Anybody going to be at Watkins Glen this weekend?

[Pinecone]

I am going to be there with the Genesee Valley driver's school.

[Pinecone]

After action report.

The weekedn was GREAT. The weather was wonderful. A little cloudy on Sat, but nice and cool all weekend.

The Glen is awesome. I have wanted to drive there ever since going to F1 races in the 70s.

The first day I had a great instructor. He co-drives a Ferrari Challenge Cup car. He had lots of good info and understood and could feel corrections I was making when I was slightly off line.

The second day my instructor didn't show up (he was having back problems) so they tossed in another instructor. He was not that great. He seemed to believe that unless you drove the perfect line, you were doing it all wrong. He never seemed to understand and to feel any corrections I was making. And what he was saying was in direct contradiction to the classroom instructor (who is also the chief instructor for the Ferrari club). He and I just didn't see eye to eye. I still had fun, but feel that I had very little learning that day.

One neat thing was there was a photographer there and athat evening you could go to the trailer and see the digital images and buy prints. They did some great work. Unfortunately I didn't get the picutres digitally, so I can't paste them here.

Overall, it was a great time, I met some great people,and I am looking forward to going back.

[325ci.com]

hey pinecone, i didn't get to meet you there... i was the very stock-looking topaz blue E46 coupe, #8 D. i was pitted way by the fence behind the garage. what car did you have, and what run group were you in?

anyway, i had a good instructor who was patient with me and my goal to slowly get acclimated to my car and the track. i really love that track-- the best one i've been on so far. the elevation changes, the length of the course, and all the turns are awesome. i am going to joing the genesee valley chapter so i can go to all their drivers schools at the glen next year. :D

i also enjoyed the parking lot exercises that run group D did. especially the figure 8 skidpad exercise. i autocross often, and i wanted to work on getting my car not to plow through sharp corners at low speeds, and i think i got a feel for it there.

anyway, my goal for the weekend was to drive the historical track, and to bond with my car. goal accomplished. the next weekend i went to a BMWCCA autocross and managed to place 2nd in my class. (http://nybmwcca.org/autocross/1005_2002.shtml) :D

anyone else from this board go to the glen that weekend? btw, i got an 8x10 photo of myself from those trackcam guys too. i need to scan it in so i can post on the web...

[Pinecone]

I had a Topaz E46 M3. Run group C, but should have been in B (comment by both instructors).

I switched between the garage and both rows up near the food and gas places.

I wanted to have fun and run a track I have been wanting to run for a LONG time (I used to go to F1 races there).

The second day instructor did dtract from the fun part, but I still enjoyed the trip and plan on going back.

I got two photos in 11x17 for my new garage. Too big to scan and I didn't get the digital versions. :cry:

1 was basically the same shot as yours, coming up through the esses. The other entering the bus stop chicane.

BTW the second day instructor was making nasty comments about the tires (street tires) and their lack of grip, but funny, I was passing just about everyone out there. In fact, other than the first session on Sat where I was bedding the brakes, I didn't get passed at all. So I must have been doing something right, in spite of what he seemed to think :bigpimp: