Intro to Motorsports

Welcome to our new teen race campers, Alex Cost, Alex Gray, Bear, Ethan, Jack, Nico, Nolan, and Teddy.  It was great to finally meet everyone face to face at the orientation.  Orientation in the gallery went smoothly, especially with all the amazing cars on display. The energy from the parents and the campers in the room was contagious.  New campers and their parents headed out in the Golf carts for a tour of the MMC campus before lunch.  After lunch, we headed over to the Kartrite for Lazer tag, ropes course, and to cool off at the waterpark!  These activities gave the campers time to get to know their fellow campers and roommates.  Once finished at the waterpark everyone headed back up to the sixth floor to get settled in their room, some of us had to wait a little later but we were able to go to our community suite room to get changed and leave our bags temporarily. 

We headed over to the MMC Clubhouse for dinner and to meet the lead instructors. Make your own pizza, salmon, chicken, salads, and French fries were served at the Clubhouse for dinner, and then make your own sundaes for dessert.   The evening at The Kartrite was spent at the arcade and playing Xbox in our community room.  Some campers chose to get settled in their rooms.  At 10:00 pm, everyone headed to their rooms for lights out at 10:30 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 your campers in action!

PW:MMC

Day 2 of Intro to Motorsports was awesome.  The rain held off, and the campers were in high gear at the karting track and off-road driving the BMW Minis.

The instructors’ focus for today was about assessing their starting point for each student and getting them comfy in a car.  The team worked on lead-follow and braking at the karting track to get an idea of their motorsports experience and help the instructors group each of the students by their pace and base skill level. In the BMW Mini Coopers, they did a mini slalom to get their eyes up and hands moving; next, they moved into a Mini threshold braking exercise to get them to feel the ABS and give the instructors confidence that they can hit the brake pedal hard and on command. A mini lane change exercise was also done for their basic road avoidance training drill.  A hard right left chicane followed by a threshold brake to lock the car down. They campers did well and will be receiving their driving profiles from their instructor tomorrow morning.

Dinner was at Albella’s, a local Italian restaurant with large portions.  The campers did not go away hungry. It was nice, and everyone had a good time. After dinner, we headed to the Kartrite to spend time in the outside quad area at the Kartrite playing a game of Corn-hole and kickball.  The night finished up in the meeting room with Xbox, card games, Connect Four, or Minecraft.  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 10:00; lights out quickly followed. It was a very successful day 2!

Be sure to check out the PHOTO GALLERY to see your campers in action!

PW:MMC

Wow! The weather was perfect today with full sunshine and lower humidity. After a hearty breakfast, the campers reviewed their driving profiles from Monday and were given time to ask their instructors questions about them. We tried our best to keep the campers hydrated and lathered with sunscreen throughout the day. 

The campers were in full swing driving the BMW Minis on the skid pad in the morning and on the south course track in the afternoon. The morning driving exercises were Hard Charger and Auto Cross, which took the skills they learned yesterday and put them into competition! It was the first time the campers were alone in cars and on the stopwatch. They got to test their skills on wet to dry transitions in multiple different skid pad configurations.  Once lunch was finished and they had time to digest their food, they did lead follow at the Mushroom and South Course, with an instructor in the passenger seat and a car leading the way to set the pace; the campers got their first experience on track in cars! The instructors slowly built up to speed and got them comfortable with our South Course.

The entire group, after their busy day, could not wait to get to the soft serve ice cream machine for a delicious treat in the clubhouse.  Dinner was at El Sombrero in Rock Hill, which was a couple of exits heading 17 East; good food and great discussions.  The evening events were left up to the campers as to what they wanted to do, and as a group, a few went to their rooms and the rest of the campers played soccer with some events at the arcade until it got dark. The evening wrapped up with Xbox and some Connect 4 games in our Teen Race Camp community room before everyone retired to their rooms for a good night’s sleep.

Be sure to check out the PHOTO GALLERY to see your campers in action!

PW: MMC

Day 4 was a huge success for the campers!  

The day started off as usual with an 8:05 departure from the hotel to the MMC Clubhouse for breakfast. All ate a hearty breakfast and quickly reviewed their Day 3 driving profiles.   The Skid Pad Kart Track and Manual Driving on the North track was dedicated for the morning portion of the day. The instructors tested the campers’ newly learned skills and fundamentals by throwing them on a new course on the skid pad with the go-karts! In addition, the instructors gave the campers the opportunity to experience a Race Spec Miata and row through all 5 gears on the north course.  All those who chose to drive manual did very well.

After lunch, the campers did lead follow in the BMW Mini on the north course   It was a new track to experience and gave them more time to build up speed in the Minis. Then back to the skid pad for a 3-lap qualifying for each driver into a 20-minute race to cap off the day!  To close out their driving day, all had some soft serve ice cream before heading back to the hotel to relax, shower or get a few water slides runs in at the water park before heading to the Brew for dinner with the instructors.  Wings, shoestring fries, and burgers were a hit, with the evening finishing off with s’mores out at the fire pits at the Kartrite Quad area. Campers retired early to their rooms to pack and prepare for an early morning room check before checking out of the hotel. The instructors are looking forward to an exciting last day utilizing all the driving skills the campers used from Monday – Wednesday.

Be sure to check out the PHOTO GALLERY to see your campers in action!

PW: MMC

Good morning!

It was so hard to believe that yesterday was the last day of camp; the time flew by so quickly.  Our morning was quite busy with room walk throughs, check-out and packing the vans.  Jack and Nolan were very consistent during camp as our deep sleepers.  Ross did have to key in to wake them up which they were very casual about and did a fantastic job getting ready in 15 minutes.

The campers had a great last day with the Race of Champions Competition.  Mother Nature was not on our side for the last portion of the competition at the karting track, but we were fortunate enough to get most of the race completed. The instructors developed driving challenges on the skid pad, the North Course and on the karting track to have the campers utilize all the skills they were taught Monday – Wednesday.  The campers were put into teams of two by the instructors and throughout the morning and afternoon went through multiple trials for each driving challenge.  We are happy to say each attempt made by the campers was improvement from the previous.

We were happy to see everyone at our closing ceremony.  There was a slight delay due to the intense rain and the campers needing to dry off and get into dry clothing ,but a 10-minute delay is not bad. Much appreciation to the parents for your patience and time.  The campers were so happy to know that when they got into the clubhouse their parent(s) were there waiting to see them.  Many thanks went out to our supporting staff, instructors, and the parents for all their efforts to make the camp a huge success.

The instructors presented the campers with their completion certificates, awards, and Race of Champion medals.  Congratulations to Alex Cost, Alex, Gray, Bear Freibaum, Ethan Lewis, Jack Marcato, Nico Von Bokhurst, Nolan Muir, and Teddy Caro in successfully completing our Intro to Motorsports Teen Race Camp.  Listed below are the campers who were awarded a trophy and the Race of Campion medal winners.

Smooth Operator Award – Nico Von Bokhorst

Most Improved Driver – Alex Gray

Cone Killer – Jack Marcato

Drift King – Alex Cost

Race of Champion Finishers – It was a close competition!

4^th – Alex Gray & Nico Von Bokhorst

3^rd – Alex Cost & Jack Marcato

2^nd – Nolan Muir & Teddy Caro

1^st – Bear Freibaum & Ethan Lewis

Thank you, parents, for entrusting us with you most valued treasure, your child.  Ross and I enjoyed getting to know your child and seeing the transformation of their capabilities at camp.

We hope to see everyone next year for our next level camp, Performance Driving, which will be around the first week of August.  Different for next year we will have our Level 3 camp – Competition Race Camp the second session which would enable campers to go from Level 2 to Level 3 for one summer if they chose to complete the entire Teen Race camp series.  Once we have the dates confirm, an email will be sent.

Be sure to check out the PHOTO GALLERY to see your campers in action!

PW: MMC

Be well and hope to see you at the MMC track soon.

Danielle C. Wright

Accounting Administrator and Teen Race Camp Director