The October CVR Advanced DE at Watkins Glen was wet on Day One but perfect on Day Two. Those who had the proper tires (not slicks) had plenty of track time on Day One with the checkered flag only being thrown every 45 minutes. What a great way to practice/learn the track. Those who braved the wet weather conditions put on a lot of miles. One driver told me he did 150 plus, just on Monday.
The weather broke around 3 p.m. and since we had an extra ½ hour of track time, we drove until 5 p.m. The extra track time was due to the generosity of Todd Pajonas (our Lime Rock ‘chef’). Todd purchased the extra half hour because he did something a bit unusual on Monday and wanted to give himself a little time cushion, “just in case”. Todd’s thought was ‘how cool would it be to drive three of the major race tracks in the Northeast in one day?’ So, that’s what he did, along with help from the guys over at Speedsport Tuning.
Todd and his crew started bright and early on Monday at LRP, drove, packed up and went to MMC, drove and then finished the day off at Watkins Glen. How fun and tiring is that? Some of us are tired doing one track, let alone three in one day.
To put it into perspective: they had to load and unload the car from the trailer three times, ratchet (and un-ratchet) the hold-down straps at each track, change tires from slicks to wets to slicks, and by days end, by choice, changed the exhaust from street (quiet – to meet LRP’s noise limit) to his race exhaust. They spent upwards of 8 hours on the road driving from track to track, plus fuel stops, a food stop and whatever else I might have missed, all in one day. And, Todd was still standing at 10 pm, cigar in hand, with a big grin. Tired, but still standing. Way to go Todd.
With the wet day behind us it was off to the Harbor Hotel to dry out and head to dinner. CVR hosted a buffet dinner for the drivers and their friends and family members that signed up. It is always fun to get together with everyone and talk about the day’s track driving experiences.
When we all had our fill from the buffet we held a quick give-away, with every driver in attendance winning a prize (it’s one way of giving the extra shirts from prior events a good home). After the give-away, we were treated to a terrific magic show by our great friend (and instructor) Bruce Trigg, along with his wonderful assistant, his wife Ann. As always, whether you had seen his magic show before or were new to his entertainment, he left everyone wondering how he did it (Lee’s money in an orange, the sock pairings) especially when we were front and center, seeing everything close-up. It was fun to be able to just laugh and ‘get tricked’. Some of us laughed harder than others, some were laughed at, as part of the trick/joke (Mark, Susan and me). Really, what color is the White House vs 20 digits of Pi?
The CVR DE program is so very fortunate to have great support from our drivers, our shops and people like Bruce, Ann and Todd – thank you for your generosity. We can’t tell you enough how much it is appreciated.
Tuesday was sunny and perfect. All of the drivers had plenty of seat time for Day Two and most stayed until the end of the event. Sometimes drivers leave early, due to the long drive home, but the conditions were great, so most got in all of their track time before heading home. It was a great way to end our driving at the Glen for the 2019 season. I can’t wait until June 2020 at the Glen.
Once again we had Randy Cresci of ClutchFoto at our WGI event. Randy took pictures in the rain on Monday and then pictures in the sunshine on Tuesday. Many of the pictures included in this article were taken by Randy. All of the event’s photos are on-line, for everyone to see: https://clutchfoto.zenfolio.com/f71095561
As a follow-up to our September LRP event, I want to thank Howard Mansdorf (Red C4S) for his generous give-away donation. Howard’s company is Accurate Automotive Equipment – he supplied enough garage knee pads to give out to all of the drivers in the Red, Black, White and Yellow rungroups.
Thanks to all of our supporters, our advertisers, our drivers and especially to our great instructors – you make our DE program great.
See you at the track.
Dave
