Hardback

6 run groups with PCA? I assume 2 groups on track during each session? Are 6 really necessary?

I agree with Chin being the most professional and fun. They put together a great event and the participants are usually well informed and dont jump from the less experienced groups to advanced groups without being qualified to do so. Sufficient track time as well.

85Gold

Yes the friday Mid O lapping with PCA is a great deal. I have a to shout out for Nord Stern PCA when I was @ RA. A four mile track with 33 cars was awesome. Overall though I would rather run Chin, HOD, Turn One @ CMP as they give a much better amount of lap time per $$$ and more liberal passing rules. As for the poll I am usually PCA white except @ Barber with PCA when they said I was now a big boy and had to run advanced.

Peter

quickxotica

+100

Hangin' with people who bring this sort of positive attitude & volunteerism to the track is another benefit of running with PCA (out here in NorCal too).

utkinpol

speaking of Kojote club - rules say: This event is for advanced drivers only. These include car club (PCA, BMW, FOC, etc.) approved instructors & advanced run group drivers in good standing, and drivers with active racing licenses (FIA, HSR, SVRA, IMSA, SCCA, PCA, etc.), also in good standing.

What exactly do they understand as 'advanced run group' in the sentence above? Black only or white/black?

Google does not find much about Group52 and David Murry (other than reference in Kojote for David) - are there any links you can share?

AllanJ

Each group will have their own general guidelines for what "advanced" is, but here is the Oregon PCA's criteria as one example:

http://www.oregonpca.org/events/high...ualifications/

Our region has 4 run groups that I'm aware of (been a while since I was there): novice, intermediate 1, intermediate 2 and advanced/instructor.

At home I'm in advanced, but when I venture to other regions at tracks I'm not totally familiar with, then I'm in an intermediate group or sometimes I'll even sign up for "novice". So I didn't bother voting in your poll.

utkinpol

Thanks John, I did some AX events with them but totally forgot even to check if they had DEs too. That`s nice to know. Hopefully in next 1-2 events I will conclude my 'second tier' check-out ride into blue group with NER and will try to contact COM club, it probably should be easier to arrange to run with them with 'finalized' solo status. It seems to take ages to go over all those formalities these days, I was signed off to solo 7/14th and even after 2 subsequent events it is still a trick to get all those formalities concluded. Truly an amazing bureaucracy, but, i guess, what can you do... Last event I did my 3rd consequent succesful check-out ride into solo after that initial sign-off but still, it is not official. Before that - in th beginning of the season to get all the paperwork moved for green to yellow group advancement took 2 months.
Plus, as I was told recently - it all was supposed to be fun, apparently.

Fun.

utkinpol

interesting, i always assumed any PCA club uses 6 step ladder.
SCDA uses same 4 step system and I am in intermediate 2 with them, so far. it will take some time and coaching to get higher... hopefully next season.
could anybody recommend good coaches here in MA/CT/NY area?

AllanJ

Many of these clubs are run by volunteers (limited time) and they want to make sure the students are classed properly. So sometimes it might take a little time to fully sign someone off, especially if they feel that the person is a borderline case. Also, in my area, there are some car clubs that have a rather "interesting" way of classifying people. Stuff like "Even though he has never been on a track before, he has a GT-R so let's put him in advanced because his car can go fast." Yes, stuff like this happens out there. (not in our PCA region - it is run *very* well)

Don't be in a rush to advance to solo. Embrace each DE with instruction as another opportunity to learn something from someone who has much more experience than you. After a while, you'll be very glad you were exposed to a variety of instructors because you will learn something from all of them.

Cheers,

utkinpol

not sure, it is probably more an issue with my mentality. I would prefer to go to open track day with a private coach and work on my own schedule rather than wait for an hour for my run group just to be permanently stuck behind a train again as track got too many cars on them than it can handle. i would rather pay $1K a day but would get proper results than to do $250 a day but leave frustrated.

when you ride lime rock and have to go into pits 4 times during one single 20min session to brake free from a train whre no one gives a point by to anyone it gets to your nerves in the end.

Jake951

Were you at Lime Rock with NCR on 8/15 (the really rainy day)? There were rivers of water running across the track at times and there were some major trains as people were crawling through the corners.

Check out COMSCC. I got signed off for solo after just 3 events with them.

utkinpol

yep, i was there on 8/15, actually all my events this season except early may were at lime rock. i tried to find you but it was too wet to wander around much... i like it, it is fun track, especially with SCDA where you get all 5 passing zones and people are actually looking into their mirrors...

i am going to be there again Aug 29th with SCDA, hopefully hurricane will be done Sunday afternoon and track will dry out by Mondy morning.

James A

The Houston PCA (Lone Star Region) is a terrific group of volunteers and really gives a lot of time and attention to the student drivers. But no black group though.
Having said this my son and I joined MSR Houston so we can run the track when we want, got our competition license for SCCA and are mixing it up!
But in terms of HPDE I can't imagine a better group than the Houston PCA crowd!

utkinpol

i can`t really say anything bad about any club I ran with so far. NCR, NER, CVR, Metro NY, Hudson valley - all people who are crazy enough about this sport are top notch, may be not without their own oddities, but who is perfect?
My wife thinks all those people who go to drive cars instead of sitting home and watching TV are plain crazy, but who cares?
Still, I would say, best solution would be if MA and NH got at least 2 new tracks built to spread the load a bit. It is an only annoying part - to have a bit more local options as 6+ hour drives to a track like WG or any NJ locations is a major pain in the butt. And local NHMS and Lime Rock are always crowded, no matter what venue to choose.

I hope NHMS will really finish up that new track they supposedly started on this summer. Who knows.

Rceron

Yes, and this is why you should choose wisely in terms of clubs. I trailer a car 11 hours several times a year just to go to VIR. Will basically only run with groups that have open track formats, otherwise it's a waste of time. I'm certainly not the only one that travels these types of distances. Ibelieve at the last David Murry event at VIR there was a group from Canada there. Now that's a long drive....

Electric Lizard

We appreciate your comments. We run at TWS in college station which is a 15 turn, 2.9 mile course. Our seven annual DE events (one of those is managed by the Hill Country Region), pretty much sell out. In my opinion, this success is directly attributable to our outstanding instructors and volunteer corps. The next event is Sept 17-18 and space is still available in the advanced groups. Hotel rooms are a bit short though as that's a Texas A&M home football weekend. Check www.lsrpca.com

FWIW, I run in the Advanced group, but it's White for us - we go green, blue, blue-solo, yellow, white and red.