The DRT 2020 gathering began with two track days at Homestead-Miami Speedway. While Thursday greeted all participants with sunny skies, Friday ended up being a wash with nothing but rain throughout. However, there was a silver lining to Friday’s rain that made the entire day worth while.
Thursday’s sun-filled skies drew a good number of participants to the track and they were all greeted by the official DRT car, a beautiful 356 hand-painted by Todd Cook.
People started lining-up to register bright and early and the whole DRT team was busy getting everyone ready to get their track day started. People got their swag, filled out insurance forms and attended the customary driver’s meeting. Once the meeting wrapped up and everyone learned the track rules, people went to their cars and got ready to hit the track.
The day’s weather allowed the vast majority of people to go out on the track and burn some rubber. Among my favorite cars doing laps were a couple of GT2 RS’s and a couple of very cool 911 rally/safari cars. One wouldn’t expect a rally car to handle all that well on a race track given their high center of gravity, but these rally cars were slipping and sliding in true rally fashion. Who wouldn’t want to drift around corners at a race track?
The great weather also paved the way for Porsche NA to host the Porsche Driving Experience and take current and prospective Porsche owners around the track in the company’s newest models. After a brief driver’s meeting track-side, people go to jump in the driver’s seat and not only did they experience what it was like to drive a Porsche but also what it was like to drive one on a race track.
In sharp contrast to Thursday’s weather, Friday turned out to be dreary and rainy. Needless to say it proved to be a challenge for many drivers. Still, there were those adventurous enough to take their cars out for a wet ride. You could really tell who had experience driving on a wet track and who was out there for the first time. I loved seeing the 911 speedster tearing it up and absolutely loved seeing RMC’s 993 Ruf spit fire all over the place.
As the rain continued to come down, there were more cars in the paddock and parking lot than were out at the track. The Collection was kind enough to pull in a Taycan into the paddock for people to sit in and get familiar with and also let a couple of prospective customers take it out on the track.
Perhaps the coolest thing about having a bunch of cars in the paddock is being able to appreciate the little differences that exist from model-to-model. Whether it’s factory options that set a car apart from the rest or the after-market modifications that customers add to make their cars unique, it’s always neat to see these details up close.
I mentioned at the beginning of the blog that the rain on Friday came with a silver lining. I wish I could tell you all about it here, but I should really dedicate it a blog of it’s own, even if a short one. However, I will leave you with a little preview of what’s to come on the next blog.
Stay tuned!!!
Top Speed Journal 