PCA Chesapeake Region Patter - March 2018

Chesapeake Region
Ron’s Ramblings
hot tires. Never again. Anyway, once you park and
set up your area, go to the main building and register
(everyone can point you to it). When you register,
they will tell you what group you are in (probably
novice), and give you a wrist band and your schedule.
You will then have to go back to your car and
drive it to the inspection station (a covered stall). The
“inspection” for P BXSTR seemed like it was simply
reving the engine but I’m not sure what they do with
other cars. Once you pass the inspection, they will
ink a number on your car and you drive back to your
parking spot. Once there, just make sure your car is
ready to go, walk around and check out the other
cars/meet some people, and go to your classroom
session at the appropriate time. From then on follow
your schedule.
experience this is bull-loney. I found everyone, including
me, going very slow because no one wanted
to slide off a wet track plus both you and your car are
getting soaked since you have to drive with your windows
down. It was not fun or educational. Unless of
course those driving purists want to give you their
car to drive. Secondly—fill up with gas at the Sheetz
in Charles Town on your way there —you’ll thank
me. The third thing is there are tons of Summit Point
videos on YouTube you can watch but don’t expect
to learn the track by doing it. You won’t get a feeling
for the scale of the track and you won’t be feeling
the g-forces you will experience when you actually
are going thru a curve and trusting your car to hang
on. Finally, if someone catches up with you at some
point, then let them pass you at one of the designated
passing spots even if you know you can out accelerate
them on the straightaway. Leave your ego at
home and don’t frustrate the other drivers since everyone
is there to have fun and they will just catch up
with you again.
Wrapping this up, I hope I have convinced a few of
you to give it a go. It is completely different than Autocross
and a heck of a lot of fun. Just make sure you
sign up early because the novice group fills up fast. If
you do go, look for me in P BXSTR (gray ’13 Boxster
S) and we’ll swap track stories.
A couple of final words of wisdom. The FATT program
is nice in that they allow you to reschedule one
time if something comes up and you can’t make your
scheduled day. Frankly, in my opinion, if it’s going to
rain on your day, then reschedule. I know the driving
purists will say something like “you really learn how
to handle your car if it’s raining” but from my novice
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