Waiting our turn on the starting grid, sitting next to our president and experienced track enthusiast, Jeff Fait,
in his 335i, I could feel the excitement building for my first time around Blackhawk Farms Raceway. Jeff offered to
show me the ropes during our Driver’s School event by letting me ride with him for a session. When the signal was
given, we eased out of the grid on pit lane, parallel to the main straight to enter the track at Turn 1.
Easing around Turn 2, braking into Turn 3, then balancing the throttle around Turn 3D and 4, it was clear that Jeff
is very familiar with his car and the track. I’ve been driving and assisting with autocross events for over 10
years now, but I have not had a lot of experience with driver education events at road courses, so this was an
exciting event for me.
Blackhawk Farms Raceway is a tighter road course than I have been to before, with trees on both sides of the track
and even a road crossing the track at one point in the 1.95-mile course. Compared to Autobahn Country Club, it
feels much smaller and tighter, almost like a high-speed autocross through the back corners. Unlike an autocross
event, at Blackhawk Farms you are well into the triple digits on the main straight from Turn 7 to Turn 1.
One of the benefits of the BMWCCA Driver’s School events is the alternating classroom and instructor sessions for
the first timers and the track novices. This event on June 11th had 60 attendees registered for the event. 11
advanced group, 22 instructors, 14 intermediate group, 9 novices, and 4 staff, such as myself, helping with
registration and the starting grid.
The next Badger Bimmer event at Blackhawk Farms will be our Monday, August 13th Driver’s School event. Registration
is open on MotorsportReg through the link on the Badger Bimmers home page at badgerbimmers.org. For those that have
not done track days before but want to learn how to drive on a track, these are perfect events to build your skills
and learn proper car control.
