Heidts Performance Car Challenge - Midwest

[Jim Nilsen]

Thankyou to everyone who made this event possible. I actually ran the brake pads of the right rear with all that track time, over eighty miles of hard full throttle and full brake running. The autocross was also a big blast of time that was more than we could all ask for.

If you missed this event you missed out on the most track time you could ever get for your money!!!!!!

[protour73]

Thanks to Wally & Jimi for putting together a stellar event. FUN - SAFETY - PARTICPATION were the key words for the entire weekend. This was my first event of it's kind for me. I can say that it was very professionaly run by Jimi and Wally. Everything went off without a hitch. This was an innaugural event.....next year proves to be BIGGER & BETTER, you NEED to attend if you weren't there this year.

As Jim said above, if you didnt get enough track time it probably means you broke !!!

This event was way more than just track time. The Road Cruise from Heidt's facility in Wauconda back to the hotel in Joliet on Friday.

ALL DAY at the road course on Saturday......THEN, the 1 hour Karting enduro with random teams picked, which was a freaking riot!!!

The Start-Stop Challenge on Sunday, as well as an AWESOME autocross course, which had a crapload of tracktime available too!!!

Above all of the fun car stuff was the car PEOPLE, I met new friends like Scott & Scott from Minnesota ......... together we were Scott CUBED!! LOL
As well as many others ....... people I have talked to for years online and finally got to meet in person like Mary Pozzi. People you never met before in your life were ready to help you with your car, help you with your driving technique, or just generally shoot the sh*t.

A shout out to the "Buddah of the Bullhorn" - Chad!!!! This guy kept the whole show going with his track information announcements and humorous banter on the bullhorn.......quite the funny man!!!

Again, all in all an awesome freaking event, and for my first event of it's kind a weekend full of unforgettable moments.

Oh yea......my car proved it's worth to me, everything worked, NOTHING broke and I drove the snot out of it. A best Road Course time of 1:28 - compared to a best time of 1:09, and a best Autocross time of 37.5 - compared to a best time of 32.xx. I thought I did pretty good for a first track excursion for myself and the car.

Again thanks to Heidt's and all of the other many sponsors and Jimi and Wally ( and your whole team ) at FM3 Performance Marketing!!!!

[James OLC]

Thanks to Wally, Jimi, Heidts, Autobahn Country Club, and the sponsors and volunteers who made this past weekend possible! The Heidts Performance Car Challenge was - by far - the best Pro-Touring event that I have had the pleasure of attending. The facility was second to none, the organization was excellent, and the execution was (as far as I could see) flawless. Everyone had a great time and it was really neat to see some of the people from the mid west who I hadn't met before.

Between the cruse(s), getting to the event, and the road course I think I put easily 350 miles on the car over the weekend - with almost 150 of those being on the track! (most of the rest were in generally crappy Chicago traffic and almost all of them were in 90+ degree heat but they were fun none the less). I think at the end of the day Sunday just about everybody had had their fill of the track and I am sure that nobody will look back on the weekend an think that they didn't have at the opportunity to run their car as much as they wanted.

The OLC worked great over the weekend - thanks in no small part to the new RideTech Triple Adjustable shocks (which I think we are getting very to having fully dialed in) and to our Baer 6R brakes (which saved my butt a couple of times). Stielow put on a clinic over the weekend on his way to the overall victory and it was great to see Mary win the invitation to the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational with her second place finish (you're welcome Mary ). There were some great runs by everybody and (as always) it was really cool to see everybody beating on their cars despite the heat (and a touch of humidity).

Great job everybody - without a doubt see you next year!

[66LS7]

I would also like to thank everyone at FM3 & the Heidts crew for making this a must go to event. The whole thing ran flawlessly, from the track, auto-x, & speed stop. I also would like to say that the Autobahn facility is one of the nicest tracks I've ever been to & the private garage owners on the grounds were more than happy to help out with car repairs.

[Bow Tie 67]

Smooth as silk, Wally and Jimmy Mucho Gracias. Thanks to all the event sponsors as well. I had a great time, meet some new friends, killed a few brain cells and a set of brake pads. I WILL be attending next year without a doubt.

[Heidts_Sales]

Racers and Participants:
Many thanks for participating in the inaugural Heidts Performance Car Challenge and for helping to make it the success it was. I trust a good time was had by all. On behalf of all of us at Heidts and our sponsors, we sincerely appreciate the positive feedback on the forums regarding the event. It was certainly fun watching all of you participate in all of the events that were planned for you.

Whether it was the great questions poised to our production team during plant tour, the shock and awe from the pedestrians as you passed through downtown Wauconda, watching many of you race 80+ miles over the two days and of course, Chad Reynolds keeping us informed, entertained and moving all weekend long, it was a pleasure to have you be part of our event. Other highlights included watching Randy Johnson working night and day, everyone surviving the go-carts, the Autobahn staff trying to clean the track after the WilStop event, letting an Autobahn member’s Porsche on the AutoCross course (which was an awakening for him) and the remarkable times and performances turned in by all of you, especially Mark and Mary.

Our plans are to make next year’s Heidts Performance Car Challenge at Autobahn even bigger and better. We are currently registering racers on the waiting list for next year’s event on the heidtsperformancecarchallenge.com website, as we confirm the date for the 2012 event (likely unchanged or September). Also, be SURE to invite your friends and fellow drivers to sign up for next year's event – judging from the number of first-time competitors at this year's event, there is plenty of interest in these types of events...but we need your help in spreading the word.

Again, we appreciate your support and are committed to grow this event to be one of the best driving experiences for our racers and participants. If you have any additional feedback about this event, or things you'd like have as part of the event in the future, please don't hesitate to let us know. See you next year!


Wal Leyshon
President/CEO
[email protected]
Heidts Automotive
www.heidts.com

[WallyFM3]

The results are posted at www.heidtsperformancecarchallenge.com
Thank you to all who attended!
Wally

[dunnjun]

Awesome track and awesome people = awesome event! Wally and Jimi, y'all always put on fantastic events, and this one was a blast. The Budda of the bullhorn always keeps things entertaining. Heidts, QA1, Nitto, Wilwood, Carbon Kustoms, and the rest of the sponsors, thank you for a fantastic weekend. I got to drive fast, pitch it sideways, and I met some new drinking buddies. You can't ask more than that. I'm definitely ready for next year!

[Jimi-FM3]

Originally Posted by dunnjun

Awesome track and awesome people = awesome event! Wally and Jimi, y'all always put on fantastic events, and this one was a blast. The Budda of the bullhorn always keeps things entertaining. Heidts, QA1, Nitto, Wilwood, Carbon Kustoms, and the rest of the sponsors, thank you for a fantastic weekend. I got to drive fast, pitch it sideways, and I met some new drinking buddies. You can't ask more than that. I'm definitely ready for next year!

Thanks Karl, it's our pleasure! Glad you had fun and we'll look forward to seeing you again soon.

[Stielow]

I would like to congratulate Mary Pozzi on her winning the invite to the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational.

It was a fun weekend at the Heidts Performance Car Shootout. I had a good time hanging out with old friends and meeting some new ones. I was impressed at this track event by the lack of drama. I’ve done a number of these track events and usually someone over does it and has a big off. I think our community has gotten much better at track events both as competitors and planners. This deal went seamless. It ran on time with no issues.

There were a number of cars that were running fast and getting quicker with each session. It appears the quality of the cars, preparation of the cars and driving skill are on the rise.

To Jimi and FM3 staff, it was a well run event thanks! To all the competitors I hope to see you at another event.

Now I need to go practice my AutoX skills if I’m going to get closer to Mary.

Stielow