock Park. At the end of last season, Josh asked me what steps he should take with his 997. I told him that at a minimum I highly recommended safety equipment. He took that advice and showed up for the 2020 season with his 997 set up; a safety roll bar, seats, harnesses and a full suspension upgrade. Not stopping there, he also got a tow-behind trailer for all his tools and track wheels/tires and by the way, he did every DE event we had for 2020.

Our second recipient for Enthusiast of the Year was Jason Kamm and he would have also received his award at the driver’s meeting but there was a glitch – he got to Lime Rock and when he went to take his car off of his trailer, he realized that he did not have the keys for his track car. He unhooked his trailer from his tow vehicle, dashed home to get his keys and got back to Lime Rock just as the other drivers were going out on track. Last winter, Jason transitioned from his ‘drive to the track 996’ to a fully prepped 944T, with a trailer. Jason helped out at our Tech Line for every 2020 DE except for one.  After the ‘forgotten key’ incident, I believe he will always have a spare set with him.  For everyone reading this that doesn’t have a second set of keys, learn from Jason.

The final award that was given out was the Spencer Cox Driver Education Award and it was awarded to Rick Canter during the Instructor Meeting (held outdoors) at the November Lime Rock DE.  This is a very special award that goes to someone ‘whose personality and dedication to the program serves as a model for others’.  Rick is in charge of our instructor development program and he does a great job.  Congratulations to our three award winners for 2020.

Thank you to all of our 2020 sponsors – we are very grateful for their support (and the ability to give out T-shirts to our drivers).   Our main sponsor for our Winter Workshop is Danbury Porsche.  Every year they loan us a car or two to put on display (eye candy).  Our shops are always willing to advertise with us:  Automobile Associates of Canton, Musante Motorsports, Daniel Jacobs LLC (Hairy Dog Grrrage) and SpeedSport Tuning.  

We also thank our ‘regular’ supporters:  Hagerty Insurance and Elm City Trailer.  Call Will Corr when you want to buy insurance and call Bobby Fantarella when you want to buy a trailer or service the trailer you already own. 

We added three new sponsors in 2020.  We had Spark Virtual Reality (Spark VR) at Lime Rock, with Matt and Joe setting up one of their SIM models for our drivers to try out.   European Porsche Specialists (EPS) joined the list of our sponsors, with Bela (owner) coming to multiple events, helping out at Tech Line.  In September, we had Howard add his company Accurate Automotive Equipment to our sponsor list.  Howard’s company sells and installs car lifts, tire machines and balancers.   Please give any of our sponsors a call if you are looking for something that they can help you with.

If you want to do work on your car over the winter (safety equipment or performance upgrades), call one of the five shops above and get your car on the schedule.   Don’t wait until April.

Finally, if you have a 2010 helmet, please note that it is officially out of date and you need to buy a new one (a Snell 2015 or a Snell 2020).   Knowing that we will probably be starting the 2021 season under COVID conditions, and if we do put an instructor in someone’s car, a full-face helmet, with a shield will be required.

Be safe.

Dave