zeroptzero

I've been asked by a few members about a Watkins Glen meet this year, and I have agreed to organize it once again for 2013. The 2013 drive and meet to be held at Watkins Glen , NY. The suggested date is Saturday June 15th, with the rain date being Saturday June 22nd. The need for a rain date is important as the drive would not be fun if there is a significant chance of rain (50% or higher). This event is posted on s2kca.com as well, but is open to any persons on either site.

Watkins Glen is located within the beautiful finger lakes region of New York State, approximately 3 hours from the Buffalo/Fort Erie border. This region has great landscape, great wine, and food, with drives along some of the famous finger lakes. The only thing needed are S2000's and friends.

In 2011 we did 17 hours of top down driving in one day, with perfect weather conditions. We departed home around 5:00am, we drove through cool dark conditions, then we caught sunrise near Niagara Falls and we drove through some cool foggy conditions as we crosed the Niagara River area. We then had bright warm 80 degree weather for the rest of the drive. The different driving conditions made for a really great day. I would expect most Ontario drivers to be leaving their home between 5am and 6 am, and returning back home around 9 pm give or take. If you want to remain in the finger lakes region for an extra day there are lots of great Inns and B&B's worth exploring and making for a more liesurely drive.


The initial schedule will be as follows. Morning meet in the village of Watkins Glen, New York State at the ticket purchasing office of Watkins Glen International Raceway - approx. 10:30 am. We will purchase tickets for parade laps to be run at WGI raceway - cost is a mere $25 for 3 laps. Gas up in town and meet at Watkins Glen International Raceway for approx. 12:00 noon. The Parade laps are run at 55mph (though straightaway speeds can get a bit higiher). We run the big track which is over 3 miles long, so you get approximately 10 miles of total track driving. Professional pictures are available for all vehicles that are on track, you can purchase them on-line after the event for a fee by Track Time photos. During the parade laps all vehicles are allowed to park at the finish line for photo opportunities and a close up view of the grandstands and general track. You actually park your car on the track and you are allowed to walk the track for about 10 minutes in between the 2nd and third lap. You can't have any more fun than this with your clothes on and without a rollbar (Okay slight exaggeration here but you get the point). Where else can you drive a high profile closed circuit road course and not worry about roll bars, tech inspections, or vehicle damage , just run what you brung. 55 mph is plenty fast for the corners, and on the straights we were allowed to get up to 80 mph last time we were there in 2011. The lap speeds are regulated by a pace car.

We will head into the village of Watkins Glen and run the old historic road course route (which is now all local roads). I have posted a link of the old historic race route below. Depending on the schedule for the day we might run this before hitting WGI raceway, but we will confirm this once the final schedule is set. THere is a lot of history on the old course, it's cool to be able to drive it while you are in the area.

We will stop for lunch at a local establishment. After lunch we will drive some local roads and explore alternate lakes within the finger lakes district. This will take us to approx. 4pm, with opportunities to visit additional wineries if participants want to do that. Some guys may choose to go home at this point. Some may choose to remain in the region overnight and explore many of the treasures the finger lakes have to offer. If you liked the first set of parade laps you can do a second run in the afternoon or possibly the next morning if you stay the night. At $25 it's a bargain IMO. Staying the night is of course optional and most participants may want to head home the same day. It is about a 5 hour drive one-way for most people.

This is one event where we can have a great time with as little as four participants as we did in 2011, while it would be nice to have more participants we can still have a great time regardless of the numbers. I don't expect there to be more than 10 people in total, so it isn't a huge meet of any sort. Smaller numbers are easier to manage so they just fine. At the last event we had a lot of guys dropping out at the last minute for various reasons, and as we tried to shuffle dates due to weather, so that is par for the course.

Going forward I will post up information on food locations, driving routes, and possible hotels and B&B's, and tourist spots to visit. We can make changes to the schedule if the weather chooses not to cooperate, but the alternate rain dates help reduce the chance of this. Potential paticipants should keep the rain dates open , and we will have to monitor weather forcasts up to the day before the scheduled dates. We will announce if the dates are a go or if they are cancelled approximately 24 - 48 hours ahead of each date. This is the only way we can do this, so it requires some flexibility and we will undoubtedly lose members if the dates get cancelled and moved due to rain. If the weather forecast calls for a probability of percipitation of 40% or more we typically cancel the and plan for an alternate date. You don't want to do this in the rain.

Thanks for reading , if you have any questions shoot me a pm.

Here is a link to our 2011 on-track video, the end of the video was cut off but it still gives you a decent view of the track (at least 3/4 of the track lol). Check it out at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=f1rB7UY5x0Q


Helpful Links and Info

Glenora Winery - lunch / dinner and Inn location - http://www.glenora.com/

Watkins Glen Thunder Road Tours - http://www.theglen.com/Plan-Your-Vis...oad-Tours.aspx

Historic Road Course Map circa 1948 - http://www.grandprixfestival.com/map.html

Watkins Glen International Raceway - Track maps - http://www.theglen.com/Maps/Maps.aspx

Finger Lakes Region Tourist Info - http://www.fingerlakes.com/

and

http://www.fingerlakes.org/

Scenic Drives Finger Lakes - http://www.go-new-york.com/Finger-Lakes/Scenic-Drives/

and

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com...ork-road-trip/

mattsS

Im in cant wait sounds like a lot of fun:-)

Reapur

would love to go .... but ... cant...

phc_86

Sign me up! 100% Hopefully Nick, Afzan, Jeff and the samosa theif can come lol. Since I missed out on s2i Dragon run this should make up for it.

zeroptzero

Thanks for the replies Martin and Vince. Serhan, maybe something positive will come of your situation prior to the event.

I'm one who just can't get away long enough to do a Dragon event, so I kind of like doing this drive. You can do the drive and be home in one day if you like. 10 miles (three laps) of track driving on Watkins Glen is just about the same length as one drive through the Dragon.

The poor people in the sleepy town of Watkins Glen are going to crap their pants if Vince rolls through there, lol

zeroptzero

This is our 2011 photo opportunity at the finish line on-track break that you get between laps



Track Time Photo

jtwining

I would love to go but I am moving to Collingwood that weekend.

zeroptzero

Jim, move the closing date ! , lol, j/k.

Keep an eye on this thread as we approach June. If June 15th and 16th has a high chance of rain we will then move to June 22nd as the next alternate date. If there the chance of rain is 40% or more approaching the dates we will then move on to the next available rain date.

phc_86

I just hope we don't roll by too many donut or coffee shops otherwise we're just asking for trouble, well... maybe just me

I'm looking forward to this trip!

phc_86

Just make the others do it! lol jk

Wow Jim I haven't seen you since Walter's wedding. you should come out sometime. Hopefully it falls on a different date so your able to make it.