MPG Reimagined Track Days 2014 With Speakers, Sponsors and Speed
MPG Reimagined Track Days 2014 With Speakers, Sponsors and Speed
EVENT: 2014 Motor Press Guild Track Days
WHEN: October 14th -15th
WHAT: Joel’s report of the 2014 Motor Press Guild’s Track Days Event
The Motor Press Guild wasn’t kidding when it announced that its famed Track Days Event had been redone this year. As stated on the site:
MPG Track Days has been re-imagined from the asphalt up and will benefit members more than ever before. The Hilton Pasadena is the official hotel, with driving opportunities at the Rose Bowl and Willow Springs International Raceway
This year’s two-day event marked my fourth one as a member of MPG, the largest automotive media association in North America. Previously, MPG Track Days was spent, as the name implies, driving all day long on race tracks as well as slower venues like streets and highways. Vehicles were generously provided by the participating OEMs. The evening of the first day was then spent dining with fellow reporters, journalists, communications personnel and PR. All these elements were present this year, but in a radical different package.
This was especially true on the first day. The day’s agenda was split into two distinct parts. The first half was talks with guest speakers. Danny Shapiro, senior director of NVIDIA automotive and fellow car enthusiast, covered the computer hardware company’s involvement in the car industry.
And it is quite extensive. He discussed how NVIDIA’s GPU systems assisted in vehicle design, safety and fuel efficiency. Audi and Honda were just two of the automakers named who are involved with NVIDIA automotive. I found the talk extremely informative: modern cars are chockful of high-tech and will be so for the foreseeable future.
The second talk was on being successful in automotive journalism. Participants included Michael Harley (Autoblog), Micah Muzio (Kelley Blue Book), Michelle Naranjo (Autobytel), Mark Vaughn (Autoweek), and Chris Woodward (USA Today). While facilitator Sue Callaway, CEO of The AUTO 100 as well as a senior contributor to Fortune, kept everyone on track, the conversations meandered into some unexpected territories. This was especially true in response to questions on online media and “auditorials”; the latter, especially, invoked some very spirited discussions – and language – between the participants. I got a lot out of the roundtable and quickly applied the advice to the second part of the day.
That part was the vehicle drives. Up at the Rose Bowl, we drove sedans, crossovers, muscle cars, and many more on prepared courses and a short city drive. Because of the sheer number of vehicles and limited time, I applied Harley’s advice to focus when reviewing each vehicle. The results can be found here: Motor Press Guild Track Days 2014 Car Comparison
The first day wrapped up with games (driving simulator, slot car racing), a wonderful dinner and a great presentation by Chris Kersting, CEO of SEMA. Looking back now, I wish I had covered SEMA and that 3-D printed car.
The second day of the 2015 MPG Track Days was spent up in Willow Springs and the famous Willow Spring International Raceway.
I took the provided bus in Pasadena and slept pretty much the entire way. That left me well rested, which was a good thing since there were tons of vehicles, four routes (Big Willow, Streets of Willow, Off-Road and Street Drives) and roughly six hours of driving time. While many MPG members (including WTR founder MaryAnne) hit the race tracks, I focused strictly on the street drives. With each one taking approximately 15-20 minutes, I drove roughly a third of the vehicles available including the 2015 Mazda3, the all-new Kia Sedona, the redesigned Hyundai Genesis, and the Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid and the Highlander. Future posts will cover my impressions of each of them.
I spoke with various MPG board members throughout the event, including Russell Datz, who was chairperson for Track Days. The “re-imaging” of the popular event was made in response to membership suggestions and opinions. Personally, I liked the changes and look forward to seeing where MPG goes with all its events in 2015.
