Article by Jeff Woodward. Photos by Max Barkley
Standing in the pit lane on Saturday under a clear blue sky, we could only speak occasionally as the sound of high-strung machines punctuated the air. Out of the carousel, they would come onto the front straight; following an upshift, they would pass us side by side before brake lights would appear, followed shortly by throttles coming on song as they passed under the Turn 1 bridge and went up the hill towards Turn 2. They would come by running alone, in groups of 2 and 3, and occasionally in larger groups of 6 or more. A quick look back towards the paddock and we would see David Parks directing yet more drivers and their machines onto pit lane and out onto the track.
At lunch you could smell the grills firing up as groups would gather to share a meal and a conversation of apexes and lap times. On Saturday, our generous drivers contributed out of their pockets to provide lunch for the corner workers who spent much of Friday working in the rain, keeping us safe. They’re often unappreciated, and we thought the least we could do was to thank them with lunch.
As a team, we are constantly looking for innovative ways to help our drivers learn the skills that are needed to grow as drivers. One of the most difficult things to learn is braking. Most road drivers take it for granted, but on the track, it can be the difference between a good lap and a great lap. Following quite a bit of discussion, we developed a plan to give our novice and intermediate drivers an opportunity to see just how good the brake systems are on their cars. I’ll leave the details for another time, but we were able to execute our first-ever dedicated acceleration-to-speed and brake-to-a-stop session for those drivers. They each got three tries at the exercise, which was good, as it often took that many tries to get up the nerve to really get to the threshold of their brakes. We will be reviewing the results and deciding if this is to be a permanent part of our event.
Our celebrities are the drivers that show up at every event, and we want them to get the most out of themselves each weekend. At this event, however, we were visited by a celebrity of a different type. On Friday night, I was introduced to Kostos, who is a regular contributor to PCA’s Panaroma magazine and spends his time at home as a driving instructor at the Nürburgring. You will find his monthly article called “Around The’Ring” under his full name is Konstantinos Sidiras. During his tour of tracks in the US, he was told at Watkins Glen that if he had the time between that event and having to be in Sebring Monday, he should stop and get some laps in at Mid-Ohio. We were happy to get him in on Saturday’s activities, and he was able to ride with Jeff Bauer and get some laps in with our Novice group. As a final note on this really cool guy, I will tell you that he offered an open invitation to take a group of us on hot laps at the “Ring”. I told him to expect a call as we get the word out and try to set up a trip with as many as are interested.
As part of our driver development program, Danny Carmichael and Brian Butt stepped up to be “check ride” instructors. They were kept much busier than they expected and both did an excellent job with post-event information detailing each check ride. Some drivers discovered this is not as easy as they expected, and they may have some areas of development before they can advance. There were so many check rides that we are already looking to our instructor pool for a third person to join them.
The last program I’ll mention is our expanded passing development program for our upper intermediate drivers. As part of the program, we have the drivers ride with their instructors on Saturday morning in an expanded passing group and then, following an afternoon classroom session, they venture out on track with an instructor to practice the exercise themselves. We mix the instructors into the group on track so they can experience as much passing as we can pack into a 30-minute event. We are pleased with how this program has developed and how many other regions have begun using this program.
Off track, we always have a great time catching up with everyone. The party was well attended, with newcomers and experienced drivers sharing a meal and good conversation. Sometimes the best things are the simplest. We put out pizza, wings, and snacks along with the necessary beverages. A huge thank you to Rose Nichols, who worked the registration table both Friday morning and Friday evening alongside my wife Becky. I would also like to thank Chris and Pat Nau, who by this printing are both retired. They jumped in to help serve up pizza and wings and also cleaned up and put everything away at the end of the evening. For all the drivers who stayed to the end of the party and were put to work cleaning up, thank you for your help as well.
HPDE mornings start early, and as hard as it is to get going, once we’re at the track, the joy of the drivers makes it worth the hard work. Saturday morning, before the sun was even hinting at its arrival, we had a safety check line queued up outside garage eight as our drivers were having their cars given the once-over before hitting Saturday morning registration. Just like Friday night at the hotel, David McCarty was there and ready to go with our safety check before the drivers even began to line up. I would like to thank Rebecca Henry and Anli McCoy for joining the ladies and helping with registration, as well as the hundreds of questions the drivers have throughout the day. As the sun was finally breaking the horizon, we had some 120 drivers join us for the morning drivers meeting. Many of our drivers have been to hundreds of these, but it is always good to be there, as each day is different and it is good to get that critical information to make the best of your day.
While the drivers’ meeting was happening, John O’Brien was kicking things off with our instructors, getting them up to speed on the full day we had planned for Saturday. Our novice and intermediate classrooms were covered by Jeff Bauer and first-time classroom instructor Jerry Putterbaugh. The classroom allows the drivers to download materials following a session as well as build more information for the next. The time is well spent as it also allows for interaction between the drivers in an educational environment. Throughout the weekend, Gary Nichols was overseeing the daily track operations. We think of Gary as the Ringmaster of the circus. At any given time, we can have cars on track, a classroom going, and be involved in conversations with drivers and instructors over any number of things.
Tim at Track First was present in garage 7 with a full complement of gear for sale and will continue to support our drivers in the future. Max Barkley was prowling the paddock and selected turns around the track to get us the photos that you can view and purchase in a link that will be provided a few weeks from now.
After a full day on Saturday and the track had gone cold, we closed it out by finishing off the adult beverages that were left over from the party the night before. With 24-hour access to the paddock, it allowed drivers to come and go as they pleased, and many of them really enjoyed the opportunity to camp overnight.
We are so grateful for all our drivers, our instructors, and our dedicated volunteers. Without everyone working in step, we wouldn’t be able to experience the incredible success that our program has become. As Sunday ran its course, we began to pack up all the non-essential equipment and prepare for the drive home and our own personal download of the weekend. With that, I can tell you that planning has already begun for our next event. Successes have been identified and will be replicated, as have problems and their possible solutions. Mid-Ohio has yet to provide us with contracts for our weekends next year, so we will have to delay that announcement until details are finalized.
As a club, we would like to thank our members who may not ever participate in an HPDE but are still passing the opportunity along to others who have a passion for spending the weekend pushing their limits. Thank you again to everyone who has helped in any way with Autumn Thunder. We appreciate your hard work and will see you at the track soon!
