Zaid

Got back from Skip Barber's 2-day driving school this weekend.

It was a blast! There was a grand total of 6 students: one 30's-ish autocrosser, a Greek 40's-ish Viper R/T10 owner who was pretty cool, a Ferrari-owning rich guy and his 17-year old son, a 16-year old who just got his license 2 weeks ago (and his dad, who was only observing and filming), and of course, me.

The weather was perfectly suited for each day. On Saturday, it was pouring down rain. We did oversteer recovery on the skidpad in the Dakotas, threshold braking in a straight line in the Neons, heel-toe exercises in the Neons, and trailbraking in the Neons. On Sunday, the sun came out, the sky was blue, the rain stopped and the paddock dried out. It was perfect weather for emergency lane changes in the Neons, autocross in the Neons, and an awesome thrashing of the Vipers in the autocross.

A tangent about the Viper: this is car is HOT on the track, and absolutely worthless on the street. I was surprised at how easy it was to settle the car down if you got out of shape. The steering is lightning fast, the brakes just never fade, and the tail, well, we know what the tail can do. Other points: the pedals are offset to the left to accomodate the gearbox, which meant that I was always hitting the gas when I was going for the brake. The shifter could just as well have been even with my head it was so high up. Getting in an out was a major chore for me, and don't forget to read the little warning on the bottom door panel that tells you not to burn yourself on the exhaust when getting out. A blistering fast car, but I would never buy one. I'll take a Z06.

Because there was one-third the number of people that are normally there, we all naturally got about 2x to 3x the driving time. I had an idea before, but it was confirmed that I just can't drive. My best times in the autocross were in line with everyone else, but my worst times were about 2 seconds slower than the next worst time. I just wasn't aggressive enough with the car (as evidenced by my instructor constantly shouting "More speed!! More speed!!") and I didn't hold the line consistently enough. I also really suck at heel-toe. I'm gonna need to spend a lot of time on that one. The biggest thing that I need to work on is my eyes and getting them to look where I want to go, rather than where I DON'T want to go (I was always checking out the fence that I was approaching at 75 mph.)

All the stuff that was taught is pretty basic, and if you've had 500 track days, you probably can skip the 2-day school and head directly for the 3-day racing school. But otherwise, I think a lot of people would benefit from the 2-day school. I want to take a few car control clinics next, and you have to have had at least the 2-day school to be able to go. You can also go after the 3-day racing school, but that's at least $1k more than the 2-day. There was a guy who showed up to watch on Sunday who had taken the 2-day, the 3-day and one car control clinic. He said that he got the most out of the car control clinic because in the 3-day course, it's very easy to get overcome by fear and not push as hard as you must to really get something out of it. That's not to say that I'm not going to do the 3-day. but I'm going to wait until I get better with handling the car.

Zaid

joshr

when i took it there were more like 20 i think.

UR-Idiot Savant-S6

Very cool, good write up.

Spin Doctor

Before that course, I thought I knew how to drive. What a joke.

Even after another school, I still consider myself a novice. It is very humbling and worth every penny.

Glad you had such a small goup. Thank god there is one more driver on the road with clue.