Have you ever had a vacation that took you completely away from the worries of everyday life? This joy and escapism is what was experienced by all those who participated in the EBR Fabulous Friday presented by BP. The sun was shining, the temperatures were in the mid 70’s and the wind was light, a PERFECT day by any description.
BeaveRun Motorsports Complex is a relatively new facility consisting of the current North Track, the future South Track, a complete Karting facility and a huge Autocross area. For the days event we were using the North Track with its two long straights and several elevation changes. Participants were divided into two run groups of approximately 15 to 18 per group. This format allows for a controllable number of cars on track at any given time and allows us to maximize the amount of on track time for each person.
Each student was assigned an instructor to assist in the day’s education. We have a great group of instructors some of which you may know from our region: Roy Wilkinson, Walt Soduk, Alex Soduk, Jeff Bernstein, Jim Cannatti, Jim Woodruff, and many others from neighboring regions. EBR is fortunate to have the assistance of Tony Torgersen to conduct our classroom sessions. Tony has extensive motorsport experience through his years with Goodyear as well as professional driving and boat racing. All the students had an opportunity to spend time in the classroom with Tony discussing the correct driving line, as well as
proper seating and control inputs.
The students and instructors need to give themselves a round of applause for the courtesy exhibited by all. This is the first track event that I have ever been to that had ZERO complaints about passing. This means that either I did a perfect job of creating the run groups or everyone was polite and observant of others on the track. I tend to believe the latter. If you’re not familiar with a driver’s education event, passing is allowed at only specific locations and is controlled by a signal provided by the car being passed. Instead of how are daily driving is in this case the car being passed provides a signal that indicates “I see you behind me and I will slow and let you by”. This keeps the event in its proper context as an educational event and not a racing event.
Kumho Tire once again was kind enough to sponsor the event with gift certificates for the participant drawing and the charitable raffle. We took the opportunity of the post lunch drivers meeting to draw Paul Gaudio’s and Jim Cannatti’s tickets for the certificates. Each of them will get a certificate for a set of 4 Kumho tires. Additionally thanks to the sponsorship of BP, Mr. Lucky Jim Kleeberger won a $100 gas card. We also had an opportunity to get a good close up look at a new 2005 997. Kempthorn Motors was gracious enough to bring one for our inspection. What I wouldn’t give for some hot laps in that baby.
The afternoon went as well as the morning with more fast driving and HUGE amounts of fun. In the end everyone had a good day with no thoughts of work involved. Except maybe Jeff Bernstein who seemed to be on the phone all day. Take a look at the photos, and track side video as well as this in-car video.
http://members.rennlist.com/palting/BeaveRun%20EBR2004%20HB.wmv
But don’t take my word for all the fun, here are some of the e-mails I have received:
Just wanted to thank you for an excellent day.  I’ve been to 5 events now and this was the best so far!.  I enjoyed my instructor, lots of time on the track, and a safe event.
Paul Schmitz
Great day, thx for allowing me to participate.
Tom Welsh

Thanks so much for inviting me to drive with EBR at Beaverun. It was a very, very well run event and I had a great time. My student was terrific and the day was perfect.
Dan Bursick
Thank you very much for informing me of the event.  Mark and I both had a blast.  That is after our stomachs settled down a bit.  We are looking forward to attending something simlilar next year.
Matt Petit

We need to thank BP, Kumho Tire and Kempthorn Motors for their sponsorship. Without their support our events would not happen.
If you have never done a drivers ed event I hope you will think about it next year as there is no better form of escapism I know.

Thanks
Rick