IT’S TRUE that some people know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. It’s easy to look at the increased price of fuel, tires and brakes and say that track driving is becoming expensive. Everything is becoming expensive, so we should consider their value. I’m not likely to stop eating because the cost of food has risen, though I’m sure my belt would be grateful. I can’t burn less fuel to do my job, as going to fewer job sites would result in less income to purchase fuel with. I could get rid of my track car, but what’s the point of working past retirement if you can’t enjoy the toys that work is paying for?
This all comes to mind after the diesel engine in my pick-up decided to fail on the way to the Club Race. The lovely Robin, our incident recovery expert, put it on her flatbed and carried it to Kingston for me. Over the next few days I tore it apart and made a decision. I like the truck and it’s been good to me, so I rebuilt the top of the motor. No rebuilt turbo, no putting lipstick on the pig. I replaced most of the sensors, turbo, EGR cooler and everything else that got in my way. While I was at it, I threw on some new brakes and Bilstein gas shocks. The result is a vehicle that I like and should be able to depend on for the next 10 years. The cost was $84,000 less than its replacement price. The value is a truck I like, for less than five months of payments on a new one.
What does that have to do with track talk? Well, I think those who are scaling back on track events are just cheating themselves. It’s not the cost of driving your car to its potential but the value of doing it that counts. What value does a parked car have? We’ve recently lost some very good friends. It reinforces the concept that you should enjoy your life on a daily basis, as we aren’t guaranteed that there will be a tomorrow. So stop waiting for outside circumstances to change and come and have some fun. We aren’t getting any younger.
One new thing for my “The Future is Stupid” file. Dodge, which is known for making tire-shredding Chargers, has introduced its new Charger Daytona SRT concept car. It looks like a typical Dodge ground-pounder but is to be fully electric. When you think of an electric car you think lots of quiet torque and smooth acceleration. That was too much to ask from Dodge. It is not only adding unneeded exhaust systems, but it is introducing an air-pulse generator (one more expensive thing to break) that will make the thing produce 126 decibels of car noise.
But wait, there is more. Dodge is going to have the car mimic a transmission with the usual up and down shift noises depending on if you’re accelerating or decelerating, even though the car doesn’t shift. So the end result will be a car that undoes all of the great things about electric cars and makes them imitate the worst traits of gas-powered ones. Am I missing something here? Maybe in future models they can pump exhaust fumes through the air conditioning vents for that authentic muscle car smell.
This reminds me of people who hate beef but buy hamburgers that taste a little like beef and are made of some plant they murdered. If you don’t like beef, eat something else and don’t ruin it for those who do. Note to Dodge: Don’t let marketing people build cars.
I have to declare our first IDE (Introduction to Driver Education) a success. Peter Carroll, our chief instructor, with the assistance of Andy Wright and Keith Andersen, managed all of the paddock exercises while Abe Reinhartz filled the classroom sessions with knowledge and wisdom. That combination brought 10 new green students into the program mid-season and will help to keep the program moving for the remainder of the 2022 season. It looks like the most opportune times to have an IDE would be the May and August events. So if you are interested in joining DE you should keep that in mind for next season. The IDE participants who spoke to me all said that the progression from the class, to the paddock, to the track in one weekend, while intense, was really valuable. They had the opportunity to immediately put their newfound knowledge to use, before they forgot any of it.
The exercises were all conducted safely and the entire weekend was incident-free. Our Tech Chief Adam Holland did have to remind everyone to make sure their car is track ready when they come to the tech line. That means your tech form must be signed, your numbers should already be affixed to your car in three places, and every loose object should have already been removed. Like staging, the car should be presented in a track-ready state in order to get your sticker.
For the remainder of the season we are sticking with the same protocols we’ve followed since the beginning of the year. Participants are required to have their vaccination status attached to their driver’s profile in order to be accepted. Registration is only from 7 to 8 a.m. on Saturday, so if you wish to bring a guest they must attend registration with you. The track team are participants too, so we have better things to do than try and cater to visitors. In the event of some emergency or single-day attendance, I sit at the gate in my truck from 7:45 to 8 a.m. on Sunday. I have a blank waiver and wrist bands with me, so you can gain entry then if needed.
I’m sure we will revisit all of our protocols at the yearly team planning meeting in November, but until then there is no reason to change anything. We’ve spent this season getting everyone checked out and into the run groups they belong in. We’ve revamped the introductory program, and our attendance is slowly recovering from two years of restrictions. We rolled out a headset loaner program in order to help keep our students and instructors safe, and lunch has become a perk of your registration. All this effort is to serve the club’s members in the best way possible. We appreciate you coming out and making it all worthwhile. </>
Photography by Christopher Hebert
