Month: November 2026

IRDC’s Linda Blackburn Memorial Invitational | October 17–18, 2026 | The Ridge Motorsports Park

October racing in the Pacific Northwest is a gamble.

By the middle of the month, summer is usually a distant memory. Rain becomes increasingly likely, temperatures drop, race cars start getting winterized, and drivers suddenly remember all the things they promised their families they’d do once racing season ended.

So when the International Race Drivers Club (IRDC) decided to add a brand-new October race weekend at The Ridge Motorsports Park, there was some risk involved. But there was also a really good reason to try.

The Linda Blackburn Memorial Invitational, held October 17–18, was a new non-championship event sanctioned by ICSCC, with Friday testing hosted by our friends at Turn 2 Lapping. It gave Northwest racers one more opportunity to get on track, helped build momentum for the newly established Porsche & Ginetta Cup, and brought the club together for something it hadn’t done since before COVID: an IRDC year-end banquet.

And the weather? Well, we got lucky. After a damp start to Saturday, beautiful fall sunshine and cool temperatures gave us plenty of opportunities to make race cars go fast.

For Racer on Rails, we arrived with three cars, some new hardware to test, a new-to-us Porsche Cayman GT4 MR, and a whole bunch of reasons to be excited about what’s ahead.

Remembering Linda Blackburn

Before getting into the racing, we need to talk about the person this weekend was named for. If you’ve been around Conference racing for any meaningful amount of time, you know that the people who make our sport happen aren’t just the people sitting behind steering wheels.

Linda Blackburn was one of those people who helped make everything possible. I’ve been involved in Conference racing for somewhere around 15 years, and for as long as I can remember, Linda was simply always there.

She spent many years volunteering with Cascade Sports Car Club and the broader Conference community, helping with registration, timing and scoring, club administration, and the countless other responsibilities involved in putting on amateur road racing events. Her contributions stretched back many years, including receiving Cascade’s Outstanding Membership award in 2012.

Linda passed away in 2025, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of service to Northwest motorsports. What I particularly appreciate about naming this event after her is that it celebrates the work of somebody who spent so much of her life helping other people enjoy the sport.

We racers tend to measure our weekends in lap times, positions, and trophies. But none of that happens without the people handling registration, waving flags, managing timing and scoring, staffing race control, organizing the paddock, and doing all the work behind the scenes.

Thanks, Linda. And thanks to everyone who continues that tradition.

A New Porsche Chapter for Racer on Rails

One of our biggest objectives for the weekend was to shake down our newest addition to the Racer on Rails fleet: a 2020 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR, carrying number 109.

Earlier this year, we sold the Cayman GT4 Clubsport Track Day Edition that had been part of our program for the past few years. We’d purchased that car after it had been damaged, brought it back to life, developed it further, and enjoyed a whole lot of driving and racing with it. The #109 represents the next chapter in that journey.

We’re making a bigger investment in Porsche performance and driver development at Racer on Rails, and part of that means having the right equipment to support the programs we want to build.

For this car, the initial objective was straightforward: complete our post-purchase inspections, bring the maintenance current, address anything requiring attention, and get it onto the racetrack to validate that everything was functioning properly.

Longer term, the #109 is intended to become an important training and development platform for our drivers. We also want to have it on the grid throughout the 2027 Porsche & Ginetta Cup season, helping support the growth of that new series. But before we could start inviting other people to drive it, we needed to make sure we understood the car ourselves.

And, naturally, there was already a small adventure involved.

When we received the GT4, its steering wheel was missing two buttons needed to operate the car properly. Through our friends at Avants, we were connected with Paul, another Cayman GT4 MR owner, who was incredibly gracious in allowing us to borrow his steering wheel so we could validate the car and get it ready for the weekend.

That’s no small favor when you’re talking about specialized Porsche motorsport equipment. Paul, seriously, thank you! We couldn’t have done this weekend without your help, and we’re looking forward to returning the favor with simulator coaching with Tyler and some time together at the track.

It’s another example of something I love about the motorsports community. A shared passion for these machines has a funny way of turning strangers into people who are willing to help each other out.

Dirk’s Cayman: One Limitation at a Time

Joining us for Friday testing was my good friend and RoR driver Dirk Groeneveld, back in his 2010 Porsche Cayman Base that we’ve been developing for SCCA Touring 3 competition.

We’ve already gotten several test days and a full race weekend under our belts with this car, and it’s become a really fun engineering and driver development project.

One of the principles we’ve been trying to follow is that rather than immediately throwing the entire Porsche performance parts catalog at the car, we want to understand its limitations and address them methodically. Identify the current constraint, make a thoughtful change, validate the result, and then move on to the next opportunity.

At our previous weekend at The Ridge, we’d established that the first major limitation was the braking system, particularly the thermal performance and longevity of the factory rotors.

For this event, we installed DBA one-piece slotted brake rotors and fresh pads. Based on our prior experience with DBA products, we thought they might offer a meaningful improvement without immediately requiring expensive two-piece racing rotors or a complete brake system overhaul.

We also have additional brake cooling and PDK cooling upgrades in the works, but some of those parts didn’t arrive in time. That’s okay. We still had plenty to test.

Friday went really well. Dirk was running on used Hoosier tires and was already back into the low-1:50 range, continuing to build confidence and familiarity with a car that is proving to be seriously quick for its class.

Equally important, Dirk was spending time between sessions reviewing data, evaluating his driving, and helping us understand how the car was responding.

This was exactly the kind of Friday we wanted. Good pace, useful feedback, and more information to guide the next round of development. With Dirk looking toward a national SCCA Touring 3 program in 2027, every weekend like this helps us prepare both the driver and the car for what’s ahead.

Then Saturday morning happened.

A Coolant Line, a Deadline, and a Different Porsche

Saturday began with damp conditions for the first Porsche & Ginetta qualifying session. Dirk went out in his T3 Cayman, but with the track still transitioning from wet to dry, it wasn’t really a session for chasing outright pace.

Later that morning, Dirk completed his other qualifying session with an official best lap of 1:50.617. Unfortunately, when he returned to the paddock, the Cayman was losing coolant.

We traced the problem to a small cut in one of the coolant hoses. Thankfully, he made it back before the car overheated, but we now had a repair to manage and an approaching race start.

René and Bryce jumped on it, and we were able to source a replacement hose. Unfortunately, replacing the failed component is only part of the adventure on a mid-engine Porsche. The engine lives in the back, the radiators live in the front, and coolant travels through lines running nearly the entire length of the car. That’s a lot of opportunity for trapped air, and properly bleeding the system can be frustratingly time-consuming.

We established a deadline: if we couldn’t get the car fully repaired, bled, and confidently ready with enough time before Dirk’s next race, we weren’t going to rush it.

One of my principles when we’re supporting drivers at the track is that our customers aren’t spending all this time and money to watch their cars sit on jack stands. They’re coming to have a driving experience.

Of course, mechanical failures are part of motorsport, and we can’t always prevent them. But when we have an appropriate alternative available, and we’re working with an experienced driver we trust, I’d rather find a way to keep that person driving.

Dirk certainly qualified. He’s also one of my best friends. So when it became clear that his T3 Cayman wasn’t going to make the race, I offered him the keys to our new #109 GT4 MR.

The only wrinkle? Dirk had never driven the car at full throttle. In fact, the very first time he got to experience full throttle in the GT4 MR was when the green flag dropped for his first race.

🤣 Welcome to motorsport!

To Dirk’s credit, he approached the whole thing exactly as an experienced driver should. He was conservative initially, spent time understanding the brakes and power delivery, gradually built confidence, and avoided asking more of the car than he understood.

In his first Porsche & Ginetta Cup race, Dirk finished sixth in the Porsche class, recording a best lap of 1:45.772. That’s a pretty respectable introduction to a car he’d never driven at speed!

Then he went out again in Group C, this time competing in the ST class. He brought home the class win and dropped his best lap to 1:45.193. That’s more than half a second faster than his first race, while still learning an unfamiliar race car.

It wasn’t the weekend we’d planned, but Dirk got to race, we collected some excellent shakedown experience with the #109, and we all learned a little more about the car. That’s a pretty good recovery from a failed coolant hose.

Beyond the racing, one of my favorite parts of sharing these weekends with Dirk is simply getting to spend time together. We usually sneak away for dinner, reconnect as friends, and talk about our families, businesses, life, and whatever else is happening outside the paddock.

Those conversations have become an important part of our race weekends together. Dirk had family commitments that kept him away Sunday, but I’m glad we were able to make his Friday and Saturday memorable.

Silver Bullet Returns, and Anthony Raises the Bar

Our other car for the weekend was the #86 Spec E46, affectionately known as Silver Bullet, with longtime friend and RoR driver Tim Wisner behind the wheel.

Silver Bullet had recently received a fresh engine after a failure during our previous race weekend at The Ridge. We’d also taken the opportunity to refresh the car, so this weekend was a chance to validate the work and get it back into competition.

Friday went well, with Tim quickly finding his rhythm and getting down into the high-1:51 to low-1:52 range. Because of family obligations, Tim wasn’t able to participate on Saturday. Under the event’s race format, that meant starting from the back when he returned Sunday.

Tim came back ready to go and put together a pair of excellent Spec E46 races. He worked his way forward, finished third in class in both races, and had some particularly entertaining battles with Pete Bristow, someone he’s raced hard with before.

And the results show just how close those battles were. In Sunday’s first Spec E46 race, Tim finished 0.485 seconds behind Pete. In the afternoon race, the gap was even smaller at 0.430 seconds. Less than half a second separating the two drivers at the finish, twice in one day!

Considering this was only Tim’s second race weekend of 2026, with his previous outing back in June at Oregon Raceway Park, that’s some really excellent driving. He also participated in the SPM race group, adding more racing experience to an already busy Sunday.

But there was somebody else in the Spec E46 field who has been raising the standard all season: Anthony Lo. What a year this guy has had.

We’ve talked about Anthony’s development in previous race reports, and it’s been incredibly rewarding watching him continue to elevate his driving across Pacific Raceways, Portland International Raceway, Spokane, and The Ridge.

At this event, Anthony won both of Sunday’s Spec E46 races, turning fastest laps of 1:50.623 and 1:50.766. Those are seriously quick times for a Spec E46, and the most impressive part is that his performance isn’t confined to a single circuit or one good weekend.

He’s developed into a consistently fast, highly capable racing driver. And now we can officially celebrate something even bigger.

Anthony Lo is the 2026 ICSCC Spec E46 Champion!

He finished the championship with 261 points, having moved from fifth place in 2025 to the top of the standings this season. That also means Racer on Rails drivers have now won the Spec E46 championship two years in a row, following Robin Adrianse’s 2025 title.

That’s what’s up!!! 🏆

We’re incredibly proud of both drivers, and even more excited about what this says about the potential of the Spec E46 community.

The field at this October invitational was relatively small, but that’s not particularly surprising for a late-season non-points weekend. Looking toward 2027, we’re optimistic about the continued growth of Spec E46 in the Northwest, and we think there’s a realistic opportunity to see average grids in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 cars.

That would make for some really excellent racing, especially when you’ve got drivers like Anthony setting the benchmark and motivating everyone else to continue getting better.

The Porsche & Ginetta Cup Is Finding Its Feet

One of the biggest motivations for IRDC to add this October event was to create a second race weekend for the newly established Porsche & Ginetta Cup.

Steve and Rebecca have been championing the concept, with the goal of creating a dedicated place for Porsche and Ginetta owners to enjoy competitive wheel-to-wheel racing in an environment that puts a high priority on safety, respect, and having fun.

The series had only made its debut in August, but here we were two months later with 13 starters in Saturday’s first race, including eight Porsches and five Ginettas. That’s a pretty encouraging start, especially considering the event was being held in October, long after many people have already wrapped up their racing seasons.

I’m particularly excited about the opportunity this creates for owners of factory-built Porsche race cars. There are plenty of Cup cars, GT4s, and other amazing Porsche race cars around the Northwest, and I’d love to see more of them coming out to do what they were designed to do: race! Not just sit in garages, get polished, or show up for the occasional lapping day.

And the philosophy behind the series is one that I strongly support: race hard, give each other room, avoid contact, and have a great time doing it. I got to experience exactly what that kind of racing can look like on Sunday.

An Epic Battle with Michael Conatore

For Sunday’s races I was back in the #109 GT4 MR, and one of the drivers I ended up racing against was Michael Conatore, driving his #19 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.

We had a really entertaining mismatch between the two cars. Michael was on full racing Michelin slicks, while I was running Toyo’s new Proxes R tire, its DOT racing tire that replaces the Proxes RR. The Toyo is a perfectly serviceable racing tire, but it certainly isn’t a Michelin slick. And it was fascinating seeing how those differences played out around The Ridge.

Our GT4 MR was excellent through the medium- and high-speed sections, particularly Turns 1 and 2 and the transition toward Turn 3. The car felt composed and capable, and I could create some breathing room in those sections. But once we moved into the slower, more mechanically grip-dependent corners, Michael’s tire advantage really started to show itself.

In our first race, I got a great start and was able to put a few seconds between myself and the cars behind me while they battled among themselves. Eventually, Michael worked his way clear of that group. Then suddenly there he was in my mirrors, and he stayed there.

For lap after lap, I was working to protect the inside when necessary, maximize the GT4’s strengths through the faster sections, and avoid giving him an easy opportunity to use his superior mechanical grip to get alongside me. It was an absolutely fantastic race.

The deciding moment came on the final lap as we approached the Carousel. I’d been protecting the inside, and Michael finally decided to take a shot around the outside. He carried enough momentum to establish overlap, and as we approached the exit, I made sure to leave him room.

That put him on the inside heading toward Turns 8A and 8B. At that point, my tires were pretty well used up and I was struggling to put the power down cleanly. I could have continued fighting for the position, but I decided he’d earned the opportunity and there was no reason to turn an excellent race into an unnecessarily risky one.

Michael completed the pass, and we finished the race. The official timing sheets show Michael finishing fourth in the Porsche class, with me in fifth, just 1.150 seconds behind him after 15 laps. I recorded a best lap of 1:44.423, while Michael’s best was 1:43.456.

But the lap times and finishing positions don’t really capture just how much fun that race was. Afterward, it was handshakes, hugs, high-fives, and big smiles.

That’s exactly the kind of racing we want. We’d pushed each other hard, spent lap after lap trying to find an advantage, and both brought our cars home without contact.

In our other Sunday race, the positions were reversed. Michael got ahead early, and I spent most of the race chasing him. I could close the gap through the faster corners and sometimes get right up to him approaching Turns 1 and 2, but by the time we reached the slower sections, he’d use that grip advantage to create just enough separation that I couldn’t put together a clean pass.

We finished fifth and sixth in the Porsche class, respectively, with only 2.749 seconds separating us after 12 laps. Michael’s fastest lap was 1:44.481, compared with my 1:45.072. And I had just as much fun.

We learned a lot about how the GT4 MR behaves, its strengths and limitations, and what we might want to focus on as we continue developing the car for ourselves and our future drivers. Perhaps most importantly, we confirmed that we have a functional, capable Porsche race car that’s ready to become part of the Racer on Rails program.

A Healthy Paddock and a Club Coming Together

The Porsche & Ginetta Cup wasn’t the only part of the weekend that had me excited about the future of Northwest motorsports.

The relatively new Rush SR class was represented by a handful of cars, and it’s been fun to watch that community get established. The cars look like an absolute blast, and hopefully we’ll see more of them on the grid next season.

Meanwhile, PRO3 was doing what PRO3 has been doing exceptionally well for years: bringing a healthy field of cars together for competitive, accessible racing. Even this late in the season, they had a strong turnout and plenty of great battles.

And then there was Spec E46, still growing, developing its drivers, and building toward what we hope will be another exciting season in 2027.

I find it encouraging to see these different racing communities developing alongside each other. There doesn’t need to be one universal answer for what somebody should race. Some people love the simplicity of a lightweight purpose-built race car. Others love the familiarity and accessibility of a production-based BMW. Some want to drive a factory-built Porsche Cup car.

All of those are legitimate paths into the sport, and the more opportunities people have to find the right one for themselves, the healthier our community becomes.

But there was another particularly cool part of the weekend that had absolutely nothing to do with lap times. IRDC held its first club banquet since before COVID.

On Saturday evening, we gathered in the event space at The Ridge, shared a meal, caught up with friends, and celebrated several club members who had made important contributions throughout the year. It was great to see everyone together in a setting where nobody was worrying about their next qualifying session or whether their car would be ready to go back out.

I’ve been involved with IRDC for a long time, including serving as the club’s president for a couple of years, and getting back to these kinds of club gatherings is something I think matters quite a bit.

The relationships we build through this sport extend far beyond the racetrack. Having the opportunity to recognize people for their efforts, reconnect with friends, and simply enjoy being together helps remind us that we’re part of something larger than our own race programs.

It also felt especially appropriate during a weekend dedicated to someone who had spent so much of her life supporting this same community.

One More Weekend

When Steve, Rebecca, and the rest of IRDC decided to add another October race weekend, there was no guarantee that enough people would show up to make it worthwhile. The weather could have been terrible. Drivers could have decided their seasons were finished. Race cars could have stayed parked.

Instead, we got a beautiful October weekend full of great racing, driver development, mechanical challenges, new friendships, old friendships, and some pretty memorable experiences.

For Racer on Rails, we validated our new GT4 MR, continued learning about Dirk’s Touring 3 Cayman, got Silver Bullet back on track with Tim, celebrated Anthony’s championship, and had some fantastic wheel-to-wheel racing.

The Porsche & Ginetta Cup took another step toward becoming an established part of the Northwest racing calendar. PRO3 showed up in force, Rush SR continued building momentum, and Spec E46 gave us plenty to be excited about for next year.

We also had the opportunity to spend time with friends, enjoy the club banquet, and recognize some of the people whose dedication keeps amateur racing alive. And that brings us back to Linda Blackburn, because ultimately, that’s what people like Linda spend so much of their lives making possible.

The cars are the tools. Driving is the craft. But the experiences and the people are the point.

October racing in the Pacific Northwest might be a gamble. I’m really glad IRDC took it, and I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year.

Thank you to IRDC, Turn 2 Lapping, all the volunteers, our customers and friends, and everyone who made the Linda Blackburn Memorial Invitational possible.

See you at the track! 🏁

Photography by Peng Du, Karl Noakes, and Racer on Rails.

Official results and timing

October 17: Qualifying · Race results · Lap times.
October 18: Qualifying · Race results · Lap times.
ICSCC Spec E46 standings: 2026 and 2025.