As in, I want to be a race car driver and I want to go to a school that upon graduation will give me the greatest recognition (on a CV) and will instill me with an education based more on becoming a racing driver, rather than simply learning "high performance driving."

 

All racing schools teach the basics. It is the amount of seat time that will produce a "race driver" not the school. Racing is very fundamental, it is the things you learn on the track, driving different cars, tracks,etc that will give you the recognition. Skill and a pocket full of cash will get you there faster that any school. Just because a person goes to a school does'nt guarantee you will be a race car driver!
I can speak on this as I have driven with "schooled" drivers and they have no advantage over me learning through DE events. I have passed several!

Bottom line it is the amount of windshield time not the lessons learned. You still must be able to employ the lessons and that comes simply from getting in the seat. Sman

 

If you want to be a professional race car driver who makes his entires living driving race cars (as opposed to a semi-professional who races professionally but has another primary income source), you're going to have a long row to hoe. The school you go to won't matter. In fact, if you want to go pro, you may end up attending two or three schools. None of them will give you recognition. Skippy has a development ladder that is pretty good. I can't remember the name of the big school in France (you schedule your school there in the states through Franam), but they have the Renault Elf Pilote scholarship. That is how Prost got his start. Kart racer Ron Emmick (son of Gary and Linda Emmick of Emmick Enterprises, a major US kart manufacturer) was the first (only?) American to win the scholarship that cam with a French F3 ride.

To become a professional (not semi-professional) it takes a totally single minded devotion to your cause. Forget having a life. Forget having a wife or girlfriend (unless they don't mind being a distant second in importance in your life). Plan to be dirt poor for 10 years, perhaps living in your car and buying new tires over food. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. It's a tough road. There are many extremely talented drivers without a ride while less talented (in some case much less talented) drivers have a regular ride. Money is the key. Unless your family can write million dollar checks for you on a regular basis, you're going to need to convince others (companies) to do that for you. Good luck.

There is a thread on the 944 forum about what it takes to become a professional racer. You might want to look at it. I gave it a serious look once, but I was 29 at the time and that was entirely too old to start. Still, I almost tried but came to my senses. By the time I'd have any hope of making it, I'd be of retirement (from racing) age.

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=102686

 

Geo, It doesn't sound if you will be doing the Parade in Ft. Worth! Or will you attend the Club Race event at Parade in 04?

I am considering the CR if they can get the cost figured out. I guess it will cost in addition to the Parade fee. Anyway if you do attend I would be interested in meeting up and shoot the breeze on your racing addiction.

I am wanting to try a "roval" so I am considering going to Texas Speedway. Dal

 

Well, I'm thinking strongly about it. My goal is to get the car finished by late spring. Work is going to have to cooperate there though. If I can get it done, depending upon the day of the week for the CR, I would very much like to go, even though I'll probably get squashed in my ITS car. I really am interested in going just for the fun of it.

As far as rovals go, Texas Motor Speedway's road course is pretty boring. The up side of going there is they really know how to host a race. It's the most fun we have at races. They do a good job. For a really good roval you only need go south about 3 hours to Texas World Speedway. I'm no fan of rovals, but TWS has an excellent road course that only uses the front straight. There is even a configuration that goes outside the oval and has elevation changes. Nice track. I can't wait to try out Hallett though.

I miss the "real" road courses. I grew up an hour and a half from The Glen and spent a lot of time at Mid-Ohio. There is supposed to be a new track being built an hour south of Dallas that is supposed to be both FIA and FIM homolugated. That would be nice.

 

I am caught up between trying a roval and going to the Barber CR for my Southern event. But Barber CR is on the same weekend as GPR CR at MAM.

TWS sounds like a different experience and that is my interest in the CR there. Not a ROVAL fan myself as well but I am not going to drive anything that can be raced like Boris Said will so I have to try out many tracks instead! lol!

But I am leaning towards Barber. Perfect track for an I class car! Which ever event cost less is the event I will attend. Regards, Dal

 

Driving schools, DE's
Tell me my theories are wrong
I will make my own

 

One of the instructors at the NASA race license school made a point that really sums it up well:

If you want to race, the first step is to get enough track time that you can drive fast under almost any conditions without having to think much about it. In racing, your focus needs to be on traffic management, position, strategy, and the condition of the car. If you need to think about how to drive the track, you will be eaten alive!

This seems to be a useful thought - its another way of saying 'seat time, seat time' and why you need it to be a safe racer.

We did a bunch of short races at the school - including having the NASA hotshoe instructors ******* and dive-bombing in their own cars. It was great! I got so damn wrapped up in keeping the lead in one of these races that I completely missed a 'test' red flag. I'm kinda religious about checking every flag station, and its one of the things I'll drill stundents on relentlessly. But the red mist missed the red flag. Just goes to show what a huge difference there is between DE and racing - in more ways than one.

 

Those pesky professional racer / instructors screw everything up. They aren't smart enough to do that because they keep letting fast lap times and winning get in the way of perfect theroies.

 

Man, I have been doing DEs for 17 years and boy do I feel safer racing SRFs in the SCCA than DEs in the past few years. At DEs you've got a bunch of guys in street cars with haphazard maintenance, home made safety devices and a bunch of guys who think they are race drivers.

Most of the guys I race with know we are slow. I guess you get to a certain point where safety is more important and knowing the skill levels of the guys you are on the track with makes it much safer.

BTW - seems pretty funny to only pick a school because they have Data acq cars. But you are the data acq king.

 

I did the Daly school. I know the current rennlist source of schadenfreude (sp?) is blasting Mr. Color Change on his data fetish, but I found the data review between sessions very helpful in getting up to speed and emulating the behaviors of the instructors. FWIW, I think I was well served by their approach. A data system certainly isn't the only factor in chosing a school or even the most important, but it was useful.

I've found reviewing the data in my car quite helpful as I am trying to get up to competetive racing speed with it. Having a chance to do it with a professional driver at the school taught me the basics about how to do this. My $.02.

Patrick

 

Patrick. Thats great and I am happy for you. I also have a data acq system in my race car. If you read what I said, you would actually see that I said:

I said its silly if you ONLY base your school decision on that. And I would argue 'til I am blue in the face that anyone without real experience has no business trying to figure out data acq at a school before they know how to drive the damn car. Not just CC, but any noobie.

There is a very steep curve that has to be overcome before the finer details can be flushed out with a data system.

 

Fetish is the key word. Data is a great tool - especially if you can overlay your laps with an instructor or fast guy. I have heard great things about Daly, largely because of the data, but, as you know. you need a balance between data and driving.

And the other thing you are pointing out, is that it often takes working with a pro to be able to make any sense of the data. You MUST be able to relate the data with what the car is doing.

 

Your giant red letter only is duly noted. (Some day I hope to be able use color on this here interweb.) I'm sure not trying to pick a fight here. I had about a dozen DE/lapping days before the school. I wasn't a complete noob, but I sure wasn't running in the instructor group at the DE either.

I'd argue that the data helped me not with the finer points, but with understanding and applying some big, fat, hairy points like threshold braking, trail braking, and transition to smooth and progressive throttle application. Having my lap overlaid with the instructor lap was helpful to me in acquiring these skills.