jakermc

Just finished up a 2-day race event at COTA with the Ferrari Challenge Club Racing organization and I am happy to report that the new customer-friendly mission of the organization there is real and will only get better. A couple of examples:

* Our first race started late (CCRs fault) and was going to be cut short due to the track's scheduled closing time at 5pm. Halfway through the race the COTA officials noticed the issue, discussed with the CCR officials, and a decision was made on the fly (during the race) to keep the track open beyond scheduled closing hours so we could run the full scheduled race length.

* Today's weather was horrible, temps in the 30's, raining, and getting worse. COTA decided to run through lunch, keeping the track workers in position without a break so that we could get through the schedule an hour earlier and make the best out of the tricky weather conditions.

As I mentioned in a previous thread, the new CEO Jason Dial is my old office mate and he came by the garage on Saturday to catch up and fill me in on their plans. They absolutely recognize that the customer is king and they want to make not just the racing great, but the entire experience at the track special. He has replaced quite a few members on the team and the whole leadership team has bought into the vision. And that has trickled down to everyone, from Mel (new head of Operations for us amateurs) all the way to the gate entry folks and the t-shirt vendors. It was all very impressive.

They ran about 130 days in 2013 and the goal is to take that to 200, with a lot of that focus on folks like us. The future is very bright for club racers at COTA!

Veloce Raptor

Excellent news

e9stibi

This is good news as the track is "around the corner". Lot to learn for me after not getting a lot of track time at the last year DE during the PCA club race.

ProCoach

Great news, thanks Rob!

Veloce Raptor

Hey, Rob, was it weird to work at Procter & Gamble with a guy named Dial?

jakermc

LOL. I actually started my career there in the bar soap category doing competitive analysis, so I spent a lot of time looking at Dial. Then I got transferred to a plant and moved in with a Dial.

And for more irony my next category was Hair Care.

Veloce Raptor

HA! "Ah feel yer pain..."

Vonschmidt

Thanks for the update. Glad to see the changes, just takes time.

jbossolo

You should give MVP a try.

ShakeNBake

+1

MVP puts on a great event - TONS of track time. I got on average 10 laps each session with minor traffic. If the weather had been cooperative, 4 sessions each day Fri-Sun. It's just a different animal compared to the other club-run events I've attended that have more compromises to deal with.

I know folks were rolling their eyes based on the rumors of asshattery at last year's event, but this event was run very safely, and the attitude of every person there was fantastic.

TXE36

Actually, other than than the a-pillar asshattery, I had heard the MVP went well last year. It was good to see how COTA handled the February bout of Globull Warming as well as how they dealt with it this time.

Here in Houston, it was 89 Saturday. I woke up this morning to 27 :-|.

-Mike

ShakeNBake

I know, I kinda freaked out this AM when I discovered the temp. I had just re-installed our pool's chemical automation system (which does not like to freeze)...so I fear I may have killed it.

ProCoach

Looking forward to heading down April 30-May 4. Am fully booked for the PCA Club Race!

TraqGear

Thanks for the report Rob! COTA is def one on my list to drive/race, so this is very encouraging.

Veloce Raptor

No test & tune on the Thursday for this year's PCA club race weekend...