Blog 10/18/2022

Membership

I am sorry to report that one of our old time members has moved out of the area, transferring to Carolina region. Eddie Fort, club secretary for many years has relocated to Pinehurst, NC. (the dog!) Anyways, he told me he is the proud owner of a 2016 Boxster Spyder. He said that he hoped to continue to do things with the BRR. Then he flaunted his new car.

Cars and Coffee at The Green Goat – October 15

Well, breakfast at the Green Goat was fantastic as always. We had a great turnout, perhaps 30 people or more on a sunny morning. A wonderful breakfast as usual. And a chance to see the new Porsche 999 Roadster along with our usual group of cars.

Activities

Cars and Coffee – November 12 9:30AM Old Oak Cafe

Old Oak Cafe

410 Scruggs Rd

Moneta, VA 24121

RSVP by Wednesday, November 9th.

Social Chair Wanted

Our beloved Social Chair, Gene Reed is retiring after this season. This is an opportunity to join the leadership of the club in this critical and rewarding position. If you are interested, please contact Gene Reed. Gene promises to help you learn the ropes. 

Rally – Save the date – November 19

We have a rally in the making. Jim Wallace reports that the Rally will be November 19. It will be a beautiful fall drive thru central Virginia! The start point will be across the street from Cave Spring Middle School on route 221.  The route is approximately 71 miles taking approximately 90 minutes to complete.  The route will go up Bent Mountain, down though Alleghany Springs, through Bradshaw and Mason’s Cove, ending at Parkway Brewing in Salem on Kessler Mill Road.  Driver meeting at 10:30 with first car out at 10:45.  It will be a “gimmick” rally with a question component and time component. More info is available at http://msreg.com/brrpca-rally1122.

Street Survival

Well, last Sunday, we held our Street Survival event. It is hard to imagine that it has been three years since we last did the event. There was a lot of rust under the surface, but the team did a fantastic job, I might even say our best event ever. It was a great success, although we had only 27 students. The wait list disappeared quickly in the last weeks and the days before COVID struck several students. But, we persevered. Rusty Daily did the classroom. It takes talent and personality to entertain and educate a group of young adults at 9AM in the morning, but they enjoyed it. I was in the classroom at 5PM and they were still asking questions. Kudos.

On the field, we had a new experience. No water for our skid pad. Salem put the brakes on free water. We never realized how much we used nor what the cost was. So we went to cracked corn. Cracked what? you say? Cracked corn. It has been used by several regions who lack water. You spread it out on the skid circle and the tires grind it into the pavement creating a slippery surface. The students reported that it worked well. We had 1000# of cracked corn. And we had to clean it up at the end of the event. Amazingly, the corn was ground into dust and while there was some effort required to clean it up, it was not as bad as we expected.

Our two-wheels off event, one that I believe is the most important event we do, was reworked by Marc Wilson. He changed the direction and increased the speed of the cars. I spoke to a student afterwards and he said he really could feel the effort required to correct the car direction. Interestingly, his dad was taking him up on the Blue Ridge Parkway where he had a patch of road that was safe to practice two-wheels off. The student could explain all the aspects of the correction requirements. It was nice to see engaged students (and parents).

Our crew maintaining the two-wheels off event.

And of course, a student navigating the course.

The braking exercise was down hill and the cars could lock them up. You could see the different methods of ABS on car makes. Those Hondas were the best. Very little lock up. Straight braking.

Distracted Driving was a student favorite. Watch as a student navigates the course, two others in the back seat while the instructor in the passenger seat orchestrates the distractions.

As usual, the 18 wheeler was a success. We had a brand new Freightliner with less than 20 hours on it. It had adaptive cruise control, radar on the front and sides and cameras around. The kids and parents got up into the truck and were amazed.

And of course, our air bag exercise. Everyone enjoys it. If you have never seen it go off, look at the video below.

The amount of effort for this event is tremendous and focused on the 27 students. But everyone of them had a life changing event. They will be better drivers from the experience. Thanks to all who helped with the event.

Annual Meeting/Holiday Event

Save the date for our Holiday Event/Annual Meeting taking place December 4, 2022 at the Vinton War Memorial in Vinton, VA from 4:00pm – 8:00pm. Please contact our Secretary to help make this a success with just a little bit of your time.

Mark Smith Estate

Dan DeHart mentioned an auto collection of ~ 300 cars in the Lynchburg area that is to be auctioned off (online only) this week.  This is described as the Mark Smith Estate.  He has peered through some windows of old stores and warehouse buildings and seen some of these cars.  Gary Templeton and Jerry Hampton discussed possibly arranging a tour of these cars, but it never happened..

The Polk Auction group is conducting the sale.  Auction – Click Here

Some of the cars: Stutz, Elva. Auburn, Packard, Oakland, Gardner, DeSoto, midget race car, Model T’s, MG’s, Lancia Appia.

Racing

Here is a great video on Joerg Bergmeister driving a 911 GT3 RS at the Nuremburg Ring. Turn up the volume and click here.

Hogan’s Corner

Some things never change. A 2020 Macan screwdriver works perfectly on a 1962 356.

Porsche Gone Bad

First and Last