North Atlantic Audi Club

Thanks for coming to the Club Open House!

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight for our open house at Watch City Brewing Company (and thanks to the crew at Watch City for their hospitality!)

We’ll definitely do another event like this soon. If you’d like to see a few photos from the evening (including Zachary Ian Malo hamming it up), see the gallery below:

If you’re curious to know more about our upcoming high-performance driver education event in June, go here for lots of information.

Winter Driving School wrap-up

Thanks to everyone who made our February 27-28 winter driving school so much fun!

We hope you’ll join us at NHMS!

Here are some videos and photo galleries from the weekend. You can also download the time-trial results: Feb 2010 WDS Time Trial Results

Noah Daniels’ photo gallery

Steve Tracy’s photo gallery

Some highlights from the school:

The Time Trial:

Slalom course from Steve Tracy’s G35 Coupe:

Skid Pad from Steve Tracy’s G35 Coupe:

Road Course from Steve Tracy’s G35 Coupe:

Steve Tracy’s Time Trial run:

Wanna learn to drive on a racetrack?

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” – Ernest Hemingway

Register for this event

Although we’re not actually racing, NAAC is back at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 2nd & 3rd this year and we really hope you’ll join us. If you’ve never done a High Performance Driver Education school, or ‘track day’, before, then this is a great opportunity to learn a lot and have a ton of fun while doing it.

If you already know you want to register, go here and create yourself an account if you don’t already have one. Then follow the registration process on that site. Note that if you’re registering multiple people, each will need a Motorsportreg account. Also, if you’re registering someone else as a gift, you should use their email address for the account because they’ll receive all the information, directions, etc. directly through Motorsportreg.

If you don’t yet know that you want to register ;-) then read on!

Basically, this is a 2 day school that begins with classroom sessions and (if you’ve never done anything like this before) skill-specific exercises like a slalom and threshold-braking course. You will spend some time in the classroom and lots of time behind the wheel of your own car, driving around a real racetrack with an instructor in the passenger seat teaching you how to drive the “line” safely, smoothly, and quickly. You’ll also have plenty of opportunities to ride with instructors in their cars, which is particularly eye-opening.

You do not have to own an Audi to do this school. You do have to have a car that is in good running order, and there are several safety requirements, particularly if you have a convertible. Please see the event page for more details.

Note that due to the rollover hazard of high center-of-gravity vehicles, we cannot allow SUVs, trucks, or minivans (or any other related vehicles like SAVs, crossovers, and so on). Cars that are simply SUV-influenced, such as the Audi Allroad or Subaru Outback, are fine. In contrast, the Audi Q5 and Q7, BMW X3, X5, and X6, Mercedes G-, GLK, and ML-classes, and Subaru Tribeca are not permitted. Please contact us if you have questions about a specific car.

We’ve worked hard to keep costs down, and for a very limited time we are offering a sweet deal of only $345 for two full days. As always, we’re limited on the number of students we can take, so you’ll want to sign up early at this incredible rate. The special rate closes at the end of March unless we fill up early. If you have NEVER participated in drivers school with any club we are extending this special rate until the end of April, or unless we run out of openings, so again, don’t delay. We also have a limited number of openings for people that can only make one day.

If you’d like all the details, you can check out the event page

Here are some photos and videos from past schools to give you a flavor of the fun, camaraderie, and excitement of this event.

A photo gallery from NAAC’s 2006 track event at NHMS:

A student in the red (advanced) run group driving solo:

Instructor Noah Daniels driving a Mini Cooper S and having fun with another Mini:

The view from the other Mini, driven by Jason Collins:

At a different track (Mont-Tremblant), behind Instructor Jay Sohn’s Lotus Elise:

At yet a different track (Watkins Glen). Instructor Noah Daniels is driving, but pointing out some finer points of the track to a novice student:

Are you apprehensive about taking your car to the track? We’ve addressed some concerns about HPDEs here:

Will I break my car?

If this is your first time at the track, you’ll spend the morning of the first day in classroom sessions and car-control exercises (such as a slalom and skid pad) in a parking lot. You’ll learn the basics of the “physics of driving” as well as the skills and muscle memory to control your car in adverse situations. The remainder of the event will be lapping sessions of the track, with an instructor in the passenger seat. This is not racing, and one of the big differences is that we do not allow passing except on straight-aways, and even then only when the driver being overtaken has given a signal indicating that the overtaking car may pass. Thus, these events have an excellent safety record of which we are proud.

Will I be the slowest person out there? I’m not a fast driver. I’m kind of scared of this idea.

Students are placed into run groups based on experience, so you’ll be out there with drivers who have comparable experience to yours. First-time students will, for the most part, only share the track with other first-time (or second-time) students, and will always have an instructor in the passenger seat. We really stress safety and etiquette rather than competitiveness.

I just have a stock car, straight from the dealer; can I bring it?

Most people who are just getting started with this sort of event are driving completely stock cars. You just need to make sure your car is in proper running order by getting it checked out by a qualified mechanic who will look at the tires, brakes, suspension, oil, wheel bearings, and so on. Also note that there are restrictions on convertibles as specified here, and we cannot permit SUVs, minivans, or trucks at our HPDE schools (but they’re fine at winter driving schools).

Am I going to wear out my brakes and tires?

As a novice, it’s unlikely that you will wear out your tires or brakes in one event. Novice drivers do not tend to carry the sort of speed that advanced drivers and instructors do, which translates into far less wear on your tires and brakes. You still need to make sure your brake pads and tires aren’t already on their last legs going into the event, but you’re not likely to go through a set of pads and tires in one event.

Do women come to these events?

Absolutely! Women usually make up 25-30% of the beginners’ group, and many return event after event. The club has several female instructors as well (including the webmaster’s wife!)

Do I have to be a member of the club?

Our HPDE schools are for members only, but joining the club is fast easy and inexpensive. In addition to getting access to events such as this, members also get discounts at a variety of dealers and vendors. These discounts can easily pay for your membership each year, as well.