Drivers Education at Watkins Glen June 14/15, 2021. It was good to be back for our annual June WGI event after having to cancel last year’s event due to Covid. WGI still had some Covid protocol requirements in place but nothing that slowed us down. The one restriction that was probably the most hindering was that no one under 18 was allowed at the track and that left some participants at home – for some, leaving the kids behind was not an option, so they had to take a pass on the event. We also missed our Canadian track friends due to their border lockdown. We hope that by the time our fall event in October takes place, everyone will be welcome.
On Monday we had a nice start to the day, not counting the three black flags for towing in cars with mechanical problems. They were all minor issues (two had hose issues, one had a clutch fail) and we were quickly back on track. Drivers saw the debris flag (red and yellow stripes) several times, at the Carousel, and the reaction was usually “uh oh, the track has something slippery on it – did someone drop fluids?” No fluids, just a turkey tempting fate by standing next to the track, playing chicken. But everyone was ‘heads up’ and no turkey damage took place.
There is a mandatory 1 hour lunch break so that Watkins Glen can run their “Drive the Glen” program. Tourists can buy tickets from the Watkins Glen website and then drive three laps around the track, stopping for pictures. It’s amusing to watch from the garage area, seeing all sorts of vehicle going down the Front Straight – minivans, SUV’s, trucks.
Toward the end of the lunch break, Paul, the head flagger for WGI, came over to say that they had a fire break out at their worker’s campground, in an RV belonging to one of the WGI workers. They had to pull all fire/ambulance rescue trucks off station to go deal with the fire. By the time they got the fire under control (no one was hurt) and the town fire trucks arrived, it was almost a half hour after our scheduled 1pm start. We can’t run our event without fire/rescue on station. With the towns fire rescue arrival the WGI crew members were able to get back to their stations, but first they had to refill their tanks with water. When it was all said and done we were postponed 25 minutes which was added to the end of our schedule. We went green flag at 1:30 and we decided to combine the two groups for the rest of the day and wouldn’t you know it – a rain front rolled in 15 minutes into the session. The rain came down pretty hard till around 3 pm. Some drivers left early, feeling that the day was a wash or they only had slicks. But when it stopped raining, the sky turned blue, with blazing sunshine. The cool breeze dried the track off quickly and we ended the day with two hours of perfect track conditions.
Our second day had plenty of track time for all drivers. We did have a blip of rain in the morning, but not enough to dampen the event’s good vibe. And, we had other things to do while the weather didn’t cooperate.
There was an event that followed ours, starting that evening, going on thru Wednesday. Twenty IMSA teams showed up, with cars ranging from new 992’s to LMP3 cars. Bela Sztanko, a CVR instructor and owner of European Performance Specialists (a DE sponsor), introduced us to pro-driver Shane Lewis. While our drivers were taking a break during the morning rain, Shane was very generous with his time. He rolled out the brand new Mercedes, fresh off the boat from Germany, that he would be driving in the upcoming Canadian Tire Motorsports Park race at The Glen. The race was newly added to the Glen schedule because of the Canada border restrictions. He gave our group an hour plus tutorial on how everything worked. It was impressive to see just how much Shane knew about the car. For those who skipped their session on track even though the rain had subsided, they got a great tour of a wonderful car, from the driver’s point of view. Thanks to Bela for giving us the introduction to an entertaining, very accomplished driver. Just Google Shane if you don’t know his name – he has raced everywhere, won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and is currently racing a Mercedes in Europe.
On to July ~ our 2021 LRP debut event with students. We are happy to say that the Green rungroup is sold out, as expected. If you are one of the Pending Green students on ClubRegistration.net, please be patient. We are waiting for more instructors to register before we can confirm. If you are an instructor reading this, please check your calendar and if the date works for you, please register. CVR instructors are the best and our program is as good as it is because of their dedication to our club.
See you at the track – July 12, August 14 or September 11, 2021, all at Lime Rock Park. Be safe.
Dave
