Quote:
Originally Posted by 986Chick
When I am safe from COVID-19 I will definitely attend some DE track events. That sounds like a LOT of fun. And I'll try kinda hard not to crash my car into anything...
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Sorry, forgot where you're located. Hopefully we're almost done with the nightmare by springtime. But DEing is said to be the most fun you can legally have with your clothes on. If you listen and follow the directions of your instructors in your car and in the classroom, you should be safe. The habits they teach you will keep you safe as you move up assigned run groups as your experience progresses. PCA's main goal is the safety of EVERYONE and they are the paramount of organizations hosting events. Knuckleheads are not tolerated and will be swiftly dealt with - knock it off or go home!
A couple of quick track stories...
This yr our club (Great Plains Region) had to cancel 1 event but did hold 2 DEs. We took daily temps, required masks & social distancing, and offered full refunds if someone felt the slightest bit ill. Our first event was in June and was the first event of the yr hosted by any club at our local track. Non-Porsche demand to attend was high. Normally our events are 25-30 cars but this one had 45-50. I'm the registrar for our club and Sat afternoon I polled our club members to see how the non-members were doing. All said the new folks were behaving themselves. I then talked to the Mustang & Corvette drivers, asking them if they were having fun. All said they were impressed with how well our event was run. Win-win, but wouldn't be possible unless safety was stressed and enforced. Most of the non-members came back for our Oct event.
The run group I'm assigned to at Indy allows people to pass with a point by in any of the 14 corners except Turn 1 & 7. The passing rules are stressed in the morning's driver's mtg. During the 1st session of the 1st day (right after the driver's mtg), I was tooling down the main straight headed for T1. As I'm entering the brake zone and downshifting from 5-4-3, I see a black BMW coming quickly to the inside of me. He's NOT supposed to be there, 1st because I didn't give him a point by and 2nd because we're not supposed to pass in T1. I took the corner wide and gave him room to the inside and we both made it thru unscathed. You're taught to keep an eye on your mirrors and that's what saved both of us. Had I not looked in the mirror and turned into the apex of the corner, we would have collided. I had a talk to the organizers after the session and they tracked down the BMW driver and impressed on him not to do that again. Things can happen out on the track, but your training should allow YOU to avoid many of the dangers that can arise.