fleadh

IMO the feedback and control you have in the openwheel school cars is better for learning than in numb street based cars. It's the best way to learn the things that you'll have to apply to any 4 wheeled vehicle on a race track.

-mike

roberga

http://youtu.be/bFIPNpQGU60

GO HERE!!!! The cars are way better you can throw in some karting and wine at night.

220HP, 465KG(total car weight), pull ~3g.

Larry Cable

what else are you interested in? Scuderia Hanseat, Manthey day. BMW Intl Fahrer School, VLN??

prg

+1 Open wheeled cars provide immediate reward when you get it right and reveal your errors as well. Sloppy street car suspensions cover up a lot of errors.

I realize that I'm in a tiny minority on this forum, but I love driving open wheeled cars. No sedan car can match the immediacy of a well set up open wheeler (or sports racer). Unfortunately for me, the fields are much better in spec miata in my area, so I really have more fun racing the spec miata than the open wheeler.

ervtx

The question was about "techniques", which I interpret to mean things like trail braking, throttle steering, threshold braking, recovery, heel/toe, short shifting, vision, determining the quickest line, etc... Strictly speaking, there's nothing in the differences between open wheel and road cars that prevent you from - or provide an advantage in - learning any of these techniques.

IMO, the reason that the Formula Mazdas might be a better learning platform compared to the MX-5 has a lot more to do with engine placement, Skip Barber's tire selection, and the absence of electronic aids: The engine is in the rear, which makes its weight transfer under braking, cornering and acceleration behave a lot more like a 911 than an MX-5 does. They use crappy street tires which have terrible grip. Combined with the lack of ABS and other aids, the lack of tire grip puts the car control onus squarely on the driver. So contrary to "immediacy" mentioned earlier, I believe it's the immediacy required of the driver - not the immediacy of the car that comes from the set up that makes all the difference. You could easily call the Formula cars' handling sloppy as well, but they make you pay for not compensating for that sloppiness yourself.

I do think that there are a few things to be aware of if commiting exclusively to the Formula cars as a learning platform... For example, unless you're driving a cup car or something else with a sequential gear box, the upshift/downshift techniques are not transferable. You can't skip over a gear in these cars Also, the open wheel cars place the driver an equal distance from both the left and right side wheels. If you can imagine the difficulty in placing specific tires at specific points on the track - when transitioning from LH drive to RH drive cars - then divide that half to get a feel for the same effect in transfering car placement techniques from an open wheel car to a road car. If you're driving within inches of the right hand side edge of section of track in an open wheel car, it just might translate into dropping a wheel in a road car at that same section. That said, differences in vision and visibility are easily compensated for with practice, and IMO, learning the sequential gearbox makes you a better H-pattern shifter in the long run anyway.

Different rationale, but same conclusion: I would pick the Formula cars over the MX-5's unless you plan on racing the MX-5's.

TRAKCAR

Anything we can show up with a rental (race) car.
or Porsche school maybe, but I think very $$??

I want to have all the dates in my calender, so when and if I have to go to Europe I can try to combine.
And the offer stands; If you wait for me and let me follow all the beer you can drink...