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Photos! - Texas Track and Concorso - Oct 15,
2005
Our local MBCA Sections were invited to participate in a track event
sponsored by Texas Driver Magazine and Lamborghini of Dallas. The event
was held at the Texas Motorsport Ranch ranch in Cresson, TX, which boasts
an excellent sports car road course. Our sponsors did this right -
challenging driving sessions, gourmet food and Texas Barbecue to
boot!
Approximately 30 MBCA members brought 18 cars, including a Porsche 356, a Ferrari Mondial and a Lexus. Of these: 6 (SLK230K, C230K, SLK350, SL500, 560SL, Ferrari Mondial) participated in the Spirited Lead and Follow Sessions; 2 (SL500-r129, 500SEC) participated in the Performance Driving Sessions. The event activities included: 1) Show 'n' Shine 2) Spirited Lead and Follow which provided a taste of sports car driving in single file behind a pace car at limited, but very spirited, speeds. 3) The Performance Driving option which is for the serious sports car driver or someone who wants to be one. Here you can take your car to the limits of its performance. You can pass other cars, if you can. Some of our participants had an instructor ride with them, then proceeded alone in a subsequent session. 4) Food and drink for all! |
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Our meeting place was at Cafe New Orleans, where our members had
brunch prior to our caravan to Cresson, TX.
Member cars begin to arrive. |
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Sitting down to a Cajun breakfast.
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More compadres. . .
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Our host, Larry Vaughn (right) and DJ de Jesus, who led the caravan
to Cresson.
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Larry staked our Show 'n' Shine territory at the track.
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Our lineup at the Show 'n Shine. All of these cars participated in
the Spirited Lead and Follow as well.
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MBCA "observer" cars - those who did not partcipate in the car show
and driving events but came to watch the drivers and enjoy the
festivities.
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More "observer" cars. The Porsche 356 is ours, too.
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Exotics galore at the Show 'n' Shine.
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The balcony was a favorite hangout for our group.
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Emily Trantham giving us a wave.
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Sitting down to a gourmet lunch.
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Karen Vaughn, Catherine Miller and Nipat Attavit watch a Performance
Driving Session.
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John and Carol Knight. The Vaughns are in the background.
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The Hansen siblings. Great to see them again.
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Karen Vaughn snapping pictures, some of which you are enjoying
here.
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New member Shari Cottrell. She picked the right event for her first
one.
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Classroom instruction. Our instructor pointed out the rules of Lead
and Follow, showed us where to position for a turn, when and where to
stomp it. Cones positioned around the track marked locations for braking
and where to point the noses of our cars to properly take the turns.
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Aerial view of the track.
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All dressed for the track. Catherine Miller and DJ de Jesus.
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While we were waiting to make our run, a Ferrari and a Porsche take
to the track during a Performance Driving session.
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Performance Driving is a no-holds-barred, no-speed-limit run. You can
pass if humanly possible.
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Here is where you punch it.
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Two of our own ran the Performance Driving sessions.
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First run. Our Spirited Lead and Follow participants on the track.
John and Carol Knight's red Ferrari Mondial and DJ de Jesus' white 560SL
follow the yellow Lotus Elise pace car. We drove about a dozen laps.
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DJ de Jesus' 560SL at speed. The old SL was also awarded the Texas
Driver Magazine Sponsor's Choice on the Show 'n' Shine.
In the background, Larry Vaughn's black SL500 is the second car behind the orange pace car. |
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The 16-year-old SL takes a turn, with Andrea Hansen's SLK close
behind.
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Calming down prior to the second Lead and Follow session. We had
another classroom session where we hopefully learned from our mistakes.
We're not done yet - Larry Vaughn, DJ de Jesus, Carol Knight, John Knight
will take to the track a second time.
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Hoping for faster laps, DJ de Jesus (this time as a passenger) and
Larry Vaughn strap themselves to Larry's SL500 and don their
helmets.
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Ready, Larry and DJ proceed to the track. We chose the "fast" lead
and follow group.
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Larry is behind the blue Corvette. The orange Lambo is the pace
car.
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We accelerated to over 85mph on the straightaways before having to
brake to take the next turn. We took the shallower curves at about 70mph,
and the series of quick curves (the "Rattlesnake") at around 50mph. The
track kept us very busy on the steering wheel, the accelerator and the
brakes. We needed to plan and react quickly. The laws of physics were very
real and very much felt on this track at these speeds.
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We were behind a particularly noisy Corvette.
This was a great event and everyone had a blast. We must remember to thank our sponsors for inviting us to this terrific event and to tell them what a great job they did. |