"giving clients what they need"

Hey, Nic again!

Well this has been another week of racing...club racing. I headed to Daytona for a PCA (Porsche Club of America) event with Kinetic Motorsports. Kinetic has a very solid club program we run for our clients that bring their cars to our shop for tune-ups and performance upgrades. We transport their cars to/from the race tracks and provide track support with our same crew guys that support Kinetic's KONI Challenge Grand Sport (GS) program.

One thing my partner, Russell Smith, and I decided from the very beginning when we started Kinetics was to give the "club guy" the same experience as a pro racer. It's always a challenge because we're supporting cars that are owned by someone else and most not have invested in spare packages as pro teams do, so you always have to be very inventive in case something breaks or there's an accident.

The most important thing is that our clients learn something every time they come to the track and that they have fun and are safe. I think as pro drivers we are very fortunate to do what we do and some forget to have fun a lot of times. At the end of the day, life is short and we need to enjoy what we do and appreciate what we have.

We also need to remember how important the fans are, and that's what makes our sport work and enables us to do what we do. Why I say this is because every time I go to a club event it reminds me about how passionate these club drivers are. There are a lot of guys that just show up with their open trailer, a small tool box, an extra set of wheels and drive their race car...now that's commitment and passion! So, when I see this, I sometimes go to them and tell them how fascinated I am about their dedication to driving in the club event. They seem to really appreciate it and normally come back over to me at some point over the weekend to chat and ask about different things. It also reminds me of when I starting out racing myself. It was a lot of hard work, but if you want something bad enough you always find a way and you don't think it's a big deal. To me this is very important, not just from a business aspect with Kinetic, but also to give something back to the sport that has given me so much. I enjoy being able to help people that have always had the passion to race, the opportunity to live that dream.

On another note we are making progress with our new KONI Challenge GS car back in the shop. Now that the season has finally come to an end, the guys can focus on getting the new cars built. This is a very exciting project for us at Kinetic and we can't wait to shake the cars down to see what potential they will have.

On a personal note, my son Max getting bigger and driving mommy bananas at home when I'm out traveling. He's a good boy but definitely challenging mom's patience. I get to be home for a few days before I head out for the last race of the year on my calendar, Laguna Seca in the Northern part of California. This is a beautiful place with a lot of vineyards and great restaurants. It's always a pleasure to come back to Laguna especially because it is one of the most spectacular race tracks in the World.

Well, I better get going, have a great week!
Your friend, Nic