Mazda Rev It Up Performance Driving School and National Competition Synopsis

I attended the event at the Philadelphia Race Park on Sunday, July 20th. It was a clear, dry day... and it was hot. I rolled into the parking lot slowly, amazed by the vastness of the event - in sheer size, as well as in attendance. The parking lot was filled with personal vehicles of all sorts; ranging from the lowly Mazda 323 to a fine example of a late model RX-7, and even a rare BMW M1! My Volvo wagon almost fit in.
As soon as I got out of my car, I was greeted by the smell of burning rubber, and the sound of tires pushed to their limits. After registering at the main tent, I was informed that the event had various stages and activities. Of the stages, there were:
1. Chalk Talk (12:00)
2. Timed Competition #1 (3:00)
3. Timed Competition #2 (4:00)
4. Exit Survey

Chalk Talk was necessary in order to compete, and to take advantage of other activities, and that was just fine with me. Chalk Talk consisted of a trained driver giving us tips on how to use the car's pedals. *yay*
The timed competitions were electronically monitored and held on a pretty large autocross track marked off by cones. Each contestant's lap time was displayed and logged, and each score was posted on the big screen. Points were deducted for knocking over cones.

Now, between ChalkTalk, and each of the two timed competitions, there was plenty of time to do other things. Part of the event, there were what Mazda personnel called "Skills Clinics" These were three individual, smaller tracks that focused on certain aspects of driving that would come in handy during the competitive rounds.

The first Skills Clinic I went to was the slalom course. Lots of fun to be had there.
The second was the braking and handling clinic, which I skipped because the line was always so long.
The third and last clinic was the practice course, which had many turns similar to the larger competition track. Only catch, you could only attend this clinic twice. And they WERE keeping track.

There were other things to take a look at as well; the Mazda Drive Center, where you could test drive nearly the entire 2003 model line; the Go-Kart track, where, for a negligible fee, you could race Karts at speeds nearing 30mph; the MazdaSpeed display, where a couple of racecars, a MazdaSpeed Protege, and a modified Mazda6 were set up; the Vehicle Display, which was basically an on-site showroom; The Performance Expo, which actually had an RX-8 on display, as well as free arcade and X-box games; and the ESPN truck was there as well with all sorts of ESPN stuff inside.

The entire day was a good time, and well worth it.

My competition results are as follows:

First Name	Last Name	Score	Comp Class	Gender	Age Group	Natl Rank
MICHAEL	LYDEN	500.00	NOVICE	M	18-24	3893
Comp Class Natl Rank	Gender Natl Rank	Age Group Natl Rank	Location Rank	Comp Class Location Rank	Gender Location Rank	Age Group Location Rank
1718	3853	921	202	90	201	48

Also, the final lap time I had was 33.811 seconds, while my first lap was a 36.17. It shows a considerable improvement, but it's hard to say whether it was due to the skills clinics or familiarity with the track. My votes goes to the latter.