cgh1

Roc, Ted, Frank G., Mike N., and all who came to NJMP on Mon/Tue for the NCM event! Also thanks to Pete and Mark from NJMP for treating us so very well!! I'm honestly not used to receiving the level of customer service that those two provided from other race tracks. Awesome!

What a great time and great group of people!

Thanks Mike (Short Throw), Ted, and Roc for pulling a major rabbit out of the hat with the skid pad idea for the first 1/2 of the day! Very valuable use of time while waiting on the track to dry up a little.

Thanks to all those who allowed me to ride in and/or drive their car and share some time with them! What a privilege!!

I won't be at Thunder Hill but know the event will be excellent and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at an event soon!

Speaking of events - don't forget to check out Asphalt Ventures November 30th event at VIR Full Course. I hope to see you there!

Thanks again to all who came for contributing to a fantastic event at what was for most of us (certainly me) a new track experience!

Glennm27

You da man Chuck. I learned alot from you at VIR last month.....

I'm glad to hear you liked NJMP....

Short-Throw

Chuck,

You left out yourself on a great job not only in the classroom, but out in the field demonstrating that, yes, the instructor is pretty darn good behind the wheel as well! If it weren't for the fact that you would have been dizzy, we should have had you in every car's passenger seat that participated on the friction circle.


It really should be noted that special thanks goes out to Frank Gonzalez and Steve Landstra for putting so much time and effort into making this event happen. The worked behind the scenes even throughout the event to make sure we were all pampered!



Now, who has pics?


Mike

Roy

I showed up Monday as a spectator, not knowing if they would even let me into the track.
After signing their sheet, I headed over to the Lightning Circuit to see what was going on.

Bottom line here is, WHAT A GREAT EVENT.
A great bunch of people.
I spoke with many drivers, looked at a lot of beautiful cars and even got to tour the track as a passenger in a Ron's yellow Vette.

I was hanging out at the pit entrance when one of the track marshalls yelled to me, "Do you want a ride?" I yelled back, "Yes". "Get in the yellow Vette", was his reply. I 'sprinted' down to the yellow Vette and hopped in. I say 'sprinted' because this 60+ year old guy doesn't sprint too well.

I took some photos, but I have never loaded photos to the forum web site.
Looks like the photos need to be on the web already?
I clicked the "insert image" and it wants a web address of the image.
I need a little help here in getting the photos posted.

Roy

V8 Juice

This event was a first time at an unfamiliar track to many, what appeared to be the largest percentage of first timers at a track event and some challenges. Thunderstorms Tuesday morning along with false weather report for prolonged showers fooled many of us to leave early and miss out on a sudden weather change to sunshine and dry track. (Memo to self: Wait until 1:00 PM before deciding to leave next time and bring rain tires.)

Frank G, Steve L., Chucks Hawks, Roc, Ted DeWit, other hard workers and the amazing on or off the track Mike "Short-Throw" rose to the challenges and did their best to keep action going and spirits high despite the challenges and downpour. Who else but Mike would look at a flooded paddock and see a skid pad and proceed to organize skid pad practice? Many thanks to the instructors who had three or more students, answered many calls for "Instructor needed at the starting grid." and did other volunteer duties that limited or eliminated their track time.

The absence of Tom Bohlman resulted in less flair in the hand signals and left us wondering if a car appearing in our rear view mirror was the result of divine intervention. Some of the regulars were absent for a variety of good reasons but we stopped lamenting missing you when we realized your absence meant more and longer run sessions.

The Golden Microphone Award goes to Ted DeWit for announcing the parade lap session on Monday. No further explanation, you just had to be there.

JDIllon

Great job by everyone involved!!!! Thanks, Mike for coming up with the Skidpad idea. Really nice event and great group of people. JD

Short-Throw

Roy,

Glad you were able to make it!

You can load pics on hosting sites like Snapfish, Smugmug or Flickr, or I would be happy to host a few for you if you email them to me. Feel free to PM me and we can discuss further.

Mike

billcar9999

NJMP just became one of my favorite tracks. It was a great time - good people and a fast track. I love going to these events. The beast is certainly something to see and hear. Those damned ZR1's, you can't keep up with em.

ERND IT

sounds like another classicly and perfectly run NCM event
Sorry about the weather issues you all had - hopefully you still got in some good practice on the spur of the moment skid pad - Mike-fabulous idea!!

sure hated to miss this event - and running with all the usual suspects!
Hope to see you all soon at another track in the SE

gonzalezfj

I second the motion!!! A good "attaboy" to Chuck for his excellent work at this event (as usual).

Chuck also demonstrated that a good driver in a plain vanilla Caddy CTS (well, with the Direct Injection engine) and street tires is faster than many Vettes on a wet track. It's the nut behind the wheel that counts the most.

On behalf of the organizers, I thank you for your superb contribution.

Next year we will have to teach you the Thunderbolt track...



Frank Gonzalez

gonzalezfj

Aw, shucks, fellas you are going to embarrass us with all the praise. Seriously, it's good to see that the long hours of organizing, setting-up and executing the event resulted in so many happy people. I'm sure those of you that left early on Tuesday will reconsider that decision for future events. Don't trust the weather weenies!!!

Don't forget to thank the Corvettes Unlimited club from Vineland, NJ, who graciously gave their time to help with anything that needed to be done, from taking dinner reservations to moving tents around. Some of them were rewarded with a few hot laps on the track in a ZR1 or track-prepared Z06s and that seemed to be payback enough for them.

We are ready to do it again next year, but we need everyone's help in drumming up additional enrollment. Talk to your friends, neighbors, co-workers, Corvette clubs and anybody that will listen about this event. We need it to sell out in an hour, like VIR.

Thanks for the kudos,

Frank Gonzalez
Steve Landstra

AU N EGL

Pictures

FredSM

Ya, Pics! Sounds like a great event. I'll be at THill next week with HOD and NCM. Looking forward to a great time . . .

FM

AlwaysInBoost

sounds like it was a good time. I really wanted to attend but I had a track day on Sunday and couldn't work my schedule around for a weekday off. I will be making every effort to attend next years though!

ZMEGO

Roc, Frank, Steve, Chuck, Mike, Corvettes Unlimited and everyone involved with putting on this event

THANK YOU FOR THE HARD WORK. IT WAS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

Reminder to self:
Do NOT believe the "Weather Weenies" (copyright Gonzalez Productions)

ZMEGO

Donna,
I swear I saw you there, or maybe that was the permanent vision (from VIR) of a black speck in my rear view mirror that expanded into a red and black corvette hood in a matter of milliseconds

See you at the next event

Gary

Blue Lightening

I would also like to add my thanks to everyone.

I am new at this having only done something like this once before at Pocono in 2006 and my experience this one was much different and could not posssibly have been better.

The ground instruction alone was worth the fees. My instructor FG was excellent. I had the genuine feeling that all of the other instructors and others who were running this event were there to help you. I even picked up useful tidbis of information listening to others chat at dinner.

I tried to concentrate take in and learn as much as I could. I know I have a lot more to learn but feel like I am a safer driver as a result of this event and will be doing this again.

Thanks again to all. My mind is still sky high at 20,000' and trying to settle down.

Norm

Poor-sha

Let me pile on at saying what a great event this was. I too especially want to thank Frank and Steve for their role in making this happen.

I must admit that at first I was wishing that we were on the Thunderbolt track but after a couple sessions on Lightning I have to say that I absolutely love that track! It was a lot of fun and a challenging track that is also very safe (luckily nobody tested that).

This also was my first time on the loaner Hoosiers that the company so graciously has provided at these events and Frank and Steve have been hauling around for us. As I told Frank - I felt like Superman running on those tires there was so much grip! As soon as my MPSC wear out I'll definitely be moving up to the R6. If you get the chance at another event I highly recommend giving them a try.

I have some pics of the skid pad on Tuesday morning that I'll post up later.

Blue Lightening

A few pictures from my iphone.

Roy

My Parade Laps as a passenger in Ron's Yellow Vette


Entering the Lightbulb.

Main Straight at Start / Finish Line.

Turn One.

Under The Bridge.

Into the Left Hander.

My Driver, Thanks Ron, great ride.

THANKS AGAIN FOR A GREAT RIDE