A perfect sunny day in the suburbs to test the skills of young as well as more experienced drivers was the right backdrop for the first 2013 driving event of the Toronto Section. Well known instructors Frank and Mary Alice Cozza, Paul Bailey and Terry Kiwala traveled from the United States to Toronto, Canada to sample some Canadian hospitality, food and to share their Defensive Driving skills with our group. Roy Kuck in his 1994 300E cabriolet and his grandson Zack Davis also joined us from New York State.
The weekend started on Saturday night with a magnificent buffet at the WokofFame restaurant. Early Sunday morning, the set up and cone arrangement got the event started off on time.
The Safe Drivers – Safe Families event was coached by Doug Dees, Norbert Egli, Lauren Howe and Harald von Langsdorff.
Both groups went through the classroom demonstration on proper seating, technical inspection of their cars including – the often neglected – tire check, followed by the driving clinic.
Collision avoidance and the slalom maneuvers completed the activities before lunch followed by figure eights and the grand finale of the mini autocross which was the highlight for all participants.
The Safe Drivers group met again in the afternoon to discuss situational awareness and were debriefed by Lauren Howe on what they’d learned during the day. Students also had a chance to give their feedback – to further develop the course.
Timing for the autocross resulted in the following winners.
Best Overall
- Michael Hoegl (DD course)
- Tristan La (SD-SF course)
- Marcus van Bers (DD course)
Women
- Joyce Hughes (DD course)
Young Drivers
- Tristan La
- Yida (Derek) Lin
- Kieran Fitzner
The afternoon ended with gifts of appreciation for our American friends who travelled to Toronto as well as prizes for the winners of the autocross.
The group retired to the residence of Toronto Section President Harald von Langsdorff to celebrate the successful event
with some fine wine & cheese thanks to Harald’s wife Gill and beer & pizza on the patio overlooking the nice country side and pond. Here the US visitors also got a good night sleep for their return the next morning.
Requests for a repeat of this event are already pouring in.
Thanks again to all the volunteers who made this possible. Including the Trillium BMW Club who generously offered us to use some of their pylons.
See the pictures here.
See the videos here.