[s-cars] Lime Rock Park trip report

[Cody Forbes]

I'm participating more and more in Audi club DE's, been sponsoring a few recently even. Potomac region has one at VIR in November I'll be at and Georgia region is doing their first stand alone HPDE at the new Atlanta Motorsports Park in a few weeks. If you attend I'm easy to track down... I'm the guy in the A5 that is passing all of the Corvettes and Porsches* ;-). Potomac runs a good show and has their stuff together, Georgia is an awesomely nice group of guys whom have much potential.

-Cody Forbes
* - except for the GT2 run by Potomac's chief instructor. GT3s on R-compounds depend on the driver quality but easily leave on the straights.


On Sep 21, 2012, at 7:52 PM, Grant Lenahan <glenahan at vfemail.net> wrote:

> Glad you enjoyed your HPDE with PCA. I run with my local chapter, NNJR.  We encourage and welcome non-Porsches at both DE and AutoX, and, i think run among the most professional and safe events out there.  Size helps - and NNJR recognizes that all our non-P car friends help make it a viable and sustainable program!
> 
> I love LRP too.  In my (slow, old, base) boxster, i'm relatively quick through the twisty bits --- esses, Big Bend, West Bend.  I'm overlay cautious, with good reason, in the downhill and i'm just plain power limited int he straights.  But its a far more complex and rewarding course than its 1.52 mile length or  relatively few turns indicate.  and yes, its historic.  Very.
> 
> The problem with LRP is that its expensive, hard to get dates at, and so close to NYC and the tri-state metro area that everyone wants to go.
> 
> Join us at some remote but wonderful tracks like VIR (early Nov.) or Mid -Ohio (May)
> 
> Grant
> 
> On Sep 21, 2012, at 6:48 PM, Lee Levitt wrote:
> 
>> 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
>> 
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