March 13, 2004:

MINIs at the BMWCCA Driver School Prep at HMS Motorsport

I spent a very entertaining few hours this morning at HMS Motorsport, learning about what happens at Boston Chapter BMW CCA Driver’s School events.
Central to the entertainment was Steve Fitzgerald - his knowledge, tales and personality were well worth the cost of entry (which, by the way, was zero)!
Steves track rules for cars are: “Make It Stop, Make It Turn, Make It Go - in that order!”; making track time fun was emphasized, with Steve explaining that if the car does not stop well, it won’t be fun and you won’t go so fast (because you are wary of not stopping).
Another serious tip was to upgrade your seat belts - the tighter you are in the car, the better you can experience and respond to the behaviour of the car. HMS carries and recommends SCHROTH’s Rallye 4 harnessbelt and has pictures showing them installed in a MINI with Lapis Blue interior
Also mentioned as almost essential was replacing the brake oil with a higher temperature spec oil, and considering replacing the rubber brake lines with stainless steel (to eliminate pipe expansion during hard braking).
I plan to attend an Advanced Driving Skills School, probably in early May; but I don’t know if I will ever do a driving school event (I don’t like the claustrophobic idea of a full face helmet wrapped round my head).
My friend Gavin also attended the event, in his recently re-plated MINI:

Of course, Joe Marko’s MINI was also there (he is President of HMS Motorsport) with these impressive wheels & brakes:

For fans of cars other than MINI, there was a Lotus present:

Also this, to me at least, overdone BMW:

As ever, more pictures available here …
And Thank you to HMS Motorsport and Joe Marko!