Road America - OktoberFAST

["I.L. Eberhart" <eberhart@xxxxxxx>]

The Badger Bimmers put on one heck of a driving school. They even got the
weather right.
It rained most of the day Saturday, which kept the speeds down and made
everone concentrate on being smooth. On Sunday we had a dry track to let it
rip. Of course there were some incidents, but no injuries that I know of. I
think the worst incident was in my group (intermediate) when a really nice
325ix met up with a deer. There were no winners. Fortunately, the deer was
killed (as in not much suffering) and didn't go through the window. There
was considerable damage to the front of the passenger side. Leo Franchi Jr.
(son of Leo Franchi, Midwest Motorsport) was at the right place at the
right time to take a picture of the deer in front of the car just micro
seconds before impact. I'm told the picture will be posted at
http://www.midwestmotorsport.com 
The picture won't be posted as animal bashing, rather that it is very rare
that such an incident is captured on film. Mike Clemmons and Mark Adams
were the only digesters I recall seeing at Road America this weekend. Mark
and I even had the same instructor, Peter Thurmanson. Peter is the best
instructor I've ever had, and that's NOT because he signed me off. This guy
took the time to not only take notes during each session, but typed them
out for me and printed them for my review on Sunday morning. In May I was
going through the kink at around 70 to 75mph, now I'm entering the kink at
over 90mph. It was an outstanding event. Thanks to the Badger Bimmers, and
thanks to Midwest Motorsport for setting up my car and assisting me at the
track. Leo even drove up himself on Saturday to check on a problem with
another customer's car, that is true service. Oh yeah, I also learned that
you can go through a set of Pagid RS 4-4 (orange) racing pads in 2 days,
and gravel pits stop your car really fast.
So on the thread of "school safety", check your pads before EACH session.

- - Chip Eberhart
Windy City Chapter
BMW CCA #144492

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