A good friend of mine did one of these schools (at VIR, FA cars IIRC) with the Data Acquisition and he too said it was extremely illuminating as well.

Man, a dozen DE/lapping days, I wish I had gone to racing that soon and not spent the amount of time I did in DEs. Very envious.

 

My first race in the FM is this weekend. Remains to be seen if I am to be envied or pitied.
I'll let you know on Monday.

 

Where are you racing Patrick? I have a good friend that races FM here on the east coast - Bryan Watts. Races a Velocity Motorsports car. Tell him hi for me if you see him.

First race - just do whatever you can to keep your nose clean. The fast guys will find their way past you. Just concentrate on your race.

E. J.

 

I'm going to be racing at Hallett in Oklahoma. My primary goal is to keep the shiny side up and we'll see where that leads. My times in the practice days have been competitive with the local club racers. I can drive the car reasonably well. What I most lack is racing skills. In my one race (in a SRF) prior to this, I was made very aware of this. I couldn't get around the one guy in a world sport racer who was actually slower than me! Anyway, I'm really excited about getting started. Practice day tomorrow, race Sunday.

 

What he said Run your race and if they do come up, drive a consistent line, they'll have already made their determination where they're going, helping out is just staying where you are.

E.J., you run SARRC or MARRS Regionals? Were you at VIR back in October in a SRF?

 

I run both Adam. Mostly VIR. I am trying to get more races done this year. Its tough with a 7 month old. I was not there in Oct. I was there in the summer though. We ran the 4 hour EMRA race in NOvember at SP well until I ran over a cat, closed up the inlet to the radiator, overheated the motor and blew the head. Aww well. Thats racing - at SP.

 

At Hallett, the resident hazard is turtles. In the spring/ early summer, a young turtles thoughts turn to love and they cross the track. It wasnt a big problem with the turbo, but I'm not looking forward to hitting one with the FM

 

Ugh, getting some real greusome visualizations of the clean-up. I plan to be at all the ECRs from Lowes on (June) and I believe that is a double ECR at VIR again (and 2005 SARRC) in October this year. If you do the CCPS or ECR, see you out there.

 

I understand your point, and understand the issue with CC, but.....

I've been to racing school. I've given a lot of info to people considering it.

The thing of it is, most people don't have much useful information to base their choice of school upon. They are looking for a differential advantage of one school over another. Lacking knowledge of the instructors or not having a preference of track, IMHO data acquisition is a MAJOR differential advantage in choosing a racing school.

Hell, if I were chosing a racing school today it would come down to a decision between a track I really wanted to drive on and going to one that has data acq (but I'd stick with one of the 3 or 4 major schools). I don't know jack about Bondurant vs Skippy vs Russell vs Daly vs ?. OK, that's not totally true, but it's not true enough to make a solid decision.

I think most racing school students are in the same boat or have even less information. In such conditions, data acq can really swing the balance. And yes, I realize your said ONLY (bold, large font, in red no less), but the other factors may as well be non-existent.

 

I'll pile on here...
Amazing how hard it is to pass someone when you are 2-3 seconds a lap faster. It's hard work and it is racecraft. You will get it, I'm sure. When in doubt, hold your line and let faster guys/cars do the work. What is likely to be a new challenge is trying to see the other cars. As I recall, visibility from an FM is not much better than the other 'Wings 'n Things' (which is terrible). I have to check mirrors in corners to tell if someone is behind me.

Something I have done when there is really no one to race against is skip qualifying, or pull over as you roll out from grid. You start at the back and get lots of practice passing slower traffic in race conditions. It is good training and a lot of fun if you are the only car in your class, or no others have similar times.

Mostly, remember to have fun.

 

George, I agree with you 1000%. Data Acq would be a big decider for me in picking schools. But I also know how to drive and race. My biggest gripe is that most students at these schools will nave turn a racing lap. They could get much better and more practical and pertinant instruction at a school for street cars oreven in their own car with some real instructors. But schools like that are few and far between.

I will always say 1000% of the time if someone actually wated to race in the near future, save the big money from a school like that and do your local SCCA school and get your license in a rental car. Then go and race two more races in the same rental car and get your regional license - all for the same price as a high dollar school with data. None of those schools actually teaches you to race. They teach you to drive a race car. A student who actually wanted to race would learn tons more by going the SCCA route and learning to race (not just drive a race car) then spending $5000 to drive around a superspeedway in an aero car with data.

E. J.

 

Actually, an even better solution is to buy a 2 cycle kart and race every weekend for a year. Two would be better. When I raced karts I used to hear that a year of kart racing teaches you as much as 5 years of car racing. I used to think that was just karters trying to pump up their own image. But I have to say I really think it's true. There is so much to be learned in karting from driving to race craft to prep. It's a great training ground. Best of all, if you buy right (used, not new) you can turn around and sell your kart and recoup most of your investment after a year or two. Use that to pay for a school then, or rent a racer for SCCA school, or buy a used IT car. So many people seem to feel only shifter karts are worthy of their manhood, but a 100cc 2 cycle kart will shock them how fast they are.

Karting is the best learning ground and best bargain in motorsports.

 

Hey, good point there with the karting. I am a clydesdale though, so its not fair for me.

BTW - you can also almost get your intial price paid for a SRF two years after buying one.

E. J.

 

ColorChange - I suggest you attend a school where the instructor rides with you. Having done it both ways, it is very hard to get the fundamentals of smoothness, balance and "feel" across to a guy in a single seat car. If this means no data acquisition, don't fret. Learn the basics, there will be plenty of time to play with a Data system on your own car at DE's. Bythe time a DAS will make a difference you will aready be a good driver and the additional inputs will allow you to fine tune technique.

Best,

 

Did any of the club racing organizations (PCA, SCCA, POC, etc) recommend any of these schools for their club racing?