May 18-19, 2002

On May 18-19, 2002, John Eagle Honda of Houston, TX once again sponsored a driver's education event at Texas World Speedway in College Station, TX. This was the fourth time the dealer has held this event, and it continues to become more streamlined with each instance. Certainly not limited to Hondas and Acuras, there were numerous makes and models participating in the event, with many different skill levels ranging from novice (never driven at a track) to advanced (a veteran).

For a $200 entry fee, the driver receives instruction from a skilled driver riding shotgun, and 2 days of track time, totaling about 160 minutes, or roughly 200 miles. With the instruction, track time, BBQ dinner, opportunity to ride in instructor vehicles, and interaction with other friendly folks, this works out to be one heck of a deal! Many of the instructors were from the driving school The Driver's Edge. All are quite skilled and very friendly, with a willingness to help each driver with whatever skills they would like to work on.

There were 4 groups of cars, ranked in order of ability: green (novice), blue, yellow, and red (advanced). Overall, there were a good number of cars in each group, which prevented any large amount of traffic from building up. Compared to previous iterations of this event, it seemed as though there were less participants. This is certainly a good thing, as it lets one concentrate on driving rather than getting angry with the person holding up traffic.

All drivers drove on the 2.9 mile road course at TWS. This course has a good mix of low- and high-speed corners, surface changes, elevation changes, and straight-aways to give the driver a good mix of different aspects of track driving. S2000 drivers were reporting speeds of just over 130 MPH (indicated) at the end of the long front straight! The recent maintenance of the track makes it even more of a pleasure to drive. A few areas have been repaved to make things a bit smoother, as well as some other minor, yet very noticeable, changes.

The weather for the weekend could not have been nicer. Most of the morning session on Saturday remained cool and overcast, leaving the track a bit slick. However, for the afternoon on Saturday and for all of Sunday, the skies were clear as can be with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s. With low humidity, the track was just the right temperature and everyone's cars were running strongly.

There weren't too many incidents during the weekend. Obviously, there were a few spins into the grass; this is bound to happen when you're pushing the limits of your car. A few more notable incidents were a Prelude, WRX, and Miata spec racer all spinning backwards into the same sand/dirt dune on different occasions, as well as an Integra Type R nosing into a wall at low speed and getting some minor left front damage. Each of these cars were in different ability groups, which just goes to show that even advanced drivers can have mishaps.

The ConeCam was in heavy circulation this weekend. It spent a good deal of time on my RSX-S in various positions, as well as occupying the bodywork of several S2000s. Between the sturdy suction cup and clamp mounts, the ConeCam can be mounted just about anywhere to obtain almost any angle. There should be some excellent video footage compiled from this weekend. The videos will be released in the coming weeks after Tuan finishes with all the SEMA footage first.

Anyone with most any car should attend an event like this one if you have the opportunity. Not only is it some of the most fun you will ever have, but you will become a better driver in daily life. You will learn how to "see" turns properly, look farther down the road, better understand what your car is doing on the road, and become more aware of your surroundings. Plus, the people you meet provide you with a wealth of knowledge you will not find anywhere else; you can learn more in one weekend at such an event than in one week of surfing the Internet. I enjoyed seeing some TOV readers at this event, and I hope to see more readers there in the fall!

Here is a link to the TOV News article that has a link to music videos compiled of video footage from this event.

Copyright 2002, Temple of VTEC.