So, new car in hand, I signed us both up for a NASA weekend at Sonoma Raceway (formerly called Infineon). I signed Chris up for instruction in the High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) group 1 (beginner), and I signed up for HPDE4 (the advanced group), with a note that it was OK to bump me down to intermediate since I had never driven Sonoma before.
They left me in advanced.
It was there that I met Albert Butterfield. Al is totally legit in the racing scene, having (as near as I’ve been able to count) 42 years of racing experience, starting with Bob Bondurant back in the 1970’s.
At the beginning of every day, Al asks if there are any new people to his group. If there are, he makes them stand up in front of the other advanced drivers and recite their experience to make the other drivers feel comfortable with having them on the track next to them. So, I had to stand up and tell other drivers why I was worthy to run alongside of them. Humbling, to say the least. Especially since I’d never run Sonoma before.
Fortunately, Chris’s instructor (upon hearing that I’d never run that track before) volunteered to do a “ride along” and coach me on the particulars of the track. After one session, I felt comfortable with the track (which is FAR from expert, but is definitely safe) and the rest of the day was fun.
However, as we ran the track, both Chris and I noticed an interesting phenomenon – every time we would take a turn hard, the horn would honk. We checked the wiring and everything, but never found a reason for it.
But, Sonoma was the last day of the 2013 season, before a long winter break of 3 months.