I'm signed up for the porsche club event may 19-21 at VIR. i am a little disapointed there are no other MINIs at all. It's not to late to sign up. you can't do it online anymore but they are getting more instructors so they can add more students. you don't have an instructor is you don't need one and, if your a memeber of the the BMW CCA you don't have to join the PCA. they are very kind to let other clubs get in their schools with out signing up. the audi club will not do that.

This is the cheapest school offered all year. it is three full days for 335 bucks. the Porsche schools don't concentrate so much on classroom work but just having 4 good 30 min sessions a day. again, it's great track time. I hope to see some of you all out there.

p.s. i see there is an F430 in my run group. that sould be very interesting.



www.virclub.com

 

Contact the local MINI clubs in your area and spread the word.

Tell the MINI Dealership and ask around at your local SCCA events- track day and at Solo I and Solo II autocross events.

Talk to your friends that have MINIs or those that have attended driving schools before.

Three days of track can be hard on the tires and on the brakes. Make sure your brake fluid is up to the task and change out oil if needed. If you have not cleaned your air filter or bought a fresh one, it would be a good time to do so.

Have fun.

 

Sounds like an awesome track. The rooms at the lodge are posh! I wish my kids were out of school, but that's the last week of school and I am over-committed to end of year activities, like usual!
Have a great time, wish I could go.
Annette

 

I had no idea that the PCA honored BMWCCA memberships. It is awfully nice of them to include MINI's and if I had known, I would've signed up. As it is, I'm booked for Mazdadrivers at VIR the end of this month, so it'll be fall before I can make it up there again. It's good to know, I see the PCA folks will be there again in September. Thanks for the info.

Now if I can just overcome my feelings of inadequacy from being out there in a simple MC surrounded by 911's...........

 

Many PCA chapters only allow PCA members and only P-cars. Out of the several here in my area, only one allows non P-cars and you have to be a member of PCA. I don't know of any chapters that honor BMWCCA members. Maybe yours is doing so because of poor P-club attendance?

Running with Porsches is fun.

 

This particular Porsche club is First Settlers based in Virginia. This will be the third year i've been to at least one of the schools they offer at VIR. I've done a school with another Porsche club a few years ago at Charlotte/Lowes motor speedway but i'm not sure what club it was. They might have made me be a member.

Remember that was First Settlers honoring a BMW CCA membership not a MINI club membership. The BMW CCA has done a lot in the past two months to make sure they include MINIs in their monthy magazine. They will have a few articles about MINIs.

 

Of the 45 students so far signed up for our BMW CCA school at Putnam Park (near Indianapolis) April 15-16, no fewer than six are driving Minis. This has definitely been the trend over the last couple of years as more people figure out that the Mini is cheap fun on the track as well as off.

Shameless plug alert! Still some room for students, see: http://www.hoosierbmw.com/driversevent06.asp

Neil
Chief Animal Trainer
05 MCS
96 M3

 

Actually you don not have to be a member of PCA to run with us, NER-PCA. We have a recipricol agreement with Boston BMWCCA. Our structure is a bit different and while rigorous, it is a looser structure than our local BMW brethren, in that once you are signed off, you are no longer required to have an instructor in the car.

The primary reason some regions do not allow non-Porsches is tech inspection. The local technical committee feels it is not willing to take on the responsibility for any arbitrary car that attends. While some of our policy is around having fuller events (more cars means more fun!) it also reflects the fact that PCA members do own other cars other than Porsches and as this is DE, its reasonable to allow them the oppotunity to run their daily driver.

So as an MCS owner and the VP of Activities for NER-PCA (which means I oversee all our motorsport related events), I'd like to take the time to encourage local MINI owners in the area to join Boston BMWCCA and feel welcome to attend some of our events this year. This years schedule is a great one:

1. NHIS 5/8
2. LCMT 7/10-12 (Running during the Tremblant Blues Festival which is alwaysgreat fun!)
3. WGI 7/26-27
4. LCMT 8/5-7 run inconjunction with NCR and CVR PCA
5. NHIS 8/21
6. Calabogie Motorsports Park 8/25-27 We've been told that we will be the first club ever to drive this brand new track!
7. NHIS 9/11

All events are open for registration now. If you'd like more information it can be found at http://www.porschenet.com

 

I do very much appreciate this.
Fact is that it has been your chapter that has denied me entrance to your events for the last two years. In fact I just inquired once again about a month ago and was once again told that "Only Porsche cars allowed" It's GREAT to hear that you will now allow the Mini. Thanks again!

 

I'm scratching my head. I'll check into this if you like. NCR, CVR don't only non-porsches of outside of the instructor ranks, but we have and do. Are you a Boston BMWCCA member? I believe our agreement is with them specifically and not with BMWCCA in general. However, I'll admit that in re-checking our website, I didn't see any specific mention of this policy. OTOH if you check the Boston BMW site you'll note that they allow PCA members to attend, so I'm assuming this policy is still in force. So, unless the track committee has recinded something that I'm unaware of, if you belong to the Boston chapter, they should honor your app. I'll send off a note to the track chair this evening and confirm my understanding.

 

Yea, I'm a Boston Chapter Member.
I even talked to Peter Faill about this and he knows I'm with the BC Chapter and he also stated that no non P-cars unless you are an instructor.

I'd love to run with you guys as NHIS is very convenient for me.

 

Ahhh there's the rub. You're dealing with the wrong region. Peter, who is a great guy BTW, is or actually was until last year, the chef driveing instructor for PCA-NCR, North Country Region, our sister region to the North for New Hampshire and Southern Maine. We are NER or the Northeast Region which covers the Boston area. So while theres been discussion within NCR to allow other vehicle types, for the reasons I mentioned previously, they still AFAIK do not allow non-Porsches on track even when driven by PCA members, unless they are instructors, as you mentioned. Sadly, we don't run as many dates at NHIS as they, but OTOH, we do travel far and wide and offer a bit more diversity. Again, you're welcome to run with our region as is any MINI owner who is a Boston BMWCCA member.

 

............ my bad...

 

I'm glad I read this thread! I'm the newsletter editor [Mountaineer] for the Green Mountain Region PCA up here in Vermont. Just sold my Porsche for my new 2006 MINI Cooper S

Anyway, I'll look towards the Boston Chapter BMWCCA for signing up in track events up at Mt. Tremblant because it is closest to me. The Green Mountain Region BMWCCA is one I'll join and John Holzscheiter, the president is a great guy. The only big event we (they) put on up here in Vermont is the SommerFast in Stowe.

MoF, my next door neighbor owns Rennline (Paul Jacques) and between the both of us I think we had the most Porsches on one block in state of Vermont! BTW, Paul owns an original Mini panel van and is in the process of restoring it. Can't wait until I show him my 'ess with 620 miles on it!

 

Sorry for the OT, but I have to have you say Hi to Paul for me! We met several years ago. He and his friend Chris and I have had a lot of fun at NHIS and Tremblant together. Pauls's car is very similar to mine and although its clear I'm so much faster than him, he can drink more after the event than I can ! Great guy. I'd add that I'm a very satisfied Rennline customer.

 

Hello Boston BMWCCA & NER / PCA member here. What RJ says is correct. NER has the most "open" policy of any region in the Northeast. My wife did her first 4 track days in her 03 MCS with NER. When you get to the middle of the country it seems esaier to get into PCA DE's as the regions have fewer members and therefore their policies tend to be more open. Check with the host region, you may be surprised.

PS. FSR/PCA has one of the best registrars around, Rebecca Morgan. Go drive VIR with them in May, you'll have a great time. Questions www.Rebecca@girlwerk.com