Great Performance Driving School

[lrayner]

A big thank you to Adam and Sean, our AX team and all our Great Instructors for a very successful Performance Driving School this weekend. There were a few hick ups (there always are) but they were handled, the Students were smiling, and everyone had a great time. All your hard work paid off. Just about every student I asked said they were planning on coming back for more!

Cheers, Leigh

[Greg Phillips]

Yes, thanks to everyone who helped make another great PDS

Photos are up on Picasa
Friday:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1057760116 ... directlink

Saturday:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1057760116 ... directlink

Sunday:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1057760116 ... directlink

Greg

[Dan Chambers]

Good Job, CDI's. That was a very well done production. Lots was learned, for both the students and the organizers. Being his first "real" PDS, Adam Gill really stepped up and grabbed the bull by the horns on Saturday. Great job, Adam. You had all the plates spinning in unison.

Both CDI's present had to scramble to cover for a last-minute schedule change for Mr. Bevins. The "Tremendous Twosome" of Sean Molloy and Adam Gill did a fantastic job gettin' 'er done.

Big shout out to all the Instructors and volunteers behind the scenes who made it another great event. PCASDR's PDS is still the best program and event in Zone 8 (of course, I'm biased).

Looking forward to the Fall PDS.

[LUCKY DAVE]

Yep, another well run school, with the usual round of unexpected problems quickly solved.
Kudos to Greg for capturing for all eternity a great photo sequence of my student shredding a slalom cone by dragging it several corners to a gruesome death

[AGill]

WOW! What a weekend! Once again, the dedicated members of this club showed they are the hardest working group of volunteers anyone could ever ask for. Countless students made comments to me about how amazed they were that a group of volunteers could work so hard to put on an event like the PDS. They truly were in awe of your hard work. Even more, I was truly in awe of your hard work. I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who gave their time to make this one of the best weekends many of the students have ever had with their Porsche. Never have I seen more students giving instructors high fives and hugs throughout the weekend, this was proof to me that the school was an absolute success!

A special thanks to the following people:

My wife, Lana! – thanks for her support in letting me put in the many hours over the last several weeks and leaving her alone all weekend with our 5 week old baby! I had to take a loan out on domestic credits so if you guys don’t see me for a while that’s why.

Dan Chambers - thank you for helping out Friday night and giving the first part of the chalk talk. Your enthusiasm and passion for teaching performance driving is infectious and sets the perfect tone for the weekend.

Joel Bowman - thank you for filling in as our 3rd CDI on Saturday and part of Sunday in Larry's absence.

Keith Verlaque - thank you for leading the track walk on Sunday while Sean and I handled the last minute student pairings. Also, thank you for your excellent suggestions throughout the weekend and for allowing us to tap into your experience and wisdom. Your efforts went a long way in smoothing out potential wrinkles.

Leigh Rayner - thank you for stepping up and acting as our safety chair and handling the corner working chair position on top of having a student all day! You, sir, are my hero!

Jerry Bumpus - thank you for working so hard and always with a smile. This guy puts in a lot of time behind the scense and at the track to make sure our courses are set up properly!

A job well done to all!

[kjr914]

Bravo to the whole PCASDR crowd! I'm continuously impressed by the dedication, willingness, enthusiasm, and skills of the PCASDR volunteers! It is a pleasure to come out and play with you folks, and an honor to be part of the instructor corps.

**************
Disclaimer: Only tires, brake pads, LOTS of apex cones, and 8.5x11 paper were harmed during the making of this weekend...
**************

[AGill]

I also need to recognize two ladies who were invaluable behind the scenes leading up to the PDS. Jennifer Reinhardt and Angela Avitt made the registration process as smooth and seemless as one could hope for. Here's to you both!

[AGill]

Here is a student's email sent to us and is just one example of how great the weekend was for the students!

"Just wanted to let you know that I had a WONDERFUL time at the PDS this weekend. I though the event was just a blast. Everything was top notch from the classroom session on Friday evening to the autocross on Sunday. All of my instructors were so friendly and helpful. What a great reflection on PCASDR!!

I do not have contact info for the instructors. I would very much appreciate it if you would be so kind to forward my compliments and thanks to everyone who took their time to organize this event.

Fred Hernandez"

[idivemike]

What an excellent experience to learn so much is such a short time! The format was excellent, getting so much input from so many instructors on Saturday and then having one instructor help sharpen those lessons on Sunday was great!

The ride alongs at the end were truly eye opening as they really hit home how much more there is to learn and refine, all the instructors made the areas that were tough to me seem so smooth.

See you soon,
Mike

[JerryHoffman]

As a PDS student(for the second time), I'd like to express my appreciation to the CDIs, the other instructors and all the PCASDR volunteers for a great Performance Driving School. From my viewpoint, the School was organized and ran smoothly the entire weekend. I learned a HUGE amount from all the instructors, thanks to their generous and unselfish sharing of their driving skills and advice. What a great weekend! I'm hooked! Thanks again. See you at Chuckwalla.
Jerry.

[lbevins]

Just back from my trip to Chicago, so now I can add my comments:

First want to thank Sean and Adam for all the hours of meetings, planning, dry runs, and time away from family. They are both incredible to work with. Also, thanks guys, for the continual updates via text messages. Secondly, I want to openly, publicly, and loudly thank both Dan Chambers and Joel Bowman for stepping up and helping (for going above and beyond like they always do). Thirdly... All the incredibly talented and enthusiastic driving instructors and volunteers we have in our club. And, finally, Greg Phillips and the board for all their support throughout the year. Nice work, all!

We have an awesome club full of awesome people!

Larry

[roehler]

I had to travel for work last week so I am slow to post my enthusiastic response to the PDS. I'll send these comments in for the email feedback on the PDS:

"I had been looking forward to attending the PDS for a full year since I missed the March 2011 school. Some had questioned why I would choose to do the school since I've gotten 5 Autocrosses and 3 DE days in since October 2011. However, I was certain that the car control exercises on Saturday would teach me lessons that I had yet to explore in my car. My DE instructors encouraged me to work on this as well. This school certainly delivered and the reputation of being a great school is well deserved.

The CDIs did a super job of coordinating the whole weekend of activities; great job done by Adam, Sean, Joel, and Larry. Besides excellent exercises to develop driving skills this is a great opportunity for participants to get to know the fantastic volunteer instructors of PCA-SDR. The enthusiasm of the whole PCA-SDR team is terrific to be around.

My #1 positive coming out of the weekend was meeting many more of the wonderful people (instructors and students alike) of PCA-SDR. My favorite exercise was accident avoidance/threshold braking since it was the most challenging. When I got a couple of good passes in with the instruction of Mark Bray it really solidified the need to apply throttle to settle the car after having made an evasive maneuver. My best driving moment was that one time I nailed the hard off-camber right hand turn that preceded the slalom on the AX course (thanks Hassan). The most memorable moments of the weekend were 1. the big spin at the top of the AX course (thanks again Hassan) and 2. turning my car over to Jad Duncan so he could check my suspension setup (Apparently the only problem with my suspension is the nut behind the wheel ;^) Thanks Jad!). My only complaint is that the school goes by too quickly. Time flies when you are having a great time with your Porsche and the good people of PCA-SDR! Thanks for all of the effort that the volunteers put into making this a special weekend."

And if anyone wants to see that spin from the inside out here you go:
http://youtu.be/jYSvn-2yga8

Or this video of one lap of the Sunday AX course:
http://youtu.be/O4pO-eXphUQ

[davidsq]

NOTE PAD FOUND...

like it sayz, note pad found @ BLACK FOREST

from an instructor ?

858.292.1192

[davidsq]

B U M P

[AGill]

We've had some great feedback from the students so thanks again everyone for their hard work!!!

One of my favorite responses from maybe my two favorite students included lines like this...I bolded and underlined my favorite parts...you just can't make this stuff up!!!

"We especially wanted to thank:

- Alex Ehrath who Shanghaied us into signing up in the first place

- Dave Gardner who took his life in his hands instructing me on the autocross (and did an AMAZING job).

- Keith (with the silver C4S 993) who was the only one who could get Mia back on the track after sleeping off a migraine in her Prius.

- Keith "Stickin' Out" Verlaque who regaled us with his tales of Belfast and drummed into us, "In a spin, both feet in. STOP THE CAR." Which I promptly forgot.

- "Top Gun" Jim (owner of the red 997 GT3) who instructed both Mia and I on the skid pad.

- Don Auten who helped me with late apex turns.

- Joel Bowman for all of his words of wisdom and advice.

- Dan Chambers for his outstanding chalk talk.

- The engineer from Scripps with the porn-star moustache - I'm spacing on his name - who instructed us on the slalom and made us put air in our own tires.

- Greg Phillips for taking great photos and capturing such wonderful memories."