Buttonwillow Racer Clinic

Learning to Race in the POCBy Eric Walsh Photos: Luis Vivar

“So how does it work? Do you get to race against other people?” Those are usually the first couple questions I get after I tell someone that I just returned from a fun weekend of driving my car at the racetrack. What follows is my short explanation on the differences between time trial and racing and how I currently participate in time trial events but one day hope to race.

Photo: Eric Walsh

here is no singular, definitive path for an individual once you get addicted to high performance driving. Hundreds of different factors like budget, T time commitment, or even physical ability can come together to shape what you choose to focus on as a driver. One of my favorite aspects of the POC is that we have so many different driving disciplines (autocross, time trial, and racing) to compete in that are all within the same club. An even better aspect is that we also have classes for drivers to learn and explore these different driving disciplines, like PDS and the racing clinic. During the last few years of my driving career I focused on HPDE and time trial events however six months ago I finally took my first step towards my racing license by participating in the POC Racing Clinic at Spring Mountain. Since that weekend I hadn’t stopped thinking about racing and spent countless weekends working on the car (and the driver) all the while counting down the days until the next clinic at Buttonwillow… It looked like my long, agonizing wait had paid off: the weather was perfect all weekend. I was relieved to know we wouldn’t have to wrangle with wet weather conditions during our clinic, that could get interesting very quickly… It was also nice to be on a track that I was familiar with so that I could focus the bulk of my effort on learning to race rather than learning the line, etc. As I looked around at the faces in the racer’s clinic classroom on Saturday morning I recognized many of them from previous POC events as well as from the previous racer’s clinic. Our class consisted of 17 drivers with a variety of prior experience and even wider variety of cars. We had 6 different makes (BMW, Honda, Mazda Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Porsche) on track ranging from street modified cars like Mack Stevens’ 2000 Mazda Miata all the way up to Octavio Rincon’s 2016 Mercedes-Benz GT3 race car. Paul Filsinger with his 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and Greg Gilson with his 2016 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport also made sure to represent some of Porsche Motorsports’ finest among the lineup! Dwain Dement would be teaching the racing clinic and would have help throughout the weekend from experienced POC racers Mike Monsalve and Duane Selby as well as racing driver and coach Rene Villenueve. We covered as many aspects of racecraft and driving as we could before being sent out for the first

Photos: Luis Vivar

session to practice driving side-by-side two wide throughout the entire track. When we came back into the classroom we went over what had gone poorly and what had gone well out on the track. While the racing clinic may have felt a little slow for some of the drivers there was no doubt that even the most experienced drivers were learning about parts of the track that they had never driven on. Very quickly the clinic began picking up pace and by the end of the first day we had spent two full sessions practicing race starts. It was during those race starts that we got to apply the knowledge we gained from the side-by-side driving drills earlier that morning. Things were already beginning to come full circle! Day two of the racing clinic would have a hard act to follow but it proved to be even more exciting than the first. We kicked off Sunday morning with classroom learning and passing drills in the early sessions. It was already evident on the second day of the clinic that a lot of the drivers were becoming more comfortable with having other cars an inch or two away while at track speeds. What had once looked like an impossible or daunting challenge was now becoming second nature to many of us. The second to last session of the day would be the Australian pursuit race: the cars would be gridded from slowest to fastest. You could feel the excitement in the air as we lined up our cars in order on the grid. The cars rolled out onto the track one by one, weaving from side to side throughout the track before regrouping two-wide at the Esses. We rounded Sunset and made our way down the front straight. The green flag dropped and the engines began to roar! Australian pursuit races are legendary for the passing and overtaking action and this race would not disappoint. Within the first lap a few of the racers had already made quick work of the disadvantage in machinery using their power or grip (or both) advantage to get around multiple fellow racers. You can try as you may but there’s only so much a spec Boxster can do to hold off a more powerful, fully prepped GT car! As for myself… I enjoyed a lap or two of glory up in the front before being caught by Greg and Paul, eventually pulling over due to a mechanical issue (throttle position sensor broke). I had quite a few fellow club members come over and check in to see what was wrong with the car and offer to help. It was awesome to see that kind of camaraderie within the paddock and I think it speaks volumes to our merit as a club. The rest of the race continued on with the majority of the racing action happening mid pack amongst the spec Boxster racers, a 2002 Honda S2000 (driven by Chris Mendoza),

and 2006 Nissan 350Z (driven by Blaine Krasky). The race raged on for about 8 laps before the checkered flag was thrown. After a cooldown lap we all met in the pit at the drivers impound, eager to chat about what had just happened. One race down, one more to go! With my car done for the weekend I was on spectator duty and able to get a bird’s eye view of the final race from the viewing tower. This time around it would be a normal grid (fastest to slowest) so many of us incorrectly assumed that there would not be as much action as the prior race. Piloting fellow club member Eben’s GT3 car, Seth Hodosh proved us wrong and put on a fun and exciting show for the spectators by passing multiple cars during every lap of the race. Can’t wait to see him driving his own GT3 build after it is completed in a few months! Unfortunately, there wasn’t too much action at the front of this race because the cars were in different classes and the drivers were all driving well so gaps were to be expected. The majority of the racing occurred again amongst the spec Boxsters (this seems to be a common theme, no shortage of race action when it comes to BSR!) but there were still some awesome passes to be seen throughout the field. Twenty-five minutes passed and the checkered and white flag were thrown. The cars pulled into the impound and the drivers began talking about how the race had gone. Smiles and grins were found on every driver’s face no matter the finishing position. Unfortunately, one of our fellow racers, Chris Mendoza, had pushed his car a bit too hard during the race and managed to spin a rod bearing on the second to last lap. In spite of this Chris still had a huge grin on his face and explained that he had a great race and a great weekend and would be back with a newer, stronger motor. That’s exactly the kind of attitude you need to have when it comes to racing! After impound we made our way over to the bleachers near the pit lane. Dwain, members of the POC board, and other fellow club members were there to congratulate us on completing our racing clinic. Smiles and laughter, as well as the occasional sigh of relief, could be seen and heard throughout the crowd. We had done it! We proceeded through a final ceremony where some of the drivers received their half dot and a handful of us earned our full dot and provisional racing license. Dwain ended the weekend with a few closing remarks and we took a group picture to commemorate the clinic. The weekend could not have been any more perfect and I know many of us will relish this experience for years to come. It’s been an awesome journey starting with PDS, time trials, and now finishing my second racing clinic with the POC. I can’t wait to begin racing with my fellow graduates as well as other club members in the months to come. See you all at Spring Mountain!