The Capital Driving Club is pleased to announce that we are hosting a fun rally event on SUNday, June 1, 2008. This drive takes place on public roads at legal speeds in your own car. You can bring the whole family along if you’d like but you’ll need at least one passenger who’s willing to navigate for you. Participants will receive printed navigational instructions that also contain scavenger hunt questions that will challenge your reading comprehension, listening, and observation skills. This isn’t a TSD rally so you can leave the fancy rally computers and GPS at home. However, there will be some tie-breakers in the event more than one team answers every question correctly. You will need a car that is in good working order, a full tank of gas, and a fun attitude.

The rally begins at the Emmitsburg Public Library, winds its way through the Catoctin Mountains, around Frederick, and crosses the river at Point of Rocks to conclude in Purcellville for a late lunch (restaurant TBD). We scheduled this event before the Chesapeake Chapter of the New England MG “T” Register rescheduled their annual British Car Day. If you feel conflicted and want to attend both events, we’re working to have an alternate ending for you folks who wish to finish up at Lilypons instead. The total distance will be around 100 miles and the average time will be around 3 hours. If you live in VA you can take the back roads through horse country to get home. If you live in MD, you may wish to consider taking historic White’s Ferry back across the river for a memorable experience.

When: Sunday, June 1, 2008
Origin: Emmitsburg Public Library in Emmitsburg, MD
Destination: Purcellville, VA (alternate ending at Lilypons Water Gardens, Adamstown, MD)
Duration: Approximately 100 miles or 3 hours
Cost: $20 per car

Registration opens at 9:30am
Rally school at 10am
First car departs at 10:30am

There is no limit to the number of participants and club members and non-members alike are welcome. Please be kind and send us an RSVP to let us know you’re coming so we can plan accordingly. To RSVP, view our Schedule and click on the Sign Up Now link.

The results from the Saturday, March 26th, 2008 auto-x at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie, MD have now been posted. Click here to view the results.

Congratulations to Brian for winning FTD in his Honda Civic with a best time of 42.64 seconds. Brian was about a half a second faster than 2nd place Wade in his Factory Five Roadster who was himself about a half a second faster than 3rd place Fred in a similar Factory Five (are any two FFR really ever the same?) Brian also topped the index adjusted time scoring a total 100 points. Mike is still atop the Championship Points Standings in his Subaru Impreza just 2 points ahead of Fred in his FFR but the season is still early and much can change.

The weather was absolutely perfect with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s. It was vindication for canceling the April 12th auto-x event due to threat of thunderstorms. The rain did eventually come on Saturday but not until after we were all packed up and long gone. Unfortunately for Ed O’, the motor in his WRX wagon decided to pack up and go home on the back of a flatbed tow truck. Serious mechanical failures are rare in auto-x but they do happen so you must be prepared to accept the consequences. Ed’s WRX did not lead a pampered life but it did receive regular maintenance and the oil level was checked prior to the event. Let’s hope it was just a freak occurrence. Soon it will be breathing fire once again as the fine folks at Andrewtech Automotive help him get it back on the road. James’ Porsche also appeared to have some mechanical difficulty but I didn’t catch any details. If anyone knows, feel free to share with the rest of us in the CDC discussion forum. I hope it wasn’t anything too serious as his Porsche is a crowd favorite and we’d like to see him back soon.

We are now accepting reservations for the next auto-x and Test&Tune events to be held the weekend of May 10 and 11 at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick, MD. As always, our events fill up quickly and our ability to accept walk-ons is virtually non-existent so please sign up early. You can send us an RSVP by viewing the Schedule page and clicking on the link that says, “Sign Up Now.”

Hello fellow CDC/Subaru folks. My 2004 Subaru WRX sedan (MD tag no. EAP-584) was stolen last night from my parking lot space in front of my apartment over in Rockville, MD. Any assistance that folks can provide in keeping an eye out for the car would be greatly appreciated. If anyone sees the car (silver with black stock side sill trim pieces and stock 16″ alloy wheels, and stock wing), please let me know. The car has a small (1-2 mm) dent around the rear quarter panel area on the passenger side. The VIN — assuming that anyone has a chance to check — is JF1GD29644G503586.

You can reach me at (202) 528-6057. Please ask for Michael Kido (pronounced “key-dough”). Thanks and much obliged.

I know a lot of participants and organizers were disappointed that we had to cancel the last event. The good news, however, is that the event for this Saturday (26th) is still on schedule! The forecast (depending on whom you are listening) is for late afternoon showers. With luck, we will complete all the runs before any rain hits us.

As a side note if you enjoy British sports cars, the following day on Sunday is the Triumph Club’s Britain on the Green car show in Alexandria, VA located just off the Mount Vernon Parkway at the Collingwood Library (between Old Town Alexandria and Mount Vernon). The show starts at 9:30. For more information check the following link.

Andrewtech Automotive would like to offer a special “track inspection” for the upcoming track event. The is $30 for Capital Driving Club members. We will check all necessary safety items, visually inspect pads/rotors, fluids, and other key inspection points. Please book your appointments now - time is ticking!

Sincerely,

Andrewtech Automotive
240-683-1000
7615 Unit E Rickenbacker Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
sales@andrewtechautomotive.com

Due to the weather forecast, the autox scheduled on April 12th is now cancelled.

We are sorry for any inconvience.

We are now opening the on-line reservation system for the next event, SATurday April 26th.

If you were on the roster for April 12 but not a member, you may reserve a slot at this time for April 26th by using “0″ as the member number and typing “was on the roster for April 12.” Please note that no one is automatically placed on the April 26th roster. You must make a reservation to be place on the roster.
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me.

Again, sorry and hope to see you next time.

Ed Chan

The Spring 2008 HPDE Driving School is almost full and we have closed the online reservation system. If you mail your registration form and payment now you may be added to the wait list as we are very near capacity and we cannot guarantee acceptance.

However, we still have a few open slots for advanced, “solo-certified” drivers in Group 3. If you would like to register for Group 3, please send an e-mail to peter.g@capitaldrivingclub.com to request pre-approval. Include your driving experience (number of events, which clubs, which tracks). If you are pre-approved for Group 3 you will be instructed to complete the registration process as explained here: http://www.capitaldrivingclub.com/hpde

The results from the Sunday, March 30th, 2008 auto-x at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie, MD have now been posted. Click here to view the results. Congratulations to Fred for winning FTD in his Factory Five Roadster with a best time of 46.92 seconds. Fred was just 0.15 seconds ahead of rival Lawrence who also did an outstanding job piloting his FFR Cobra replica. Third fastest time went to 2007 Autocross Champion Mike who was just 0.16 seconds behind Lawrence. Mike came out on top in points with the best Index adjusted score. For more information about the new CDC Index System, please check out the FAQ. I hope everyone had an enjoyable time and we appreciate your patience as we adjust to our new timing system and get back into the groove. I hope to see you all again at our next event on April 12th!

The next event is SATurday April 12th at Bowie Baysox Stadium, Bowie, MD. The on-line reservation system is currently open for members only at this time and as of this time we already have over 50 participants.

THIS EVENT IS FILLING UP VERY QUICKLY. So I suggest you reserve ASAP. We may not even get to the “open reservation” period for non-members.

Ed

We signed up so many new members at the March 30th event, that we are again freezing new memberships. The only execption is for the individuals that informed us prior to March 30th that they intend to join the club but could not attend the March 30th event.

We need to have a controlled growth to ensure that our members have a reasonable ability to attend any club events they wish.

Ed