Thursday, July 17, 2008

devens school with bmw

jay and i had the privilege of instructing for the bmwcca at devens this past sunday. we've gotta thank steve hazard for an absolutely kickass day.

i finally made up for the lack of seat time all year, and it was a great feeling to help novices out. one example- i hopped in with a kid in an older gen stock 5 series on old crusty tires. i rode along for 2 runs, made some suggestions. while he was understanding what i was saying, it wasn't really clicking for him. we were talking through technique, and i paused.. wait a sec, it's easier for me to just show you instead of tell you.. want me to take you for a run? he said, please! we traded seats, and i had a ball floggin the big old 5. you could almost see it all make sense in his reaction. holy crap! that was awesome! I checked in with him after he took another run.. how'd it go? with a huge grin on his face..(his energy level was way up). "i spun all over the place but i had a blast!" so i hopped in for a ride along on the next run and talked him through it as we went.. we were cheering through the offsets into the finish since he was really hustling the car by that point.. as we did a recap.. i noticed he had 'the shakes'. his excitement level went from blah earlier in the day to the shakes.. he was amped and i think we have yet another sucker hooked on autox.

kickass day reason #2. on an equal playing field, i beat jay hands down in diane's accord lunchtime shootout. where was simmonz when we needed him.. i should have put money on it!

with all the cars we hopped in, stock, modded, bimmers, evo's.. the one car I had THE most fun in? steve t's not so prepped old crx on eibach pro kit lowering springs and generic shocks! maybe it was the dunlops direzzas (way better than neovas!) but the fun level in the crx was through the roof. full throttle, hanging on for dear life through the transitions.. absolute blast! i think i would rawtime slower in the sti. gary t was also killing it in that car! with a little more seat time, you're gonna be right there too steve! forget any mods.. don't touch that thing!

driving various cars throughout the day was an eye opener for me. i now realize it can be just as much fun to hustle a stock or mildly prepped car compared to a tricked out, high dollar shock, stupid fast one. even the accord shootout was tons of fun. don't get me wrong, jay's evo is simply amazing. stupid fast, but it's as if my brain can't process that quickly and i definitely never tap the full potential of the car. a crx on street tires.. totally different.. you have time to setup to nail every single apex yet still be at the limits of traction, foot to the floor, avoiding the brakes at all costs. way too much fun.

anyone have a crx for sale?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks Dan and Jay for riding with me. Wish the timer was working so that I could find out how much faster you guys were. I wish I had my own car there though.

Steve and I will be there again on Aug 9.

Dan said...

awesome! we'll be there instructing again too. it's a great event.. nice job on the early reg!

i have to bring home my racebike from RI again so no s2k for me. maybe another accord shootout jay? haha

Simmons-Racing said...

Wait, I thought you were SLOW in a FWD Honda(E-Town)? You guys were lucky I wasn't there to take your money in the "Honda Challenge"

Eric