‘Blown Away’ is the best way to describe the first CVR AutoX of the 2025 season.
Three weeks before the May 7th event I put out the call for help. The dusty lot in Hartford needed to be cleaned to make the course safer, protect our prized Porsches better, and to bring it up to our high CVR AutoX standards. The turn-out blew me away! 17 AutoXers made the big task into a short gathering of friends. We finished the job in just over an hour. I’m truly grateful for the support.
With a clean lot, we now just needed a little help from the heavens on the day of the AutoX. Luckily the rain forecasted ended up as just a brief mist that quickly blew away. Less liquid falling provided more time to chat with old friends and to make new ones. The pub-like atmosphere of the AutoX tents had plenty of camaraderie and adrenaline on tap all day. Very strong winds may have literally blown away some course signs but the crowed pub survived fine.
What really blew me away however, was watching everyone embrace the AutoX-U lesson of the day, “apex braking”. We no longer call it “trail braking” since that term focuses more on the beginning of braking instead of the more important end-of-braking point that is easier and more instinctive to gauge. The course was designed to provide several perfect opportunities to apply the lesson on each run. In other words, it was very fast and flowing, leading into corners with excess speed that needed to be harnessed. From first time AutoXers to veterans, you could see everyone actively probing the braking limits and seeing their instant feedback on the clock as they progressed. Spontaneous cheers erupted for both spectacularly failed attempts and for perfect demonstrations. Not surprisingly however, cones did not applaud the former.
What a great group of drivers! Each went home with a big smile and bigger set of driving skills. Special congratulations to first timer Rick P. for his impressive showing. His wonderful balance of assertiveness behind the wheel with an uncommon amount of patience resulted in a Novice Class win. What blew us away was the relentless improvements run-to-run and his final time that produced a score of 86% (of the fastest time of day). That’s almost unheard-of for a Novice and normally takes several years of working at the craft of driving to achieve. In doing so, he re-proved two old sayings: 1) “It’s not the car, it’s the driver“. 2)“Every Porsche ever made is a Race Car!”. Rick’s four-door amazed us all. Cayennes, Panameras, and Macans have all proven that they have the go-fast genes to blow you away!
See more pictures and get details about registering for our next CVR AutoX, on June 7th, at our CVR AutoX web page (Auto X – Connecticut Valley Region PCA). Whatever the AutoX-U lesson will be, it will certainly blow you away!