[s-cars] Lime Rock Park trip report

[Lee Levitt]

I attended a two day High Performance Driver Education event put on by 
the North Country Region of the Porsche Club at Lime Rock this week. 
Tuesday evening a friend and I caravanned out to western Mass, had 
dinner at an excellent Japanese restaurant in Great Barrington and then 
headed south to Lakeville, CT, where Lime Rock Park is located. Tuesday 
evening we had some pretty heavy weather...fortunately, we got most of 
the driving done before it started.

Wednesday morning started out damp but with no further precipitation. We 
arrived at the track at 7, unloaded our cars and went through tech 
inspection. At 8:15 the club held the mandatory driver's meeting, 
focusing on safety and the programmatic aspects of the day. At 10:30 I 
got my first of four runs in for the day. Each run is about 25 minutes 
or so, or approximately 10-15 laps, depending on speed, traffic, etc. A 
full out race car will lap the 1.5 mile course in just under a 
minute...my best time was just under 1 minute 14 seconds (although this 
is *not* timed event or a race.).

Day One was great...we got reacquainted with the course and I picked up 
some tips from my instructors. Stay in fourth gear for the uphill, into 
the turn at the top of the hill. Seemed to be faster and cleaner. Is Big 
Ben a single or double apex turn? Don't know...let's try both!

Day Two started out beautiful. Fog in the low lying areas, with the 
hills poking through. Just gorgeous. New instructor had some things for 
me to try...different lines through Big Ben, shifting into third for the 
uphill (definitely faster!). Then he asks "do you want to solo?"

Yikes. Leave the comfort of a knowledgeable instructor and venture out 
solo among the GT3s, Cayman Rs, 911 Twin Turbos and a couple of hot 
Mustangs? No!!!

I mean Yes!!!

Last two runs of the day were solo. Without a ride-along instructor, I 
found that I was able to focus 100% on the task at hand...no voice in my 
helmet over the intercom, no noticing the instructor bracing for a turn...

So I found myself driving full out on a historic race track. Paul 
Newman's home track. The track where Sir Stirling Moss held court only a 
couple of weeks ago! What an unbelievable experience. And my last run 
was the last of the two days...and half the cars had left...so it seemed 
like I had the track to myself. Unbelievable!

Then it was time to load up the car and head home. This was the last 
hurrah for me with this car...on Sunday, it's moving over to my son and 
I will start looking for a new fun car in earnest. It has done 
well...more than a few people were surprised at how well a little 1.8 
turbo Audi avant did over the two days...almost keeping up with the big 
Porsches and other high performance iron! While I did wear my arm out 
giving point bys on the straight, I did keep up pretty well in the 
twisties and perhaps embarrassed more than one Porsche owner who could 
not keep up with the little Audi. :)

Good times, good friends, good food, great memories!

If you have an opportunity to join a local club for a HP DE, go for it!

Oh, and by the way, the club owes me a trophy -- I placed first in the 
under 2 liter station wagon category! :)

Best,

Lee