April 2013 - Porsche Club of America – Northeast Region

The Checkered Flag- continued from page 11
made for a great atmosphere.
The trucks put on quite a show. They are enormous, with the
wheels about the height of an average Porsche driver, and
powered by 1,500 horsepower Chevy engines (I knew my Cayman
S was underpowered — maybe now I can convince Dani
to let me have that GT3). The body is just tubes and fiberglass
and so the large power-to-weight ratio gives them the ability to
do wheelies and jump cars with ease.
Dani here... okay, okay I know it’s my turn to contribute to this
column (smile). On Sunday, March 10th, the rescheduled DE
Ground School was held at HMS motorsports in Danvers. Joe
Marko and his folks really looked after all of us with bagels, donuts,
coffee and soda when we first arrived. His showroom was
transformed with chairs spread out and lots of Porsche fans.
The lucky ones got to try out the racing seats that normally
go in a car, but work equally well, and comfortably I’m told, as
seats in a room.
There was a huge turnout for the ground school. I’m told it
was the largest in a long time and had to have over 55 people
in attendance. This was the first ground school for me, and
although I’ve done a couple of DE events I still consider myself
a novice, so I was excited to hear what was relayed. The ground
school was presented by Steve Artick who has been running
the ground school for many years.
The DCU Center seems like it was built to house an ice-hockey
rink or basketball court and so in the front row seat I bought,
I got an up-close and personal view of the action (i.e. I got
showered with dirt from those huge tires). The circuit was an
oval track with purpose-built jumps and flattened cars for the
trucks to jump over.
The trucks do a series of competitive events. First was the
“who can do the highest wheelie” event. Next was a pursuit
race (similar to bicycle pursuit) where the course combined
speed and jumps. Finally, there was a knockout freestyle/anything-goes
event. The event had the feel of a choreographed
wrestling contest, but for a couple of hours of boys-only fun
(you can use the excuse that you’re taking the kids to the afternoon
show) I’d recommend it next time it’s in town.
I was only able to stay for the first hour or so... real estate
beckoned (so much buyer demand and so few homes for sale)
so can only speak first-hand about what I heard, but I picked up
the handout as well so can talk about some of that as well... but,
I missed out on the pizza lunch. I guess that is a good thing for
my waistline (smile). There were a few messages I heard that I
think would be good to share.
DE is not racing, there are no prizes, no timing, but gives you
a good understanding of just how amazing your car is. I’ve had
a number of Porsches over the years, but until I participated in
my first DE about a year ago (the novice two-day event at New
Hampshire Motor Speedway) I had no idea just what my car
could do. I spent the whole two days with a big grin on my face!
The instructors are incredible, the organization is amazing, and
everyone is so welcoming and know that most people who are
there for the two days have no idea what to expect, or where
to go, or what to do. The first thing I was asked by my instructor
was, “What do you want to achieve?’. So they are focused
on you and what you want to achieve. This was reinforced at
the ground school. One of the main purposes of DE is to teach
drivers what is the best, safest and most controlled way around
a road course. I feel it important to add that it has taught me
so much more about my car that it makes me a safer driver
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