Club Time Trials and Advanced PDX Report

High Plains Raceway
April 3rd and 4th, 2010

The wonderful spring weather in Colorado provided a challenge for the SCCA School, for a second year in a row, resulting in delaying the event until Easter weekend. The difficult decision was a very wise one, as the cold and wind on the original date would have made for some really unpleasant conditions at the track. Many thanks go to the race chair and the chiefs who all scrambled to ensure the event would take place, and what fun we all ended up having at the track.

Saturday was an Advanced PDX, with 8 students taking part. There were two drivers who are qualified to run in Time Trials who drove in the PDX to provide “traffic” for the students, so most sessions saw 10 cars on track. The Advanced PDX School is designed to take drivers with some level of experience, and provide them with an environment similar to that in Club Trials, and give them the tools and skill set needed to drive safely on track. Many thanks are due to David Jobusch and his team of instructors, many of whom showed up only to instruct, for developing the classroom and on-track curriculum for the Advanced PDX, and for conducting a safe event.

In future years, we are likely to see a name change to Club Time Trials School, as this is really the goal of the event – to graduate drivers into the CTT events, in a single day. The decision to require minimum standards for entrants was well founded, with every single student graduating to CTT by the end of the day. Students spent Saturday morning in a course walk around the “pro” course at HPR, and followed this by driving around the course with their instructors so they could learn the racing line. Sessions on track were followed with classroom sessions where track-driving principles were discussed. The Advanced PDX classroom sessions encourage drivers to use all their senses on track, and allows students to develop at their own pace while receiving personalized in-car instruction.

Highlights of the day were seeing all the drivers smiling every time they came off track, and watching their excitement as they became more confident in their skills, and their laps times tumbled. Coolest car on track award goes to Mark K in his superb Ferrari F430, I was fortunate to spend a few laps in the car with Mark, and the sounds from the engine compartment (right next to your ear) were superb.

The final session of the day was a mock CTT session including a simulated start, and some final flag drills. All drivers passed with flying colors, and were welcomed into the cadre of CTT drivers. They were reminded that the CTT program encourages continued growth and development as drivers, and their graduation into the program is only the first step in them becoming fast drivers on track.

The CTT program is proud to welcome the following drivers who graduated from the Advanced PDX, Sat April 3rd

Roland Haas
Ben Hildreth
Conner Hollen
Brad Kettler
Mark Klenin
Keith Lightfoot
Dan Sinclair
Howard Stussman (existing CTT driver but in a spanking new Caterham this season)

Sunday saw the first CTT event of the season, aptly named the Put Up or Shut Up Cup. The race committee hoped the PUSU Cup would attract drivers from other Front Range clubs to show up on Sunday and represent their favorite brand. The popular choice was the BMW, either in E36 or E46 M3 flavor, but Porsche, Mazda, Lotus, and Corvette owners were keen to show their steeds’ abilities too.

After a long winter and off-season, most drivers were also using the CTT to knock off the cobwebs, or to test newly installed winter project parts. The timed schedule was a new feature and was a great success. It was encouraging to see the CTT drivers in grid, ready for their drivers meeting 15 minutes before they were due on track. As a Steward, I never had to chase down a driver the whole weekend, although there was one instructor on Saturday who was fast asleep in his coach as the students were in grid. He has promised to provide beer for his fellow drivers in the hopes of remaining anonymous, fat chance Justin.

The west course on Sunday was a new experience for some drivers, so the first few sessions were spent learning new lines, and building confidence. Some of the experienced drivers were able to help the new drivers through lead/follow exercises, followed up with post session debriefing in the paddock. It was encouraging to see the progress the new CTT drivers made with each session on track.

Qualifying was one of the early afternoon sessions, and Justin Schuh dominated the track in his E46 M3 BMW. All that time spent in his Lemons car must be paying off, because when he jumps into his BMW, he is now smoking fast, literally. A failed brake caliper late in the session saw Justin limp the car back to the pits, and put it on the trailer one session early. Justin and his Lemons team (recent winners on the east coast) will be at HPR in July for the BFE Grand Prix. Good Luck.

4 different cars in the top 4 qualifying, with the Lotus and the Corvette mere tenths of a second apart when the time sheets were made final. Unfortunately the Porsche / BMW battle never materialized, as Justin had caliper issues, and Troy had family commitments to attend to. However, the Lotus vs Corvette battle promised to be interesting in the final session.

No.	Last Name	First Name	Lap	Lap Tm	Spd
1	Schuh	Justin	5	01:37.543	73.8
86	Nakatani	Troy	8	01:42.827	70
11	Duncan	Charles C.	8	01:45.091	68.5
6	Kohl	Keith	3	01:45.558	68.2
74	Kettler	Brad	7	01:45.854	68
54	Sinclair	Dan	7	01:46.008	67.9
31	Longstreet	Roger	6	01:49.234	65.9
36	Hollen	Connor	2	01:50.410	65.2
7	Stussman	Howard	2	01:53.578	63.4
32	Longstreet	Chris	7	02:04.570	57.8

Because driver development, and having fun on track, are high priorities for the CTT program, competition and classing are not really emphasized. There are other avenues within the club should a driver seek close competition, either Solo (or ProSolo) or one of the road race classes. The CTT chiefs hope that the friendly camaraderie of the program will encourage drivers to share their experience and knowledge with their fellow track mates, resulting in all drivers improving every time they are on track.

To that end, the PUSU Cup was scored as follows. All driver laps on track during the competition session were scored, then organized fastest to slowest. The fastest 3 laps per driver were used, and a deviation was determined. The driver with the least deviation on their fastest 3 laps was declared the winner. For those non-math-geek readers, this means the most consistent driver on their fastest 3 laps was the PUSU Cup winner.

Many congratulations to Charles C. Duncan for peddling the Lotus to it’s limit, and consistently staying there. The fact that Charles races go-karts in California in winter, and Formula Atlantics out of Chicago in summer, and is a previously National licensed driver, may have helped him to his victory. Rumor has it that Charles will soon be back on track racing with the SCCA, we wish him the best of luck.

But in the tradition of the CTT program, every driver received a prize at the end of the day. Also in the tradition of the CTT program, prizes were supplied by the Chinese Embassy in Ft Collins (aka Harbor Freight), and were usually apropos to their driving behavior over the event. Those who had been off course in the pursuit of fast times, were presented with car wash, those who had mechanical issues received hand cleaner, and all drivers enjoyed cold beer and good natured ribbing at the informal awards ceremony.

Due to delays in the manufacturing process, the PUSU Cup was not ready in time, and will be presented at the May 8 event at HPR. (Actually just an excuse to get our winner back on track, with a target on his back, to give the other drivers a chance at revenge)

Final PUSU Results
No.	Last Name	First name	Make	Model	Score
11	Duncan	Charles C.	Lotus	Exige	0.060%
32	Longstreet	Chris	Fiat	X1/9	0.277%
74	Kettler	Brad	BMW	M3	0.326%
36	Hollen	Connor	BMW	318Ti	0.403%
31	Longstreet	Roger	Subaru	STi	0.442%
54	Sinclair	Dan	Mazda	Miata	0.541%
7	Stussman	Howard	Caterham	Roadsport SV	0.785%
6	Kohl	Keith	Corvette	Z06	1.754%

We were also treated to a delightful duel between the cubic inches of a Z06, and the blown cc’s of a Lotus tussling for fastest lap honors. Keith Kohl flew those Chevy flags high, eeking out a lap mere tenths quicker than the Lotus, great fun to watch.

Final Lap Time Results
No.	Last Name	First name	Lap	Lap Tm	Spd
6	Kohl	Keith	5	01:42.385	70.3
11	Duncan	Charles C.	7	01:42.512	70.2
74	Kettler	Brad	4	01:45.198	68.4
54	Sinclair	Dan	5	01:45.845	68
36	Hollen	Connor	6	01:47.900	66.7
7	Stussman	Howard	7	01:48.409	66.4
31	Longstreet	Roger	4	01:49.916	65.5
32	Longstreet	Chris	4	02:04.334	57.9

The next CTT is May 8/9 at High Plains Raceway, registration is already open on MSReg.com. The traditional PDX (free to workers) returns too, with some minor changes. PDX drivers will now head out to work corners on the morning of the event, as the program chiefs see the value of our drivers interacting with the corner workers (and they will get to see flagging in action prior to driving on track). The PDX on track session will be immediately after the lunch break, 30 minutes on track with in car instruction. The drivers who are taking advantage of the FREE PDX for workers will head back out to worker stations for the remainder of the afternoon, following the PDX. All workers must pre-register for the PDX (through MSReg.com) as we expect an influx of new drivers following the successful Denver Auto Show promotion, and the CTT chiefs need solid registration numbers prior to the event to best serve all customers. We hope that requiring workers to pre-register will ensure smoother running events for all involved. Don’t forget that the worker FREE PDX extends to any CO or CDR event held in 2010, so if you work a National event, you still get a PDX at a later point in the season.

Pictures from the DS/PDX/CTT are online, check the forums on RMSolo (Gallery and Time Trials) and Colorado SCCA for links.

Lastly a very big congratulations to all the CTT alumni who successfully completed the road race Drivers School over the weekend, you guys and gals did us proud. All 3 podium finishers in closed wheel are CTT grads, and along with the other 13 CTT drivers represented the program well now that you are racing wheel to wheel. It was encouraging to see so many young drivers making the step into road racing, using the training they have received in Solo, PDX and CTT to help them on their way. May you be the first to see many checkered flags in the years to come. Good Luck and God Speed.

Thanks again to the program chiefs and instructors, we could not get all these drivers on track without your help. Control and the road race Stewards are commended for running an event on time, all the time,- that absolutely rocked.  The most thanks goes to our workers in white, without you guys and gals, none of us would be able to have the fun we do on track. Thanks to the race committee for a fantastic event, and cold microbrews on Saturday. Thanks to the BOD’s from CO and CDR for thinking out of the box, and putting on this great school weekend. We look forward to the 2011 school weekend.

Grant Barclay
Time Trials Chief Steward and Program Director