Sacramento Valley Region

Porsche Club of America. One of Porsche's most active regions

Author: Lynn Grogan

  • Course Workers Vital to Successful AX #7

    Course Workers Vital to Successful AX #7

    By Collin Fat

    There were 36 drivers registered for the September 20th autocross at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California. With temperatures in the upper 80’s the weather was a reprieve from the 100-degree temperatures we experienced at our August event. All drivers received a total of 12 runs each with 6 completed in the morning session and 6 completed in the afternoon. The top 5 finishers wasted no time in the morning session establishing a target time for all the other drivers to meet or exceed.

    Top time of day went to Zone 7 AX Chair, Brant Ballantyne with a time of 40.378. followed by Grady Carter, 40.382, Steve Nieslony, 40.467, John Leet, 40.483, and Kent Treiber with a 41.348 rounding out the top five fastest times. Rounding out the top ten were David Turner, 41.352, Michael Klein, 41.392, Andrew Howell, 41.549, and Collin Fat with a time of 41.582. The full results can be found on the SVR website at:

    https://app.clokkr.com/results/events/466186ff-4c66-4288-bd38-83957f3a3f55

    RANK DRIVER NUMBER VEHICLE CLASS TIME
    1 Brant Ballantyne 7 2011 Boxster Spyder 0-04 40.378
    2 Grady Carter 919 2016 Cayman P-03 40.382
    3 Steve Nieslony 21 1072 Porsche 914 U-01 40.467
    4 John Leet 8 2012 911 S P-05 40.483
    5 Kent Treiber 67 2021 Cayman GT4 P-05 41.348
    6 David Turner 328 2022 GT3 P-06 41.352
    7 Michael Kline 4 2014 981 P-03 41.392
    8 Andrew Howell 41 2001 Boxster S 0-03 41.549
    9 Collin Fat 45 2016 GT3RS P-06 41.582
    10 Ray Witkowski 16 2006 Cayman P-03 41.649

    The morning temperatures were fabulous with temperatures starting out in the upper 60’s and morning temperatures peaking around 70 degrees. Thanks to a light breeze and cloud cover, the weather was perfect for an enjoyable day of autocrossing. Most drivers got their best times in the afternoon runs where temperatures reached into the upper 80’s with clear skies. Tires heated up and drivers gained more traction to mostly improve upon their morning session times.

    Several new drivers were paired up with an SVR instructor which is available to all novices who participate in an SVR autocross event. I highly recommend requesting an instructor as the instruction you receive will always benefit your driving skills whether on the autocross track or street. Thanks to the SVR AX instructors for volunteering your knowledge and skills to teaching!

    At each event the club organizes, no single effort is more important than our course workers who are required to work on the course if they are registered as a driver. Course workers have the responsibility to staff various stations on the course to replace cones knocked down by a driver and report the penalty to the timing trailer. They are also responsible for red flagging the course when an accident occurs or when an unsafe situation occurs with a driver on course. A lot of responsibility!