Two weeks ago I attended my first PCA Drivers Education event at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, about 30 miles west of Tulsa, OK. It was hosted by the PCA Cimarron Region of eastern Oklahoma.
What. A. Blast!
First of all - a big shout out to the folks that run the Hallett track. They were very friendly, very helpful, and very fun to work with.
Second - another big shoutout to the Cimarron Region members (and others) who put their time and effort into making this a fun event. There is a lot of effort and coordination that has to go on to pull off an event like this.
I drove my 2002 Boxster S. On Saturday morning I was one of the first to the track. I found a place to stake out as my own and proceeded to get the little last minute details complete. Their was a drivers meeting first thing, followed by another meeting for the Green group of novice drivers. We spent time talking about track safety, the flag system and working with the individual driving instructors.
There were 5 run groups that each had 15-20 minutes of track time. There were Porsches of all make and year. The biggest group were probably the different 911 variants, followed by a bunch of Caymans. Then the Boxster crowd, the 944 racers and a lone 914. There were a few other cars as well - I remember a Mini Cooper and a Subaru WRX.
I had a terrific instructor the first day. Earl has been a racer and Porsche driver for many years. He had a very easy style of instruction. We worked on car control, SAFETY, and driving the line. By the fourth run of the day, things were starting to make sense.
Day 2 was Andy, an equally impressive instructor. Again - car control, SAFETY and driving the line. By the end of the day, he had enough confidence in my ability to turn me loose solo for my last run.
Guys - you need to get yourself and your car out on the track and do this. Even if you only attend one day and never go again, you will learn a bunch about driving your car!
My goal over the next 18 months is to work towards my Club Racing license with the PCA and get into the world of Spec Boxster racing. Forum member tstone (Tom) has been a great inspiration the past year as I've followed his build thread to get his Spec Boxster on the track and the videos he's posted. He's also given me some great help and advice off forum as well - thanks Tom!
