BMWCCA High Perf Driving School - 8/23

[Theo]

As you may know, the White Mountain Chapter of the BMWCCA is sponsoring a High Performance Driving School at NHIS on Thursday, August 23. This is a great chance to capitalize on the ADSS fundamentals and apply them to the NHIS road course. Although this will be my first HPDE, I understand that it is extremely educational, challenging and, most of all, fun! Veterans: please comment on your experience.

While completion of the ADSS typically is a prerequisite for this course, "an exemption to this policy may apply, if you live over 90 miles from NHIS, have previous track experience, or the ADSS school is sold out and you sign up for the following ADSS school before your next track day." (from WMC-BMWCCA website)

Here is some quick information, but you should read the GENERAL INFOMATION and HPDE REQUIREMENTS for all the details:

Summer Heat Driving School '07
BMWCCA - White Mountain Chapter
Thursday Aug 23, 7:00 am
New Hampshire Int'l Speedway, Loudon, NH

Cost: $90 if this will be your first or second HPDE (even though it says $190, you will be given $100 off when you register).

• You will need a tech inspection form filled out.
• You will need a Snell 2000 or later rated helmet.
• You will need to read the HPDE curriculum prior to the event.
• You will need to meet other requirements as found above.

The School: (shamelessly copied from the WMC-BMWCCA website)

"The High Performance Driving school is an excellent way for you to improve your driving skills and have fun too! This one day school combines classroom and on-track instruction in a closely supervised and controlled environment.

In the classroom, you will learn about vehicle dynamics and driving techniques to reinforce what you read in our curriculum. The road course is discussed along with "the line" one should follow. Advanced students learn alternate lines, including various racing lines. The instructor will discuss the technical aspects covering cornering, braking, and accelerating for various turns. In this open forum, students get an opportunity to talk about any "problem" areas to get feedback from the instructor and other drivers.

Students will then get to put this knowledge to use, on the 1.7 mile road course at NHIS. With an in-car instructor, students can practice the techniques learned through our fun and technically challenging course. With our expert instructors, you will get immediate feedback as you progress through the learning process. The invaluable insight and experience that our instructors possess, will provide you with the tools to improve your driving, both on and off the track

In addition, students will also perform flagging duties (Flagging manual), which is a key factor in track safety, where they will monitor a specific section of the track, signaling to drivers of any problems. Students learn about track protocols and gain the opportunity to see how other drivers (and instructors) drive through a section of the course. Just watching another driver take a corner than has been challenging for you, can lend considerable insight and give you some fresh ideas to try when it's your turn on the track."

Registration/School questions? Contact Alvin Legerlotz at alvin.l@whitemtn-bmwclub.org or (603) 577-4510 (9am to 9pm).

Helmets:

I just bought a Snell M2005 helmet for less than $100. Check them out at a motorcycle shop. I strongly suggest trying them on first with the aid of an experienced shop person to ensure the correct size and fit. Also note that underneath the helmet's liner, attached to the styrofoam-like stuff will be the safety sticker indicating at which level the helmet was rated. Make sure it qualifies as being one of the accepted ratings specified in the HPDE requirements above.

Also, I get a bit weirded-out by full-face helmets...I guess I'm a bit claustrophobic. So I chose an open-face helmet (aka, 3/4 helmet) and it totally addressed the issue. Open-face helmets ARE acceptable for an HPDE.

So, Who's Going:

- Theo
- snid
- LePew
- snek
- NHRef
- NOCHEX
- scho06

[snek]

Well, I'm thinking about attending

[snid]

I'm already signed up. Does anyone want to split a room at the Red Roof Inn down the road from the track with me for the night before?

[LePew]

I'll be there. I'm pretty sure Pete B. (NHRef) is attending too.

The most important advice I can give is to drink plenty of fluids. I'll probably go through 6-8 bottles of water/Gatorade on an August day. Especially during the last few runs, dehydration can really sneak up on you and ruin your concentration.

Other than that, in the novice group, you job is to keep your eyes up ( "looking ahead" ) and learn proper passing etiquette. If you can also manage to learn the proper lines (NHIS is a somewhat technical track), that's an added bonus.

Looking forward to seeing you all !!

[snek]

I'm in!

[BWROOFCHEX]

I'll be there, not racing though. I'll be observing and providing tech support for Lady Chex

[snid]

Lady Chex is going on the track?! Awesome!

[BWROOFCHEX]

Quote: Originally Posted by snid (original)

Lady Chex is going on the track?! Awesome!

She is! I can't wait!

[blalor]

Oh, man, I wish I were going to be around for this.

[NHRef]

Got my tech inspection done locally yesterday.

Hopefully it's good for Summer Heat (8/23), MOP Day (9/21) and Watkins Glen (9/26 and 9/27)!

Now I've got to find out how to adjust those new H-Sport camber plates

[BWROOFCHEX]

Quote: Originally Posted by NHRef (original)

Got my tech inspection done locally yesterday.

Hopefully it's good for Summer Heat (8/23), MOP Day (9/21) and Watkins Glen (9/26 and 9/27)!

Now I've got to find out how to adjust those new H-Sport camber plates

Pete, will I need to do another one on Audra's car for this ? or will the last one I did suffice? Brake fluid was changed on the last one and everything was in order.

[snid]

Mr Chex... many people self-inspect their own cars and sign their own forms. Obviously, this is not recommended for people who do not know what they are looking for. But if you do...

Personally, I do an inspection from a tech at the begining of the season, and seem to have someone trained look at the car for some reason or another once or twice a year - alignments, part installs, state safety inspections. Since the people I go to for these understand what I do with the car, they check it out and let me know if something's not up to snuff. So, for the tech forms, I've been signing my own / doing my own spot inspections.

Which is why the MoP day thing is lame... they say the inspection must be done by the dealership. Having to make an extra 6 hour round trip drive for the inspection and pay their labor rate is too much for me. Hopefully someone clarifies this and the standard tech inspection rules will apply for the MoP day.

[blalor]

Nevermind the 6 hours of driving, just forcing me to the dealership is too much, and just smacks of opportunism to me. Still waiting on a reply....

[snid]

Quote: Originally Posted by blalor (original)

Nevermind the 6 hours of driving

Spoken by someone who doesn't have to do the 6 hours of driving and take a whole day off of work for a one hour inspection.

[Theo]

Just a quick note...

The event that precipitated this thread is not the MoP Track Day at NHIS.

It is the White Mountain Chapter's high performance driving event on August 23rd. And, for the WMC-BMWCCA's event, the cost is only $90 if this will be your first or second HPDE. Also, WMC-BMWCCA does not require you to go to MoP for your inspection; folks like Pete Eames at DT Automotive in Worcester can handle the inspection for you.

Let's make sure we don't confuse folks about these two events for fear of off-putting those interested in the WMC-BMWCCA event.

Thanks,

The Management