I had a great time as usual with the Mazda drivers club.  Dave Nugent runs a really great event.  Hats off for all his hard work so we can play.

I was going to take the racecar down and Gerry Chan was going to take his Miata down but unfortunately our tires were stolen out of my trailer.  Someone cut the padlock and took our wheels and tires.  My freshly broken in RA1's on my MotorSport wheels and Gerry's Hoosiers with his Ronal wheels  were taken.  So the weekend was not starting off so well.  We both were thinking about just calling off the weekend but we sucked it up and we both went down in my E-46 M3.  We just couldn't let Dave down.  And the alternative vehicle wasn't too bad!

Gerry was working crew so we went right past the line at the gate.  Saw my friend David Small leaving as I was coming in.  There was a Mercedes and BMW event there the previous two days. David was a novice student of mine earlier this year and helped me out in pit at the VIR race.  I guess he got the bug!    I met up with Jason Kuper there also with his IP car,  which is very nicely set up.  Also saw Eric Wong he also runs an IP car.

The weather for the weekend was perfect.  Except heavy fog one morning the weather couldn't have been better.  I had two students.  A Novice who had never been on track before and an intermeditate student.  My Novice student was driving a Audi TT turbo all wheel drive.  I was a little disappointed in the handling of this car.  The student let me drive it and I have to say I was not impressed.  We worked on the line most of the weekend.  He was a bit overwhelmed so I spent extra time with him to help him get the concepts.  Hopefully he will come out again.  I'm sure he will be a little more relaxed next time out.  He had a great attitude and was willing to learn and that's all it takes.  My intermediate student was good.  He was driving an Mazda Miata.  He had just put coil overs and shocks on the car so we were experimenting with trail braking.  Especially at Oak Tree where getting the car rotated is essential.  He did really well so I soloed him Sunday afternoon.  I let Gerry take my M3 out and several other instructors let him borrow their cars so he could have track time.  Now that is trust!  That's one of the great things about the instructor core with this group.  There is a lot of respect and trust for each other.  Of course the M3 was phenomenal.  I just love the torque.  It's at every RPM range.  I also noticed a big grin on Gerry's face after he took it out!   He's not used to all that torque!

As an added bonus we attended a wedding that was held at Oak Tree.  They met as student instructor a couple years ago.  It was  beautiful, very picturesque.  VIR is a beautiful track. 

So all in all it was a great weekend.  I got to ride down there and back with Gerry.  That always makes the trip easier.  Looking forward to the BMWCCA Club race at Beaverrun July 7, and 8th.  There is one other IS car so far.  Wish me luck!