I had a great couple of events over the weekend. I found myself staying local for the first one, which was the final Ingram Experience of the season. It was hosted at the brand-new Ten Tenths Motor Club, which just opened this year, directly across from Charlotte Motor Speedway. This is a brand-new venue for not only the Ingram Experience, but for virtually everyone.
The new facility is stunning inside and out, and it offers the ability to host private events in the clubhouse, which has a gorgeous balcony overlooking the circuit. The track itself drives much like a winding mountain road, offering many challenges with all of its elevation changes and nuances. I will say it’s not a standard style road course. Rather, it really embraces that winding mountain road theme, and the Ingram participants loved every minute of the new challenges that this circuit provided.
I was so happy to have a successful first event at Ten Tenths. After all, you never know how it might go at a new place until it’s happening!
A glimpse of the clubhouse through the winding curves on track.
After wrapping our event at Ten Tenths, I headed to beautiful Lime Rock Park for a charity event hosted by the Whelen engineering group for their Racing for a Cure foundation. Racing for a Cure supports the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. With hundreds of participants on hand, it was truly a special opportunity to enjoy some great go-kart racing over a four-hour enduro. And all for a worthy cause!
There were many Whelen special guest drivers at the event, including the IMSA Cadillac GTP team and NASCAR regulars. Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch, and Ryan Preece were all on hand.
Team Mazda Motorsports represented!
I was excited to be teamed up with Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship drivers Nathan Nicholson and Ashlyn Speed. We had a competitive run throughout the four-hour contest, and somehow, through driving and strategy, we managed to win the event! Although it was all for fun, we will certainly enjoy having the bragging rights until next year’s event.
The event itself raised over $30,000, with more than 20 teams participating in the enduro. It was great to have such a strong camaraderie amongst the racing industry, as everyone came together to participate in a worthy cause.