Slipstream - November 2007

Photo by Hart Photography Photo by Hart Photography
DE - Driving Fun: My Journey and Opinions
by Glenn Smith
don’t know what you don’t know” is a
phrase that I have found to be certain in life
“You
and business. As I have gone through the
years, I am sometimes still surprised at the situations where
this phrase applies.
If you own a Porsche and have never been to a Porsche
Club DE then, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and
neither did I until
at the Motorsport
Ranch in September.
Michael Globe in his “Hey Wait For
Me Racing” 997S out on track.
I’ve had some
driving experience.
Decades of highway
driving, years
of police driving including
a few high
speed pursuits, and a few years of off-road driving with the
Hummer Club.
Luis Montes taking a lap in his Boxster S
I had always admired Porsches but never did anything
about it. Finally, In March, we visited a dealer, drove a Car-
we wanted the CaymanS. I special ordered a car, waited 3
months for production and became a proud Porsche owner
on June 1, 2007.
I had read about
the Porsche Club DE
disappointed that the
next Maverick DE
was not until September.
While I waited,
I signed up for a couple
of other driving
schools, learned a lot
and met some new friends who talked me into becoming
a member of the Motor Sport Ranch. In August I bought
997GT3 parts and a few after market components.
Finally, after months of waiting it was time for the Maverick
Drivers Education. To be honest, I did not expect a lot.
After all, I had been to other driving schools and was Solo
each of them. I
did not expect a
bunch of volunteers
to be overly
organized or professional.
Also,
since I have
never attended a
Porsche Event I Author Glenn learning what he didn’t know.
was not sure how
a newbie would be treated.
First, I was greeted by very friendly folks with donuts
and coffee! Then I went to registration check-in and received
my driver’s information packet. Next, the driver’s
meeting, where the safety rules were explained and so were
drivers were pre-organized into groups by experience levels.
“Green” students headed to the classroom where the
very professional instructor covered more about safety and
basic car handling. After class, Green students headed to
the “grid” and were greeted by their in-car instructor.
At the grid
every group is
also greeted by
the grid master
who did a fantastic
job keeping
everyone
informed and
ensuring that
every driver was A group of “greenies” heading into Little Bend
fully ready to go.
Then each car was sent to the track in an orderly manner.
If there were any glitches at the event, I didn’t know about
it, because during the entire 2 days, every single session
seemed to start exactly on-time. The grid master was also
unphased by a few curves that were thrown at her by me and
a few other drivers.
instructor explaining more about car handling, about ‘the
line’, the flags and the corner workers. These guardian
Photo by Hart Photography
Photo by Hart Photography
Thank you to
for sponsoring our DE!!
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