Just did my first DE...

[Rick Lee]

This weekend I broke in the 993 at my first DE at Summit Pt., WVa. What a rush. No photos yet, but there was plenty of Porsche eye candy there. What a co-incidence that my instructor had the exact same car as mine - identical down to the int. color. So it was nice to ride along with him and see what these things can really do in the hands of a pro. My first impression was a new appeciation for fresh brake fluid, beefy pads and better tires. I was looking for an excuse to get new tires and this DE was it.

I had also heard many times that driver skill trumps HP every day. Now I know why. I will not spend another dime trying to increase my HP until I've mastered everything else. Following a '95 C2 (which should have 13 fewer horsies than mine), I could not keep up with this guy to save my life. And when he got behind me, he filled up my rear view mirror in a hurry. So now I know how important proper cornering and apex turning is.

I sure love 993 brakes. I usually came into turn 1 at 125-130mph and was just amazed at how well the car braked. It's unnatural to head into a turn at those speeds, but my brakes gave me a lot of confidence.

I haven't done enough of this stuff to say I now need PSS-9's or this or that. My lowered baby on H&R's felt really good and my instructor said the car handled perfectly. So, as is often advised here, I will spend my money on more track time before I spend it on mods and HP increases.

I'm sure some NoVA/MD folks here have some photos to post, no?

[BGCarrera32]

Geez, sounds like a hoot. I really wanted to do my first one this year but was plagued by some annoying braking and fuel issues...sucked up all the helmet and hotel money. Can't wait til' next year. How much track time did you get, and what was the wait between sessions?

-BG

[scphelps1]

Sounds like you had a great time! I can't wait to experience my first one!

[Rick Lee]

Well, there was a lot of down time. I think we had four runs on Sat. and two on Sun. Sun. ended around 12:30 so time trials could begin, which I didn't stick around for. One of our runs got nixed on Sat., as we were "forced" to attend the skid pad session, though most of us had already done so in previous events. Luckily, we have a great bunch in our NoVA gang, so we always have fun hanging out in the paddock between runs, shootin' it and eyeballing the other cars.

Some of our, uh, neighbors in the paddock (yeah, the guys with the 996 cup cars) had a bit of an attitude and were almost as entertaining to watch for their aloofness, as they were annoying for their arrogance. All drivers got a real talking (down) to following a mishap on the track, in which a nice Boxster got destroyed. Driver was ok. Again, a lot of attitude and egos crammed into one small place. But our NoVA gang are such a great bunch of folks, that it's always fun to hang with them.

[dtfastbear]

Way to go, Richard! I love to hear when people finally get their pride and joy out onto the track and realize how much fun it is and how good these cars in basically stock trim without tons of mods...

It's good you learned how much driver skill figures into the equation so early on. Spending the $$$ on track time is definitely the best investment you can make.

So, when is your NEXT event?? Going to VIR? I've always wanted to drive there...

Have fun,

Dean

[APKhaos]

This has been a great year for the NOVA crew. DougE, marcesq, BW911, rs911t, Richard, MauriceP, and others are all on the righteous path of track junkies. Its a blast to see the progress, and the overloaded grin-o-meters. We've managed to establish the studley NOVA Pelican rep with the club - a lightning two-hour drop of [my] engine at Watkins Glen; replacement of BW911's front calipers [including sourcing new calipers early on Sunday morning] at Summit Point this weekend.

VIR is a blast - a great track with tons of runoff space. On a par with the Glen for scope and elevation change, but without the nasty blue bushes [armco robustus] that grow close to the track at the Glen! We run VIR twice each year - next event is VIR 12,13,14 September.

[Todd Simpson]

I was at SP this past Friday, I'll bet you had much cooler weather over the weekend. We had just 4 run groups, 5 22 minute sessions.

Schattenbaum will be back at SP main track Thursday and Friday 9/11 and 9/12. Attendance looks low so far so there will be lots of track time available, check it out.

[Rick Lee]

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm gonna make VIR. I think it's all booked up and the hotels are as well. I may head down to hang out for one day though and check out my favorite gun shop in Ashland along the way.

I swear there can't be a better place to be a DIY Porsche owner than NoVA. It never ceases to amaze me how this gang manages to solve the impossible on Sundays or late Sat. afternoons.

[VincentVega]

Schattenbaum still has opening for 9/11-12. I'll be there.

I have some still shots of the paddock from the digital if anyone is interested. I took a couple rolls with the slr, should have those back later this week. I'll be happy to share.