Road America 2008 (March of Dimes/SCCA)

After the first two years of the March of Dimes event being the main event for the RRC crew, this year we moved it instead to the Badger Bimmer event, since the March of Dimes event has been getting crowded and a bit erratic. Even so, Damian and Rick signed up for the MoD event again on the theory that more Road America is always better! While true, the event did get even more wacky than before, and it is almost certain to be our last time there.

As before, the event was organized by the March of Dimes and manned by the Milwaukee area SCCA. This year the congestion seems a bit better than the last, but other oddities soon surfaced. People were routinely ignoring the blend line entering the track, passing under yellow and in non-passing zones, and generally driving rather crazy. Even more odd, no one was ever black flagged!

During the previous Badger Bimmers Road America event, Rick's G35 suffered a high-RPM misfire and was not drivable at speed. Due to poor planning, Rick didn't get it to the dealer until Monday before the MoD event. The misfire was eventually fixed by about $1200 of warrantied engine work, but since it took a total of nine days to complete he was unable to drive at the event. Instead, he showed up for the last two sessions to take some videos and pictures (below.)

So, Damian was the sole RRC driver on the track, and did a great job of dicing with and occasionally passing much faster cars. For this event we also have outside-vantage video from Rick, and some in-car video from Damian for a change! :)

So, as always Road America never disappoints in terms of driving fun, but the event is getting rather wild and wooly with a mix of pretty green drivers, aggressive SCCA instructors, and loose enforcement of the rules. Obviously this means we have to find another club next year to join for another RA event. Hmm, maybe Badger Bimmers and Porsche Club of America would be a good mix...