(LONG) My thoughts on the Rennschule at Buttonwillow
07-16-2005, 07:23 PM
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(LONG) My thoughts on the Rennschule at Buttonwillow
First, let me say it was a great time, everyone there was very respectful and we all had a lot of fun and hopefully learned a lot.
It was HOT! I had a lap timer in my car, on the last day it got up to 123 IN MY CAR.
My Event was really 3 days, as I hired Craig Stanton to be my personal coach on the Tuesday prior to the actual event. My main goal over the 3 day period was to work on vision, Craig was very helpful in helping me to understand WHY vision is important, not just saying that is important, constantly telling me to look up, telling me where his eyes were while driving my car.
I spent a lot of time in the car with Craig learning the racers line rather than my line, another thing he taught me was that in racing (for him) his goal was to be the first one to unwind the wheel and be on the throttle. The man is simply humbling to drive with, so smooth it was unreal, I only knew when he downshifted because of the engine's timbre change.
The first day of the event was a lot of drills and going over fundamentals, we didn't spend as much time on the track as i would have liked at the time, but upon reflection that was not a bad thing. It was really drilling into us (much more drilling needed here) some of the technical aspects i.e. weight transfer and the theory behind it (reality i learned on my spin the next day).
We had a short autocross type drill (this was a blast), a braking drill (kind of boring, but well needed) which i never really did too great at, but learned a lot more about the braking capability of the car, which i think many of us underestimate as the majority of the group was too early on the brakes most of the time, and running short stints on the west loop trading between John Meffert and Craig in each person's car.
The second day we worked on more advanced techniques like trail braking and heel toe. Again this day was spent with Craig and John switching between cars throughout the day as both driver and passenger and teaching while in the car as much as out. We initally worked with the east loop in the morning and then about 2pm went full open track till the end of the day.
John Meffert is a phenomenal teacher: he is more of a theory guy, gets into the dynamics of the car, it's very, very interesting listening to him teach.
Craig Stanton is a phenomenal teacher too, though he is more of the viceral type if that makes sense.
It was a wonderful pairing of 2 great teachers.
I would highly recommend everyone on this board who wants it try and get something like the Rennschule set up for themselves or hire either of these 2 gentlemen as a personal coach for a day.
All in all it was a blast, i'm still sore and tired and i've rested since i got back late friday night (except for the 3.5 hours i spent cleaning my car from the spin into the dust)(I guess arctic fox can start calling me dusty again).
On a more personal note. I learned a lot, what i learned more than anything is that the gt3 is a car to be respected and learned slowly (at least for me). Even with the 3 days of professional coaching i am having a hard time transitioning from my e46 m3, i never felt quite as ambivalent or tentative in my m3 as in the gt3. Granted, i probably put about 35 track days on that car, so was definitely used to it and the gt3 is a car that is telling me i need many more track days before i am as fast in it as i was in my m3...sigh, i'm so impatient and want to be fast so quickly; which is why i bought to gt3, it's an excercise in patience for me, a hard excercise, but one that i am loving and enjoying.
Oh, and by the way, my vision is so much better now, i think i'm actually looking ahead at the next 1-3 apexes and turn ins about 60% of the time now (as opposed to 10%), and actually catching myself when i'm not (most of the time)
Hope this was informative and not just a ramble!
It was HOT! I had a lap timer in my car, on the last day it got up to 123 IN MY CAR.
My Event was really 3 days, as I hired Craig Stanton to be my personal coach on the Tuesday prior to the actual event. My main goal over the 3 day period was to work on vision, Craig was very helpful in helping me to understand WHY vision is important, not just saying that is important, constantly telling me to look up, telling me where his eyes were while driving my car.
I spent a lot of time in the car with Craig learning the racers line rather than my line, another thing he taught me was that in racing (for him) his goal was to be the first one to unwind the wheel and be on the throttle. The man is simply humbling to drive with, so smooth it was unreal, I only knew when he downshifted because of the engine's timbre change.
The first day of the event was a lot of drills and going over fundamentals, we didn't spend as much time on the track as i would have liked at the time, but upon reflection that was not a bad thing. It was really drilling into us (much more drilling needed here) some of the technical aspects i.e. weight transfer and the theory behind it (reality i learned on my spin the next day).
We had a short autocross type drill (this was a blast), a braking drill (kind of boring, but well needed) which i never really did too great at, but learned a lot more about the braking capability of the car, which i think many of us underestimate as the majority of the group was too early on the brakes most of the time, and running short stints on the west loop trading between John Meffert and Craig in each person's car.
The second day we worked on more advanced techniques like trail braking and heel toe. Again this day was spent with Craig and John switching between cars throughout the day as both driver and passenger and teaching while in the car as much as out. We initally worked with the east loop in the morning and then about 2pm went full open track till the end of the day.
John Meffert is a phenomenal teacher: he is more of a theory guy, gets into the dynamics of the car, it's very, very interesting listening to him teach.
Craig Stanton is a phenomenal teacher too, though he is more of the viceral type if that makes sense.
It was a wonderful pairing of 2 great teachers.
I would highly recommend everyone on this board who wants it try and get something like the Rennschule set up for themselves or hire either of these 2 gentlemen as a personal coach for a day.
All in all it was a blast, i'm still sore and tired and i've rested since i got back late friday night (except for the 3.5 hours i spent cleaning my car from the spin into the dust)(I guess arctic fox can start calling me dusty again).
On a more personal note. I learned a lot, what i learned more than anything is that the gt3 is a car to be respected and learned slowly (at least for me). Even with the 3 days of professional coaching i am having a hard time transitioning from my e46 m3, i never felt quite as ambivalent or tentative in my m3 as in the gt3. Granted, i probably put about 35 track days on that car, so was definitely used to it and the gt3 is a car that is telling me i need many more track days before i am as fast in it as i was in my m3...sigh, i'm so impatient and want to be fast so quickly; which is why i bought to gt3, it's an excercise in patience for me, a hard excercise, but one that i am loving and enjoying.
Oh, and by the way, my vision is so much better now, i think i'm actually looking ahead at the next 1-3 apexes and turn ins about 60% of the time now (as opposed to 10%), and actually catching myself when i'm not (most of the time)
Hope this was informative and not just a ramble!
07-17-2005, 12:09 AM
#3
GT3 player par excellence
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derek, nice write up. i really wish i could have been there!
your thoughts on e46m3 vs gt3 is right on and i am experiencing it the OPPOSITE way. i have about 40 day in a moton equipped 996c2 and 15 or so days in my GT3. i recently built up an e36m3 to track as well. i have to say, after only three track days in the m3, i am pushing it a lot more than my GT3 or C2. it's much easier to drive, pitch and catch. i don't like to pitch the GT3 into any corner ;-) i don't think i will be able to catch it! hopefully by switching back and forth b/n the two car, i can learn the dynamics better and become an overall smoother drivers.
when will you be on track again?
your thoughts on e46m3 vs gt3 is right on and i am experiencing it the OPPOSITE way. i have about 40 day in a moton equipped 996c2 and 15 or so days in my GT3. i recently built up an e36m3 to track as well. i have to say, after only three track days in the m3, i am pushing it a lot more than my GT3 or C2. it's much easier to drive, pitch and catch. i don't like to pitch the GT3 into any corner ;-) i don't think i will be able to catch it! hopefully by switching back and forth b/n the two car, i can learn the dynamics better and become an overall smoother drivers.
when will you be on track again?
07-18-2005, 12:27 PM
#4
Burning Brakes
Cool man. I was curious how it turned out.....
I met HolgerB yesterday at Infineon for the ALMS races. Cool guy. Also, I happened to mention your name....then your nickname DUSTY came out...I dunno why. LOL.
Glad to hear your teaching experience was a good one...I would like to do the same, maybe at Thunderhill when it is much cooler outside. Tim
I met HolgerB yesterday at Infineon for the ALMS races. Cool guy. Also, I happened to mention your name....then your nickname DUSTY came out...I dunno why. LOL.
Glad to hear your teaching experience was a good one...I would like to do the same, maybe at Thunderhill when it is much cooler outside. Tim