NE NASA HPDE at Pocono Review

I always find it special to drive to the track late at night. You get there when its all dark out, you can not see anything, you just sneak in, pitch a tent or sleep in the car, and then morning breaks. That special time. The sun starts to rise and you have instantly been teleported from your cubical at work to the blissful serenity that is the early morning race track. Dew covers the infield grass with a delicate sheen and the cars that came early have a frosty glaze. The track is absolutely quiet with not a single sound. Then, in the distance, the quiet murmur of a flat 6 trying to sneak its way onto the infield without waking up all the other slumbering racers. This is the best time to be at the track, 5:30am, when the soft beauty of the race track and the solitude full hits you. You are in another world. The day starts to pick up. It is time to clean the car out, get to registration, and get teched. The drivers meeting is at 7:45am. The hustle and bustle of the day is just starting. Like a crescendo of speed and noise, engines start to fire up, the revs of flat 6s, V-6s, V-8s, Inline-4s, Flat-4s, V-10s and on and on build as the sun comes over the the outside track walls of NASCAR Turn 1. The instructors are on the track now and its time to get ready to run...blue group is next.

This is the start of the NorthEast region NASA Pocono Raceway HPDE. The track for Saturday would the the long course comprising of the main straight, north course, NASCAR turn 2, and the south course totaling 3 miles . The event was very well run with run times starting on time with minimal delays allowing the racers to get their full 25min run sessions in. One thing if found different though was that the checkered flag flew coarse wide and no cool down lap was allowed. This lead to more efficiency with regard to getting cars out on course but deprived the vehicles of the precious cool down time, especially in the afternoon heat. But besides this, the event was very well run.
Sunday brought a different track set up utilizing the main straight, NASCAR turns 1 and 2, and the north course for a 2.5mile track. Both track configurations proved to be challenging for different reasons. The first day was late apexing and awkward balance going into following corners. The second day was maximizing exit speed and gut wrenching entries into NASCAR turns 1 and 2.
A big bonus point for this event was the vendor support. StableEnergies was there with a huge truck full of racing gear and parts to fix just about any problem you might have with your car from brake fluid to driving suits. Phils Tire Service was on hand so you could get a fresh set of Toyo R888s or Hoosier R6s if you needed them. On Track Insurance was there providing track insurance for your car...something you so rarely see and a great thing to get if you are really pushing speed.

Overall this was a fantastic event. Now for the transition back into the work week...was that all a dream.