Getting Started - Introductions

On August 27th and 28th of 2008, I participated in a high performance driving school at Watkins Glen International race track. This was hosted by the Genesee Valley chapter of the BMW Car Club of America (GVC-BMWCCA). I was invited to participate at no cost as part of an agreement between the club and Race Services, Inc, who I volunteer with at the Glen (see my blog, Waving Yellow, on my ongoing experience as a flagging and communications worker. It's woefully out of date as of today, 9/13/08, but it will get you started).

My invitation came directly from a fellow flagger by the name of Bill 'Boz' Boswell. He's a BMWCCA member and what I would call the ambassador between both groups. Every year BMWCCA extends an invite like this to a flagger as a way of saying thanks for the work. This is way better than a barbecue some other groups provide (not that I mind BBQ, thank you very much, but driving trumps everything in my book).

Now I just want this to be perfectly clear from the start. I don't have a BMW. Most of the participants in the driving school do, because they're mostly club members. But the school is open to the public as well, and all sorts of track-worthy cars are permitted. In my case, I would be sporting my 1997 Dodge Neon. A SOHC Base model at that. It's old, it's a bit tired, and it's been a bit more neglected in the maintenance department more than I'm proud to admit. However, it's only got 84,000 miles on it, and I've tended to be fairly conservative with how much I pushed it in the 11 years I've owned it.

But a Neon? Isn't that a wheezy, girly econo-box?

In some eyes, almost certainly. But back when this was new, Neons (specifically the ACR model) were dominating in SCCA racing around the country. They were ahead of their time in terms of power. Sure, Honda Civics had superior handling, but the Neon had gobs more torque and horsepower than most cars in their class. And this was in stock trim. When prepped for racing, they were a force to be reckoned with.

OK. Enough rationalizing. My Neon is simply no longer capable of keeping up with most production cars in the same general class. Just a fact of advances in technology. But it is a perfect starter car for a novice in high performance driving. It's got good response, adequate power, and some very capable handling. In short, it's a solid rolling classroom.

But prior to taking my car to flog around the legendary and incredibly fast circuit that is the Glen, I had to put some work into the old girl.