by Scott Hutchings, President
June 2008

First of all, I would like to acknowledge the people that made this day possible. Since I know I have a good chance in missing someone (and I don’t want to do that), I will talk about the groups of people as opposed to the individuals (with the exception of our Chair who deserves to be singled out).

The committee, led by our new Enhanced Driving School Chair, Fred Hopper, put everything together in such a way that we pulled it off without huge amounts of individual effort. This team met via conference call weekly and ironed out all of the details we needed to ensure a successful event. Fred’s project management skills made sure that we didn’t loose track of any detail, regardless of how small. They also made sure that each individual of the committee was accountable for their tasks and completing them in a timely fashion.
The entire committee worked together like a well oil machine … well, like a Saab in its prime. Communication was forthcoming and timely.

The second group of people were the driving instructors. Again, this group of very professional amateurs taught our students, made up mostly of novices, what we hoped they would. They are all very personable folks and each of our students seemed to enjoy working with the instructors throughout the day.
Again, without each one of them taking their time to help us out, we would not be able to run our schools nor would we be able to achieve the high level of instruction our club has been known for throughout the 20 years we have been running them.

The last group, and some could say the most important, is the volunteers who help us on the day of the event. These people help us set up, take down, greet, register, and direct the students and instructors throughout the day. Their understanding of how our schools run and the jobs that need to be completed is unparallel.

We need each of these groups to make our schools happen and we could not do it without each and every single person working towards the same goal. The fact that we also go out there and have fun with each other and the students is a side benefit that can’t be over looked.

Every single person who helped out that day has my personal gratitude!

So, how about the day itself?
The morning started as cool and windy … OK … it was downright COLD! It did warm up as the day went on … but one topic we are not going to talk about is the sunburn that a certain individual got that day. ;-)

Registration went fairly smoothly as most of the students and instructors arrived early.
We started out with a total of 16 students, 12 novices and 4 intermediate/advanced.

We started the day with all of the students on the track participating in exercises. From there we split them into 2 groups and they alternated between sitting in the classroom learning the cerebral side of driving to spending a lot of time on the track (with instructors in the cars) putting what they learned into practice. This gave everyone a lot of seat time … more than normal as we only had 2 groups. At the end of the day, I don’t think there was a single person who wasn’t just a little tired.

Every single student enjoyed an increased level of ability when the day was over which of course is our number 2 goal of the Enhanced Driving School (#1 being to have fun!).

One of the benefits of the SOCCI EDS is that you drive your own car … you get to learn your ability in the vehicle you drive every day … or if you choose to bring a different vehicle, you are more than welcome to. The real point is that we don’t put you into a car that you are never going to see again.
Case in point was a student who brought his weekend car … and had no problem with his instructor taking the car out with other students, instructors, or helpers along for the ride so they could all experience a once in a life time ride. My thanks to Mario for being the type of guy who can own a car like this and not only realizes that other people will drool over it, but allows them to live out, what in some cases, can only be called a dream. I hope he had enough fun and got enough out of the day that he will be back in October (especially because I didn’t get a ride ;-) ).

I hope to see you all there in October.

Scott