Moving away from that depressing topic that is the Black Plague (a.k.a. BP), let’s ironically talk about track days, where we get to burn lots of gas in good conscience.

My local car club organizes driver education (DE) events (or high-performance driver events – HPDE in some circles) at local tracks during the driving season. We usually drive at once a month at Waterford Hills race course and a weekend event at Grattan. The goal is to learn how to drive your vehicle near its (or your) limits in a safe environment, something you shouldn’t do on public roads.

Most clubs like ourselves usually allow non-members to participate. We just charge a little more if you’re not in the club.

In our DE, we have instructors for those that need them. We have four categories of drivers: green for beginners, white for intermediates, blue for advanced, and red for instructors. And for those in the “bonehead” category, we have a special black flag just for you.

“A bad day at the track is still better than a good day in the office.”
—Any track participant from any track event

All of that preamble was just an excuse really to post some fun pictures from a beautiful day on the track. The only problem on this day was that I was only taking pictures, and not actually driving on the track.

Happy (non cranky) thoughts…

Random cars

Bunch of Random Cars

More random cars

More Random Cars

More random cars
Yet Even More Random Cars

M3
M3 into Turn 1

That way
Go that way very, very fast…

Mini
A Mini and its distant cousin

Front straight
Going down the front straight

Parade
It’s like a Porsche Parade

STI, not SUV
That’s not an SUV but an STI back there, like mine

Flying Chef
I just like this picture— one of the few I like a lot

Yellow 993T
I’m guessing this is the 993 Turbo (and not a 4S with a Turbo spoiler). The last air-cooled turbo 911 is one of my all-time favorites.

Pit Stop
This may or may not be the result of a redneck pit crew stopping work for a beer break

STI
I’m (obviously) biased towards the STI

Not Good
Oh— that can’t be good

Not a Little Red Corvette
Big Red Corvette

Nice Day
Good day, eh?

Arthur
Ayyyyyy!

[Confession: This entire blog entry was constructed just to be able to post a picture of Mr. Arthur Fonzarelli. Sorry to drag you down this far.]

Schluß