On Wed, 6 Mar 2002, Drew Palavage wrote:
> List, does anyone out there have any feelings/thoughts on any of the
> competition racing schools? (i.e. Bertil Roos, Skip Barber, etc.). I've
> always wanted to go to one and am thinking about it in the next couple of
> months..I see that at the completion of Skip Barber's 3-day course, one can
> apply for their SCCA license...You guys that race out there, what do you
> think of these programs? Thanks, Drew
I guess the answer really depends on what you want to do.
I have no direct experience with any of the schools, although I know folks
that have participated - I even know one or two instructors.
If your intent is to get an SCCA regional license, then taking one of the
multi-day schools is probably the best thing you can do. SCCA requires
that you have two schools before you get your provisional regional
license, and many folks just take two regional SCCA schools. In those
events, you merely learn where the flag stations are and how to react to
various flagging events and if you do okay, they sign you off. What they
don't do is give you personal instruction on driving lines, brake points
and stuff like that.
The Skippy B, etc. schools spend the time shoowing you car control and
brake points and apexes etc. and you get a lot of personal instruction.
So, if your intent was to get an SCCA regioanl ticket, taking a Skippy B
school would be way better in terms of actual driving. You'd stil need the
safety instruction of a regular SCCA regional school if you intend to
drive with SCCA, but if you don't intend to do that... why?
If your intent is not SCCA (or other organizations (like SVRA (vintage) or
whatever), then you'd have to check with that organization as to what they
require to get a license.
Now, if your intent is to just try driving fast, there are other options.
Many tracks have schools where you can learn car control and track
specific stuff. Several organizations like Porsche Club and BMWCCA have
track events that are more controlled (no wheel-to-wheel racing and
limited passing) and there are regional clubs that also hold solo-like
events, typically called time trials. Example organizations are Car Guys,
Performance Drivers Assoc., NASA, EMRA, COMSCC etc. To find these clubs in
your region, get a copy of the event schedule for your local track - these
will typically list what clubs have dates locked down, and typically have
contact information for the clubs.
In the Northeast, there's even a Corvair CLub that has track dates at the
Lime Rock Park track. I'll bet there aren't many Corvairs taking to the
track anymore - but the organization gets the dates at the track, so you
have to sign up with them to use it. Other regions have similar anomolies,
but I cannot cite any examples.
Bottom line - Skippy B. won't be a dissapointment to you. They run events
at a lot of tracks, this is a good thing. You can arbitrarily decide that
you want to vacation in NW CT (Lime Rock), or Wisconsin (Road America) or
CA and still take a SKippy course (at least I think you can run Skippy B.
at Sears point or Mazda International (formerly Laguna-Seca). Some of the
other other schools only get to a few tracks and some run only on one
track. But you get to learn a lot in the time that give you, and most
folks that I know that have taken the classes go out and buy a race car
when they are done becuase they like it so much.
Just do it!
I would if I had the money!
rml
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