DE 2021 – It’s that time of the year when we are thinking about winter sports and probably not about warm sunny days, driving around the track or on the street, in a new, old, or even really old Porsche. Whatever winter sport you are doing/watching right now does not mean you have time to forget about the other priorities you have, especially when it comes to planning some fun with your car and your favorite DE group you participate with (CVR).
With the 2020 season behind us and looking ahead, we hope things improve where we can get our DE program back to some sort of normalcy with students and instructors in cars. Our best guess is early summer, once the vaccine has been widely distributed. When we start back with in-car instruction we will have a few changes for students; 1) helmet rentals will be put on pause so students will have to provide their own helmet with a full face shield, 2) students will have to supply their own in-ear headset. We are looking into which headsets will work with all instructor-type communicators. And 3) a head sock, covering the nose and mouth. We are looking for a site where we can make a bulk purchase, to keep the cost down.
We are looking forward to when we will have students back on track with CVR’s exceptional DE instructor core, continuing to attract new drivers to the sport. I hope to see many new faces next year at CVR’s 2021 DE season from young to older, male or female. And remember you don’t have to have a new car to participate. For those of you who own air-cooled 911s, or the front engine 944, 924, or 928s – these cars are some really great cars because you actually have to learn how to drive them, making you a better driver in the long run. If you think your car is not up-to-date, think again. A slightly prepared, well-driven 944 at Lime Rock Park can stay with most modern-day cars and have just as much fun as the cars that cost a whole lot more money.
First on our schedule for 2021 is our Winter Workshop at LRP on February 27th. We will have multiple car control exercises under the supervision of several pro-coaches. You will drive your own car, learning how it reacts in a multitude of different scenarios and yes, we hold it with snow or no snow.
The Workshop event is already posted on ClubRegistration.net and registration will open on February 1st at 1 pm. Sign up early – we limit the count to 27 and sell out every year. The event is for any CVR member 18 or older who wants to have fun, with any car they want to bring, with a few caveats. No cars with studded tires or tires with insufficient tread are permitted. Snow tires are NOT required. Also, the car must meet Lime Rock’s 87db level. As of now, we will not be having rental cars available.
Our DE contracts have been signed and the track rental deposits have been mailed. Once we get our copies, we will post the events on ClubRegistration.net and the CVR website.
Volunteers are the life-blood of our club and while we have elected officials and activity chairs, the other volunteers sometimes don’t get as much recognition. Last year we had a great group of DE volunteers and I am happy to announce that the 2020 group is all back on board for 2021. The following are our key position volunteers for DE: Mark Lewis – DE Registrar, Chuck Veth – DE Chief Instructor, Todd Pajonas – Assistant DE Track Chair, Rick Canter – Chief of Instructor Development, Dan Malaquias – DE Chief Steward, Craig Kennedy and Jason Kamm – Tech Line and Susan Vaccaro – DE Treasurer.
Please support our 2020 sponsors during the 2021 season: Danbury Porsche, Speedsport Tuning, Daniel Jacobs LLC, Musante Motorsports, Automobile Associates of Canton, EPS Motorsports, Elm City Trailer, Hagerty Insurance, Accurate Automotive Equipment, and Spark Virtual Reality. We thank all of them for their support of the CVR DE program.
If you are planning on doing any work to your car, don’t wait until March to ask one of our great sponsor shops to help you with what you want to do. They will have a backlog at that time of the year. Get going on those car projects now.
And finally, if you have a Snell 2010 helmet, it is no longer valid for DE. You have to buy a new helmet – either a Snell 2015 or a Snell 2020. Don’t wait until the last minute to buy a new helmet because there will be a whole bunch of other drivers looking to buy one as well.
Happy New Year to all. Be safe.
Dave
