May 8 Driver's School

[Dirichlet]

Here are some pics from the May 8 school - sorry if they're blurry, grainy, off-center etc. It's my first digital, so you'll have to excuse my poor photography skills. Most of the pics are of groups B & C - sorry A, didn't get a chance to take pics of your track sessions.
~ On the whole, great school. My only complaint would be the fact that the skidpad was just about bone dry half way through the session - they need to work on water distribution / not be afraid to run the sprinklers while people are on the pad. I recognize that this is not the school's fault, but rather the facility itself.
~anywho, enough of that - link this for those pics !
http://community.webshots.com/album/341827991nobEdP

[ChosenGSR]

Awesome event, I had tons of fun. Great pics

[SharkD]

Thanks for the pics!

I had a couple of small gripes about the school, but they're best addressed in another thread.

Many thanks to Doug, Bill, the corner workers and all of the instructors for an absolutely great day on the Jeff.

[1996 328ti]

I hope you wrote your comments on the eval form.
There is little down time at NCC schools. At other events I have enough time to clean my street wheels, take a nap and go catch a movie.

What post adjustments do you need to do to your car?
Check fluids and maybe air pressure.

[spalcich]

Great weekend. Nice meeting everyone, see you next time.

Scott

[SharkD]

I hope you wrote your comments on the eval form.

I did write a couple of things on the eval form, except for the down-time and dry skidpad gripes. (By the end of the day, I was a little fried on only 4 hours of sleep -- flight from RDU to DCA arrived 2 hours late on Sat. night.)

Edit:Moved eval gripes to a new thread.

[1996 328ti]

There has been a lot of discussion about grid tech inspection.
My personal opinion is it comes down to the driver having the ultimate responsibility that his/her car is in shape. He needs to ensure that the car is checked out by a qualified mechanic. And it helps if he [mechanic] is also a trunk junkie.

I have had my car teched at one shop and just did not feel comfortable with my brakes. I went to another shop on the way to VIR. That shop found that my front wheel bearings were shot. We replaced them on the spot. I rely on mechanics and my own experience.

Another problem is simply we do not have enough volunteers. Most people are busy with their own cars or other school duties.

Most schools I go to have the instructor do a walk around with their student.

I'm just glad that my mechanic and I are very thorough about checking over my cars -- not to ruffle feathers, but I don't know if the same can be said of every student out there yesterday, and I'd hate to think of what would happen if somebody was hurt because of something that would normally have been caught in a trackside tech inspection. (I also happened to notice that one or two cars made it onto the track with their sunroofs open, which I thought was a no-no.)

We can only hope everyone is diligent about the condition of their cars. And sunroofs need to be down and are normally caught within the first 2 laps. It usually is not necessary for them to come in if they see that black flag furled and realize that the roof is open.

BTW- I don't believe our schedule has changed in a few years. It is slightly different for the main track but follows a similar pattern.

This discussion is good but perhaps we should start a new thread if it continues.

[Dirichlet]

Anybody else have pics to post?... I'd love to see 'em - just link them in this thread if you do.
Thanks :-D

[SharkD]

Anybody else have pics to post?... I'd love to see 'em - just link them in this thread if you do.
Thanks :-D

Normally I drag at least one of my SLRs and a 400-500mm lens out to Summit Point, but I just couldn't spare the cargo space this time -- I believe that Todd Hutchinson (ob325) was taking shots with his digicam...

[ob325]

Normally I drag at least one of my SLRs and a 400-500mm lens out to Summit Point, but I just couldn't spare the cargo space this time

How could you spare any cargo space? You practically pulled a living room out of your car. You gave meaning to the word carmoire.

Diriclet-check your PM.

A few photos, primarily of the C group, are at http://community.webshots.com/album/341815878FtSSwr.

[1996 328ti]

I set up a new category for photos at
http://www.nccbmwcca.org/gallery/sho...ry.php?cat=520

[Dirichlet]

^^^^^ good stuff - gimme a few days and I'll post some pics there
thanks Steve.

[SharkD]

How could you spare any cargo space? You practically pulled a living room out of your car. You gave meaning to the word carmoire.

Not exactly -- I had to leave the sleeper sofa at home. (Mainly so I could fit the e30 spare tire that I purchased from Jason Kuper, in the trunk.

...Surprisingly -- an E30 has a lot more trunk room than an E24.