Ben, the fact remains...you get in someone elses car, drive
it, and make them look bad in their own car. That is a fact
Jack. You do know your way around an autox course.
I know ...I know...track out...track in....don't coast..
on the gas earlier...brake harder. I appreciate all the
coaching you do for me too. One request, next time you drive
my car...I wanna sit shotgun. :-)
Steve S.
00 Audi S4
#47 CSP
"Benjamin R. Martinez" wrote:
>
> To Peter, Don;
>
> Don't give me credit for all my driving, because I was learning
> from the best. I'm going to say that if it was not for the great competition
>at
> all of these events, I think that my learning curve would be a lot smaller
>even
> with 11 years of driving. It's funny because after looking at my in car cam.,
>I
> believe I could have driven faster at about 10% of the course (I won't tell
>you
> where) I only hope that i will get better at driving and then maybe i'll go to
> the nationals and see what i can do. So, let me thank the people that have
> helper me in my quest. Chris Coxx, the person who helped me read courses, Dave
> Jackson, with the uncanning ability to make me think about driving. (Dave, i
> think you know what i mean)Arie Villasol for keeping the fire in me. Rick
> Mylenbeck showing me how to keep my head from getting too big. Dwayne Komish
>for
> protesting me at the the most critical times, which taught me to not get upset
> over the other protests. Bob Conderschoff and Rick Gould in the early years
> showing us how far we needed to go to be a champion. Derek Bell for showing
>me
> how to get on the gas early! and Don Lew for show me how to be a good sport (
> yesterday i needed help )
>
> What this all adds upto for me is how to drive fast. Learning
>to
> drive fast is more than one thing. You learn to drive fast from all of the
> experiences and people when you race. It is learning your car, the course,
>your
> competitors and a sportsmanship attitude that all combine into driving fast.
>
> When I started auto crossing, there was no rookie program. I
>was
> competing against national champion drivers from the start. When I finished
> 34th in one of the events, this made me realize how far I had to go to become
> nationally competitive. I would like to THANK! the people who have let me
>drive
> there car over the last two years, it has be so much fun to drive so many
> different cars, and Kristi SooHoo ( not my girl friend ) for letting me trash
> her tires over the last year and her car.
> Thanks again Ben
> "Thana, Peter {High~Palo Alto}" wrote:
>
> > Well Don, you said it for me. The amazing thing was that after Ben drove my
> > car (49.7 first time out on street tires) he really didn't have to say
> > anything to me and I really didn't feel the need to ask him anything. Like
> > you said, everyone tells you go in slow and get on the gas early, but early
> > is such a relative thing! It really helped to see it, and Ben's style (at
> > least in my car) was simple enough that I could see right away where I could
> > pick up time. While I couldn't match his time, I did drop a full second on
> > my very next fun run.
> >
> > Later, while working course for the 2nd fun run group, I saw your Supra
> > coming around the last sweeper in much the same way. I thought gee, that's
> > exactly how Ben drove my car. Then I looked through the windows and guess
> > who was driving?
> >
> > Man, between the Day-Night on Saturday and yesterday I had sooo much fun.
> > Thanks to Kevin Lahey, Ben Martinez, Jim Ochi, Rich Urschel, Dennis and
> > Peggy Hale, and *everyone* who made this one of the most exciting, if
> > exhausting weekends I can remember!
> >
> > Peter Thana
> > '99 BMW Z3 2.8 Coupe
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Toy4speed@aol.com [SMTP:Toy4speed@aol.com]
> > > Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 9:07 AM
> > > To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
> > > Subject: Rookies-Get instructor to drive your car
> > >
> > > Had a great time at Marina yesterday. Ben and Kevin did a great job as
> > > usual
> > > to keep things running smoothly. I wanted to highly recommend to all
> > > beginning drivers to try to get an experienced driver to drive your car
> > > sometime, either in a fun run, or co-drive an event. I've learned
> > > valuable
> > > tips from this experience. Thanks Charlie and Ben ! Sometimes after
> > > driving
> > > your own car for so long, you get locked into a certain habit or style,
> > > and
> > > all the books and magazine articles don't really come to reality until
> > > someone shows you in your own car. Just my .02
> > > Also, anyone involved, please return all loaner helmets !
> > >
> > > Don Lew
> > > DSP #179 Supra
>
> --
> BEN
>
> DSP #60
> Mercury Capri
> -- Racing is life...all the rest is just waiting --
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