Doug's Corner, April 2012

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Parent Category: Blogs & Columns

Created on Tuesday, April 10 2012 16:25

Last Updated on Sunday, January 06 2013 03:01

Published on Tuesday, April 10 2012 16:25

Written by Doug Wiebe

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I have to start out this month talk-ing about our DE program. We had two very successful, large turnout, car inspection sessions before the track day. There were many new faces, including some of the same ones we saw at our DE 101 class in February. And then there was the great day we had on the Track at Thunderhill! If you were there, you know that the heavy rain forecast was all wrong, we even had some sunshine. The revised registra-tion and car check procedures worked very well. There were many smiles and happy people walking around the paddock area all day. I should add, it was extremely wet for the drive home, but that was on public highways, a much different environment.

These events don't just happen without a lot of work be-hind the scenes. Many thanks to Mike Roberts, Track Chair and his DE team who put together a great event. Please re-member (and use) our sponsors for this event. Fremont Porsche provided event sponsorship (cost savings to all at-tendees) and both Fremont Porsche and Kahler's provided free vehicle tech inspections. If you drive your car (often or not), a periodic tech inspection is a good idea, track day participant or not.

We have another DE day with Hooked on Driving at In-fineon in May. Don't forget the low speed safety and car control event will be a new choice for Diablo members and their immediate families. Check out this and all the tours, meal opportunities (yes, this club seems to like to eat) and other Diablo events in this month's issue.

My pet peeve is distracted driving. It can happen anytime we are behind the wheel. I thought about turning down the heat in my car at Thunderhill between a couple of turns. Even with the windows down, it was getting warm in there. Then, I realized just finding the right button would take my eye off the track for at least a second or two, I declined. I changed the temp when I got into the paddock. Changing any one of the many, many communication, navigation, en-tertainment, suspension, climate, lighting, etc., systems in a car these days can be dangerous at any speed. Legisla-tors mistakenly focus on cell phone conversations and tex-ting, as if they are the only vices out there behind the wheel. Look at the dash and center console of any modern car (including the new Porsches) and you can see there are many other built-in opportunities to do something other than drive the car. A good track day, like we just had, helps your brain focus on what real driving is all about. On pub-lic roads, I spend most of my time trying to anticipate what others are about to do and see if it affects my planned path. I think they call that defensive driving.