buckle-up

It’s raining heavily and there are rivers flowing across the circuit, with several pools collecting in all the wrong places. We are looking out across Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point, and there’s a major pond, Sonoma Lake, across the approach to the back straight and everywhere there are chunks of turf littering the track, evidence of where participants have spun and left the track! Yes, the weather puts a whole different spin on track weekends! The forecast had been for a wet weekend at Infineon but all the same, looking at weather maps and watching brightly colored circles move across the charts didn’t fully prepare us for what we were now encountering. Driving cautiously that Friday afternoon, as we picked our way around the pools of standing water scattered around the paddock behind the grandstands, was depressing and yet, the sound of cars accelerating past the start-finish line reminded us that track weekends were held in all weather conditions. Adapting to what we fo...

We’re returning to Colorado, and we realize just how much we missed the change of seasons, the view of the mountains from our front porch. Yes, even the periods of snow we are subject to represent moments of tranquility we have really come to miss! We hope that although this change in location will definitely put a damper on the program we had planned for this year, we will get our C6 Corvette coupe onto tracks for a couple of outings this year. As much as we grew to appreciate Southern California and enjoyed the friendships we formed during our time there, as the saying goes, there’s simply no place like home! Pictured above is the blue ‘Vette, #116, being unloaded from the trailer that brought it across the continental divide. With winter very much a force to be reckoned with, it was a tad too risky to attempt driving the western interstate system with the ‘Vette set up the way it is – no doubt, its ability to plow through snow is a capability we just don’t want to put to the ...

In winter the blue Corvette takes on a completely different persona. Pictured here, parked outside our neighborhood Starbucks, stripped of all the trappings of racing and bereft or any numbers, glass roof removed, it looks like any other daily drive. But oh, how looks can be deceiving! With chrome wheels and road tires installed and nothing in the body work to detract from its “I’m just a coupe” demeanor, it rarely gets a second look. Yet what lies beneath remains so delightfully wicked and, at times, flat out scary! After another year of taking it out onto the race tracks of Southern California and Colorado, of enjoying enumerable quick laps among the many friends we have gained, it’s time to look back at what’s transpired over the past twelve months and to take an early look into what may transpire in 2011. This past year certainly proved memorable. In terms of the number of weekends spent on the track, 2011 represented a significant step up over either of the two prior year...

We found out Thursday afternoon: Saturday’s event would be cancelled as the weather would not be cooperating with periods of heavy rain forecast. Not to be put off by the expected poor weather for Saturday we were keeping our fingers crossed that it wouldn’t rain on Sunday and that we would get at least one full day of driving. Margo had spent all day lapping Buttonwillow only two weeks ago, so even though Sunday was usually “her time on track” with Saturday now cancelled, she graciously forgo her planned outing to let me have one last track day for the year. The weekend was to be spent at Fontana, California, the venue being the Auto Club Speedway. As this was also to be the last event in the Corvette Challenge year-long program, there proved to be plenty of Corvettes on hand with the west-facing portion of the garage complex given over to housing just the ‘Vettes! I could have just as easily driven the ‘Vette to Fontana, as it’s less than a hundred miles away. However, loa...

Walking to the far end of the western loop of the Buttonwillow circuit, towards the sweeping Star Mazda corner, I turned in time to look back to turn 1, Sunset, only to see Margo straight-lining into the infield a huge cloud of dust rising all around her. I had walked past the Esses so as to get a better shot of her driving through them, but watching her kicking up a dust storm stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t even have time to snap a picture! Little drama eventuated as Margo slowed the car, brought it around to where she could rejoin the circuit, and looked for a favorable sign from the corner worker. After leaving Margo without a ride on three separate occasions this year, we registered for a Saturday’s outing with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) Southern California (SoCal) region in their High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) program – and rejoined longtime friends for only the third event this year. Having done so, I felt it is only right that most of the seat t...

I’ve been enjoying a relaxing week back home in Boulder, Colorado, where I’m surrounded by the evidence of the changing seasons. Every now and then, the clouds pull back and I can see the continental divide covered in white: the snow is certainly falling in the high country. And later today, I will be starting on yet another trip to California to wrap up this year’s program – returning to NASA So Cal for their event at Buttonwillow, and then closing out with a full weekend with Speed Ventures at the Auto Club Speedway. Only a few weeks ago, I was in California, for a weekend with Speed Ventures at Willow Springs International Raceway (WSIR) a return to the circuit better known as Big Willow! The picture at the top of the pages was taken by our friend Mark, who had driven up first thing Saturday morning and had brought with him another friend, Kevin. All the pictures of Saturday’s action included here were taken by Mark. Saturday, we were sharing the track with the participants in ...

For nearly two weeks Margo and I had been driving around Europe on business and yet we still found time for some much-anticipated downtime. As chance would have it, we were able to spend a day and a half at Germany’s Grüne Hölle, the world famous Nordschleife, or North Loop, of the Nürburgring! The name Grüne Hölle, or Green Hell, is a reference to how it was once described by former F1 driver, Sir Jackie Stewart. Located within the Eifel forest that separates Germany from Belgium, the Nürburgring winds its way through dense woodlands for 21 kilometers, or 13 miles and, with elevation changes of almost a thousand feet, it’s an absolute must for anyone with an interest in cars. The picture at the top of the page is of our first evening in the township of Nürburg. This adventure started at Frankfurt airport where we had landed ten days earlier. We rented a car, as I was to meet with business colleagues in Munich and Mainz, and wanted to visit Lake Garda and Lake Como in Northern Italy...