Intro to Motorsports

Sunday was a great settling in day for our campers.  It was wonderful to see our returning campers, Aidan, Bobbi, Dutch, Hendrix, Jack, Jamie, Jonah, and Olivia who will be in our Competition Racing Teen Camp. Welcome to our new teen race campers, Guy, Maria, Miriam, Owen, and Yoni who will be attending our Intro to Motorsports Camp. Orientation in Loft 6 went smooth. The energy from the parents and the campers in the room was contagious. New campers and their parents headed out in the Golf carts and vans for a tour of the MMC campus before lunch. After lunch we head over to the Kartrite for Paintball!  Paintball was awesome! Campers got some great shots out and yes, those little paint pellets do sting! Dutch, Hendrix, Bobbi, Jack, Jonah, Owen, and Jamie were our risk takers while, Guy, Aidan, Olivia, Miriam, and Yoni had great backup skills. After our first round Maria sat out and cheered everyone on. Ross took no prisoners! After paintball, the group went to the water park to cool off and then we all got settled into our rooms.

We headed over to the MMC Clubhouse to get Helmet, Hans, and Race Suit fittings by our professional instructors. The campers placed them in their Teen Race Camp cubbies that they will be using the next 4 days. Make your own pizza, salmon, chicken, salads, asparagus, and French fries were served at the Club House for dinner. The campers received their Teen Race Camp swag bags. Intro campers received 5 Teen Camp Shirts, a Sweatshirt and a large MMC Bath Towel.  Competition campers received 5 Teen Race camp t-shirts, a Helmet Bag with their last name, a MMC Balaclava and a leather journal. Campers were most gracious, and we received many thank you’s from everyone!

Evening at The Kartrite was spent down in the outside quad area making s’mores at the fire pit, playing corn hole, spike ball and football toss.  Around 9 pm we headed up to the camp meeting room to play cards and x-box. Campers went to their rooms at 10:30 and lights were out at 11 in preparation for a full day Monday at the track.  Campers are excited about this week!

Be sure to check out the PHOTO GALLERY to see Sundays events in action!

PW: MMC

Day 2 of Intro to Motorsports was awesome.  Weather was perfect and the campers we in high gear at the karting track and the skid pad today.  The instructors worked on the following at the karting track; proper racing lines by following instructors and practicing smooth, consistent driving, a braking drill focused on threshold braking, stopping distances, and car control under braking and an active vision exercise that forced the campers to practice looking ahead, scanning the track, and improving reaction times. Lunch was great with many campers going back for seconds. It was Miriam’s birthday, so we all sang happy birthday and enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake for dessert.  Miriam was a queen for the day!

In the afternoon, the campers had Karting open practice with 1 on 1 coaching with personalized feedback to build confidence, improve speed, and refine technique. At the end of the day the campers were in the BMW Mini’s at the skid pad doing an understeer drill to give them a hands-on experience understanding understeer, practicing steering input and throttle control to regain grip.  They all did well and will be receiving their driving profiles from their instructor tomorrow morning.

Dinner was at Starters where we were the featured guests and had the place to ourselves.  It was nice and everyone had a good time.  After dinner we headed to the Kartrite to spend an hour at the arcade and to finish up the evening in the meeting room with x-box or just hanging out.  Some campers retired early to their rooms in preparation for another busy day, 7:15 am comes fast for growing teenagers.  Everyone headed to their rooms by 10:30 and lights out quickly followed.

Click HERE to view photos from today!

PW: MMC

Best,

Danielle C. Wright

Teen Race Camp Director

It was another beautiful day at the MMC track!  Everyone was ready to go early so we headed over to the clubhouse for Breakfast.  Before they started their day the instructors completed driving profiles on each camper based on their performance from yesterday’s driving exercises and they were handed out for them to review.

Campers spent a lot of time behind the wheel in the BMW Mini’s today out on the skid pad.  The instructors brought the campers through following driving exercises.

• Skid pad rotation drill to work on how brake and throttle affect weight movement, and how that affects the steering and movement of the car
• Skid pad slalom, wet and dry to practice quick hands and using the previous drill to find lap time
• Hard charger/clover leaf, this drill gave the campers an opportunity to opened up the floor for some competitive interpretation on how to accomplish the task in the least amount of time. This exercise also focused on how our hands and feet work in unison
• German Drag race was designed to help with threshold braking and continue with the little competitive edge
• Last but not least,  the Mini Autocross which was the final challenge of the day. This exercise assessed the camper’s abilities using all the tools thus far to execute the smallest lap time without hitting obstacles.

All these exercises were used to prep and benchmark the campers in preparation for driving out on the track on Wednesday, Day 4.

Everyone ate well for lunch, and they were ready to get back out on the skid pad.  Dinner was at Albella’s where everyone had more than enough food to eat.  Some campers chose to bring what they did not eat back to the hotel.  The evening was spent out in the quad at the Kartrite playing Cornhole, Spike Ball and tossing the football around.  We closed the evenings outside events with Smores at the fire pits and then it was off to their rooms for an early night in preparation for a more intense driving day tomorrow.

Click here for photos from today (PW: MMC)

Be well,

Danielle C. Wright

Teen Race Camp Director

Day 4 was another amazing day.  We could not have asked for better weather, cloudy skies with the temperature on the other side of mid 70s.  Our morning drive to the clubhouse for breakfast was full of music with minimal talking.  Everyone is just trying to wake up and get going for another busy day!

The campers were out on the track for the first time in the Minis on the North Course in the morning with the instructors in the passenger seat to keep them safe and out of bad habits.  The campers also transitioned to the Karting track to work on how to race side by side.  It was an instructor lead passing exercise that then turned into a full camp race with multiple yellows.   The campers also did a Lead follow on the north course in the minis to allow them maximum track time with no cones and just a lead car to broaden their active vision work throughout the circuit.

In the afternoon, the campers did Drift Ring Go Kart which is an exercise that teaches car control.  Each camper got a few attempts at lapping the skid pad in our drift ring equipped go-kart.   It kept both the campers and the instructors on their toes.

The last driving exercise of the day was Tag Team Skid Pad Auto cross that combined both karting and minis! One camper in a mini and one in a kart. Once the mini stops the kart goes! Just a little competitive fun to end the day.

Dinner was at the Brew, and we were joined by a few of the instructors. Good discussions and delicious food.  The campers headed back to the hotel and chose to hang out in different rooms for a low-key evening in preparation for their last day.

We look forward to seeing all the parents at our closing ceremony at 4:15 in the Club House.

Click HERE to view photos from today (PW: MMC).

Best,

Danielle C. Wright

Teen Race Camp Director

Where did the time go this week?  We were driving to the Clubhouse in the morning, and campers could not believe it was the last day.  All were excited about the final day’s activities.  It was time to put all they learned into practice and the instructors were going to push them.

The Race of Champions encompassed the entire day.  The campers were challenged on all the skills they learned and practiced over the past 3 days.  The day started out with one-on-one coaching in the minis prior to progressing into the Race of Champions events.

The Race of Champions Events was comprised of the follow activities.

• Tag team Auto X on the Skid Pad
• BlazePod – reaction time challenge
• Drag Race
• Rat Race
• Big Kart Race

The campers were competitive, and all did an amazing job!  Congratulations to all our Intro to Motorsports campers for successfully completing the camp.

Guy Garrubbo

Maria Milkov

Miriam Khozouri-Zadeh

Owen Rinker

Yoni Khozouri-Zadeh

All were happy to see their parents at the closing ceremony.  Thank you to the parents who were able to attend.

A big shout out to our Race of Champion Winners.

1^st Place – Maria and Owen

2^nd Place – Guy and Yoni

3^rd Place – Miriam

Special awards were given to the following campers.

Most Improved – Miriam Khozouri-Zadeh

Mini Max – Guy Garrubbo

Ice Man – Yoni Khozouri-Zadeh

We were happy to wish Guy an early 15^th birthday and to see the surprise on his face. Enjoy your birthday on August 11, Guy!

Our Monticello Motor Club Operations team extends a sincere thank you for sending your children to camp and trusting us with your priced possessions.  We hope to see them back next year for our Performance Driving Camp which will bring their driving skills to the next level.  If you have any additional questions concerning your son/daughter’s next steps, please reach out to me and I would be happy to get you connected with one of our professional instructors to assist you.

Click HERE to view photos from Day 5 (PW: MMC).

All the best,

Danielle C. Wright

Teen Race Camp Director