Quote Originally Posted by Supercharged111 View Post
#7 Last season we had an event, last run of Saturday, where we racers took HPDE or whatever drivers for a ride in our race prepped cars at full race pace. There was side by side action, tires in the dirt, the whole 9. It was great, every single person got out of the passenger face with a huge smile, and the newer drivers' minds were especially blown not only by what a car feels like driven at full speed, but also how it felt to be in such proximity at that speed to other cars. That's how you set the hook. We were nose to tail, door to door with passengers. I even gave a Spec Z a push start, and because it wasn't a race and egos weren't on the line neither was the risk. We need to do it again this year, my last passenger was a fully licensed Spec Miata driver and the first was an HPDE1 student. The whole point was to set the hook. Last November, post season, we had a CMC test and tune day. We did lead follow, drove the rookies' cars, gave feedback, checked alignments, springs, swaybars, track width, etc. It can be tough to drag people out on a non-NASA weekend, I tried another in the Spring time and nobody's car was ready so as long as people end the season with a healthy car, I'd say do it either mid-season or post-season.
Just a small piece of info from the east coast that might be worth discussing with your directors.

The powers in our region will occasionally let some of the more veteran racers take a prospective driver/racer out for an HPDE session to "show them the ropes". It depends on how "full" the session is and it kinda sucks getting back into the car after your race is over but as you guys know, it really hooks the newbies. The good part is it doesn't cost us anything and we're already there! (it's not a separate event). Event before last I was one of 3 CMC racers that took passengers out during HPDE4. We discussed dedicated passing zones among us and really ran nose-tail giving the guys a hell of a ride. In 2.5 years we've attracted 6 new racers and have another guy who hopes to get his license this fall.