ACNA Michigan Chapter Picnic + Waterford Hills

[Brett Dikeman]

At 11:41 PM -0400 7/10/03, Ingo Rautenberg wrote:
>That does sound like it would be fun -- I figure a 7-8 hr drive

yep, not much better for us folk from MA etc...NH/VT people have it
even worse.  Nobody complains about the drive :-)  If you were to ask
people who have been to all the tracks in the region, they'd probably
name Tremblant #1, Glen #2, LRP #3, and NHIS #4, I'd say.


>  Something I'll definitely
>consider (though these weekday events do make things tougher).

Preaching to the choir, my friend!  Unfortunately, weekend events are
almost unheard of- for Watkins #1, it's a wine festival that takes
over the place(and is also why you can't get garage spaces at #1; I
can't remember if they're before, or after, but they take over the
garages.  Another reason #2 is cooler, you can split a two-car garage
space with a friend and be just like them nascar boys :)).  Usually
it's racing, or a club with more money or a longer-standing
relationship with the track that gets the weekend event.  At least
for the Glen your travel day is on a weekend, and you've got all of
saturday to get ready.

LRP never does sat-sun events; it's always friday-saturday, because
there's a church within spitting distance of the main straight; that
means taking three days off for many instructors and club volunteers.
What's worse is that they keep lowering the noise limit...and while
most cars don't come close, a "bone stock" brand new 911 twin turbo
kept (supposedly) blowing through the limit at a PCA DE (where they
were hauling in people left+right, in part because a LOT of racers
were there for the races the next day or two.)

If you do come to the Glen, check brakes completely(rotor+pad
thickness, fluid freshness, MC/bomb/etc not doing anything wonky,
etc), particularly if you've got a decent amount of power, or too
much weight for the brakes; the two straights are VERY long and if
you do the Esses right you can hit some very impressive speeds on the
back straight.  At LEAST half the pad thickness, preferably 3/4 or
very recent change.

Other recommendations- lots of water, lightweight natural fiber
clothing(long sleeve/long pants are required by the track, and it
gets hot!)...

Brett
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