1st DE event!
 

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! :D

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! :cheers:

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Glad that you had a great time at the DE! And yes, it is amazing at what you can learn about yourself and your car on a race track. Its a completely different world than driving on the street. Keep us updated as you go. :)

I love DE and glad to hear you found it exciting. Werer most of the DE days around the country are starting here in Phoenix the season is coming to an end as it is getting too hot to hang out at the track all day. Can't wait for fall!

Uh, oh. You took a hit of the track pipe and now it looks like you are hooked. Its rehab or living under a bridge once you have spent all your money on racing.

The track really is too much fun, especially if, like you, you got the hang of it quickly. The fact that your instructor cut you loose shows that you know what you are doing.

If you don't already have one, get a Go-Pro. They're great for film study so you can see where you can improve. On the Cayman, they sit perfectly between the seats on the engine cover ledge. Gives you a great view of the inside and outside of your car.

I'm starting my 3rd season of DEs and I'm certainly not the fastest in my run group, but we just had our 1st 2014 DE and I knocked 3 seconds off the time I ran last fall.

2014-05-04 GPRPCA DE at MAM - YouTube

My "record" lap was the last one in this vid.

Laguna Seca in June. In the words of Bart Scott, "Can't Wait!!!"

Very smooth driving in your CS. The yellow car had you at speed, but you took it back in the corners. :cheers:

The first thing I did on Monday after the DE was to order a GoPro. I'll have it in the car when I drive Eagles Canyon in Texas week after next.

My goal is as much as possible, one DE a month and one autoX a month while I'm working towards my Spec Boxster goal. I plan to be at MotorSport Park at Hastings in July, since it's as close to Oklahoma as I can find. Will you be there?

I'm assuming you have a timer to the right of your rear view mirror? What brand/model?

Do you use a TrackVision set-up?

Thstone - I've noticed in some of your earlier videos you have a TrackVision, but I haven't seen it in your later videos. Pros/cons?

Thanks!

Rick

Thanks. That was his wife's 2014 Cayman S and that was the first time he'd driven it on the track. He was being careful about brake points so I was able to catch him. I also gave him room rather than hound him since that was a new car for him. Didn't want to add to the pressure by tailing him too close (he's very experienced but not in that car). He switched from Sport to Sport + half way thru the run and then he left me for dead on the straight after he did. He said the shift pt on Sport + is 9K rpm. I can't compete with that. Amazing how much technolgy has advanced in 6 yrs.

Chances are I won't be at MPH in July. Going to Parade will take a mighty big bite out of my funds so I might be eating a lot of noodles in July. I haven't run at MPH yet but the guys in the club like it and say it's a well run facility.

This last DE was the debut of my Traqmate. I found it in the classifieds on P-9. It's the middle model, so you have the display but it's not hooked into the Go-Pro or engine electronics. I haven't figured out how to download the data to my laptop - the instructions don't seem to work. That's on my To Do list this week.

Sounds like you have lots of fun lined up for this summer. You must have taken a big hit on that track pipe San Rensho mentioned.