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Thompson Speedway DE Recap – May 2026

Event Highlights

Thank you for joining us at our recent event at Thompson Speedway! This year marked one of our most successful gatherings yet. Not only did we host an outstanding Driver Education (DE) program, but the club also organized two special events to enhance the experience for participants.

Friday Special Programs

On Friday, Tim Canfield and his team led a Car Control Clinic designed for beginner drivers. Students were introduced to the fundamentals of car control and took their first steps toward sensory driving, laying the groundwork for safe and confident performance on the track.

Additionally, Sally Bean and Kristin Larson conducted our second annual Track Primer program. This initiative provided students with three on-track sessions: one session riding in the right seat with an instructor, followed by two sessions where students drove the track at speed, with an instructor accompanying them in the right seat. This hands-on approach helped participants gain valuable experience and confidence.

Memorial Day Weekend Tradition

Since the event coincided with Memorial Day weekend, we continued the PCA NER tradition of collecting donations to honor fallen veterans. As he does each year, Stan Corbett shared heartfelt words that reminded us of the ultimate sacrifice made by many. Our attendees responded generously, making meaningful contributions in support of this tradition.

Words of Gratitude

We would also like to share additional words from Stan, expressing his gratitude for your support and generosity.

Drivers and Guests,

The Memorial Day weekend DE at Thompson will have a special place in my memory. Your response to the Memorial Day Poppy donations was outstanding! You took Paul’s challenge to heart and your contributions to the Poppy ‘Sale’, which honors all service men and women that made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, raised $1,250, second only to the donations for 2024. I’ll turn the money in at the Northborough American Legion Post 234 Sunday, June 7th at our monthly meeting. Each year members of the post congratulate me for doing so well, but it wasn’t me that did this, it was all of you. Thank you all so very much!

You folks are ACES in my book!

Thank you,
Stan Corbett
MSgt, USAF, Retired

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Fall Finale At Palmer

The Northeast Region enjoyed spectacular weather for our end-of-season three-day event at Palmer Motorsports Park. We saw record attendance at this event with 170 cars (!!!) and over 180 drivers! That is absolutely incredible by any standard of measurement. And lest you think all those cars might cause congestion out on track – the organizers were right on top of it, making us all practice our “exercises” (point by to the left…point by over the roof to the right…repeat…) before hitting the track on Saturday morning. 

Speaking of teaching and practicing, we were lucky to once again have Lee Carpentier, pro driver and coach, to instruct many of the run groups during the course of the weekend. Lee’s sessions, with content tailored for each run group he addresses, helps us all improve in his very cheerful and humorous style. Lee also spent a lot of right-seat time with our instructors, helping to make sure we are all at our best.

As yet another special educational experience, Dr. Andy Kaufman, a PCA member from Syracuse (but a Boston guy to us since he went to MIT), a forensic psychiatrist, and coach to many performance athletes and business leaders, gave memorable and fascinating sessions about how to prime one’s brain for high performance driving by focusing on the mental side of performance using cognitive science. He focused on the two main stumbling blocks many of us face while high-performance-driving: focus and confidence. His qualifications and teaching experience (SUNY Syracuse) allow for a much deeper dive into the workings of the mind than might be typically covered by most coaches. Dr. Kaufman is mentored by Dr. Jacques Dallaire, author of some fascinating books about mental performance and coach to folks like Helio Castroneves and Patrick Dempsey from his office at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Dr. Kaufman led a session for the White run group on Friday and one for our advanced drivers and instructors on Saturday. He taught them “the three R’s” for maintaining focus and reducing possible anxiety. What are those three R’s? Luckily we’ll all be able to learn more about them next season as our head of DE, John Dunkle, has asked Dr. Kaufman to team up with Lee Carpentier next year to begin to develop some NER-specific programming. We’re blazing a trail in this area and yext year is going to be even better. Our DE team is really putting the “E” (education) back in “DE”. And the kicker – Andy lost third gear in his GT4 during the first session on Friday but stayed with us and did a great job. We hope his car is back out there soon.

If all that weren’t enough already, we had a live auction on Saturday after the track went cold and raised over $1,000 for Homes for our Troops by auctioning Porsche swag donated by Norbert Martel. The one item John Dunkle, auctioneer, wanted for himself – a 1/18 scale 2.7 RS – went for some serious money. We had a lot of laughs that evening.

Many thanks to all the people who came out for the event and huge thanks to the team that pulled it together and to South Shore Autoworks, the event sponsor. It really was a grand finale!

For anyone who wants to check out the track and see some great cars, don’t miss the big Porsche-only show, swap-meet, exhibition at Palmer on October 8th. You’ll even have a chance to drive the track (at parade speeds) to get a feel for how amazing it is. Come join us for what looks to be another great event!

 

John D. runs the auction in first-class style. But is a bit upset when the item he wanted was bid up a bit high. Great for our charity, Homes for our Troops – not so good for John!

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Bill S. has formed his own run group.

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Huge thanks to our event sponsor, Justin Becker and his South Shore Autoworks!

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Surely they are discussing the finer points of the line around Palmer’s track.

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914-6! And it’s fast!

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MSF Steps Up To Certify DE Instructors

We are lucky to have excellent instructor training for the Porsche Club. And our instructors are well regarded as being of very high quality. But, until recently, no third party has wanted to play the role of certifying DE instructors. The Motorsports Safety Foundaton (MSF) has stepped up and created a certification program with six levels to it. Ross Bentley, who recently came to Massachusetts for an instructor training course for NER, is also involved with this initiative. Read more about it >

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PCA’s Official Position On New Car Driver Aids For DE

Cars with Automatic Braking and/or Lane Drift Correction Systems / Lane Change Assist will only be allowed to participate in DE events if the systems can be turned fully off while the car is on-track. Proof of the ability to fully shut off these systems must be provided (i.e. information in Owner’s Manual, etc.). Drivers must be aware if the system reverts back to operating position if the car’s ignition is turned off and on again.

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