Picture Set #1 and Picture Set #2 by Joe Wozney (at Oak Tree).
Video by John Heflin

The DC-area GWS participants had agreed to meet in Gainsville to convoy down to VIR. With a little delay, everyone except GWS VP John Heflin (who kept taking a wrong turn) finally arrived at the rally point, and we set off. John eventually caught up even though traffic had separated us into smaller groups as we headed south on route 29. Everyone finally joined up near Warrenton, and we ran a loose convoy the rest of the way. Despite some rain and a couple stops along the way, the group made it to VIR in time to check in at The Lodge at VIR and get ready for a welcome dinner at the Oak Tree Tavern. Good food, good friends, and an exciting day at the track to look forward to – it doesn't get any better than that.

VIR is one of the nicest, best maintained and operated road courses in the U.S., and the chance to drive the full 3.27 mile course is an opportunity not to be missed. The overall condition of the course, and great track management make a visit to VIR a treat – that's one of the big draws for Marque Madness, and Marque Madness IV was no exception. With about 100 drivers total (including instructors) broken into five run groups, the track was never crowded and students had lots of time to focus on learning the course and honing skills. This year the National Capital Chapter of the BMWCCA handled the instruction chores and did a terrific job!

Day one started with grid tech conducted by GWS regulars Jim Smith, Steve Walters, and Steve Spector. After grid tech came registration then an instructors meeting followed by the instructors' first run session. While the instructors were out, classroom sessions started for the other run groups, with first run sessions following the classroom presentation. Aside from a few minor off-course excursions (no wall contact), things went through the morning. Shortly after the lunch break a line of thunderstorms moved through, halting track activity for around two hours. To keep things running smoothly, the event team cut one run session from each group's schedule – that still gave everyone three uninterrupted sessions to learn the track and start working on finding the fast lines through each of the seventeen turns on the course. The rest of the day went smoothly and we wrapped up at a little after 5 PM.

After a short break, we gathered back at the north paddock's Pagoda Restaurant for a banquet catered by A Moveable Feast – tasty food, including barbequed chicken and pulled pork with all the usual trimmings. Lots of track talk (and some trash talk too!).

Day two started early with more classroom sessions for the green, white, and blue run groups. To help students prepare to get back on the track, the classroom instructor went back over the track layout and reviewed the important safety rules for the event. After the first runs on day two it was back into the classroom for more discussion and a really helpful Q&A on problems with specific turns on the course. Back out on the track, improved performance showed that students had not wasted their time – lap times were lower and the driving much smoother. One student, GWS regular Mike Wirt, missed day one and was struggling with the trickier turns on the course until another familiar GWS figure – Francois Bru – took Mike for a ride to show him better lines for the problem turns. Always a fast learner, Mike was running right up there with the rest of his run group after his ride with Francois.

As an added treat, we got to see a new race car undergoing development tests – TRG Motorsports (www.theracersgroup.com) was out with a new car based on a Mercedes-McLaren SLR. In full TRG livery and race form, the car was a real crowd pleaser; the sound of the engine at speed was awesome. While not yet fully developed, the TRG team did manage to turn in a few laps in the low 1:50/high 1:40 range – not bad, but as one team member remarked, not good enough.

As is usual with two-day events, the afternoon of day two found many of the students tired from the mental and physical effort required to focus on the track while driving as fast as (safely) possible. The heat and humidity on day two didn't help matters, and many of the (older and wiser) students were ready to pack it in after their first afternoon run session. That led the event team to combine run groups, providing an opportuning for those who were up for one more go to head out and have some fun on a nearly empty track.

At the end of day two, it was clear we had just completed another successful driving event – one that left everyone eager to repeat the VIR experience. If you weren't there with us for Marque Madness IV, be sure to put Marque Madness V in your calendars – it will once again be a Thursday/Friday event in mid-June 2010.

Kudos to Event Chair Joe Wozney, NCCBMWCCA's Rafael Garces, and the rest of the volunteers whose hard work made Marque Madness IV a great event.