Bob's right on the money about deciding what you want to eventually do with
your driver's training. As an instructor for the PCA and BMW clubs here in
Ohio, I really have to plug the club high-speed driver's ed as the most
affordable way of learning high performance driving techniques. You are
classed according to ability and bring your own street car. There are firm
rules about passing only when signalled etc, so your car is not in danger
of being knocked off the track because you didn't see another car. These
events have high safety awareness and you receive a lot of personal
instruction. The instructors are all volunteers, but for $150-$300 weekend
entry fee, you'll learn plenty and get a good amount of track time. These
schools very much focus on braking, shifting and driving the right line,
not racing skills.
All you need is a helmet (a recently-made auto racing-approved
helmet). The only issue with taking a TR6 is that most clubs require an
installed roll-bar in a convertible. If you want to drive with the top
down, you'll need arm restraints too. If you want to avoid the whole
issue, fit a hardtop. Each club has its own rules. In addition to PCA and
BMW club events, Alfa and Audi clubs also run track days here in my area.
Bob also mentioned a few more clubs below.
Rather than start with a pro race school (unless you want to run SCCA this
season), start with a few club schools. If you are a novice at track
driving, this is a good way to learn what to do quickly in a safe
environment. If you want to race, starting at the club level for a year or
two really sharpens your driving skills first, then you can learn more
about racing and race craft at pro or SCCA schools. Learning to drive and
race at the same time is certainly possible, but I think it takes longer to
learn both crafts well and is certainly more expensive (pro school fees or
race car rental).
If you start at the club level and then go to a Pro school, you will really
getting your money's worth out of the pro instructor because you'll be able
interact at a higher level (which is really what separates the fast racers
from the slow ones..getting that extra tenth of speed in the corner
etc). If you do the pro school first, you'll be learning just the basics
in that first school, and club or pro instructors are both pretty capable
of teaching the basics. Learning those basics is certainly more affordable
at the club level.
I'm basing my opinion on how I got into track events. I started doing club
driver's ed in 1996 and did my first pro school at the Mid-Ohio School in
2000...I really learned a lot from the pro instructors because I had the
basics down already. I was planning on heading to SCCA IT, but 2 kids and
the need to buy a race car/trailer/tow vehicle got in the way. For $3,000
bucks, you can buy new tires every year, do 6-8 weekend events and pay for
a few hotels/meals.
Oh, and it's a real blast too, at whatever level you choose to participate.
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Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 11:39:06 -0500 (EST)
From: "Robert M. Lang" <lang@isis.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: racing schools
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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William Whitmoyer
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