Bondurant GP Racing School update
06-28-2016, 11:02 PM
#1
Race Car
Thread Starter
Bondurant GP Racing School update
The first two days have been really good. Depending on your skill level it might be a little boring though. There has been a lot of isolation and repition on heel/toe and on where you are looking. I could barely heel/toe when I got here and I didn't realize how bad I was at staring at the apex until I passed it. Now I'm spotting apex at brake zone then moving to track out and next corner upon turn in.
There were some mixed in braking exercises that were boring but they have an over/understeer contraption on a Dodge Charger that raises the front or rear tires almost off the ground. So they can induce under/oversteer at low speeds on an oval parking lot track. It was a blast. Especially the oversteer which was like trying to drive on ice.
We spent a lot of time on an oval section of the track yesterday and this morning working on constant and decreasing radius turns, heel/toe, and trail braking. Then this afternoon, we finally got on the other section of the track to really put it all together. Tommorow, we will get to drive the full 1.6mile course which combines the oval and the short track we were on today.
The Vipers are awesome cars. We are in a 650hp GT 2.0 MT. I've had the nannies off the whole time and they will get a little squirrly on you pretty quick. But the grip is amazing. We've worked a lot on trail braking to the point I keep expecting the rear end to swing out because I know for a fact in my C2 it would.
The weather has been around 110 but it hasn't detracted from the experience believe it or not. We've just had to manage our hydration but they let you drive with AC, windows up, down, however you want.
Here's a video of one of my better laps on the short track.
And here's where the instructor casually rips off a lap 3 seconds faster while going over where I need to improve.
There were some mixed in braking exercises that were boring but they have an over/understeer contraption on a Dodge Charger that raises the front or rear tires almost off the ground. So they can induce under/oversteer at low speeds on an oval parking lot track. It was a blast. Especially the oversteer which was like trying to drive on ice.
We spent a lot of time on an oval section of the track yesterday and this morning working on constant and decreasing radius turns, heel/toe, and trail braking. Then this afternoon, we finally got on the other section of the track to really put it all together. Tommorow, we will get to drive the full 1.6mile course which combines the oval and the short track we were on today.
The Vipers are awesome cars. We are in a 650hp GT 2.0 MT. I've had the nannies off the whole time and they will get a little squirrly on you pretty quick. But the grip is amazing. We've worked a lot on trail braking to the point I keep expecting the rear end to swing out because I know for a fact in my C2 it would.
The weather has been around 110 but it hasn't detracted from the experience believe it or not. We've just had to manage our hydration but they let you drive with AC, windows up, down, however you want.
Here's a video of one of my better laps on the short track.
And here's where the instructor casually rips off a lap 3 seconds faster while going over where I need to improve.
06-29-2016, 08:06 PM
#5
Race Car
Thread Starter
Practiced race starts and restarts today. Riding with the instructors when they did it was intimidating as hell. They were pushing their Chargers to the limit within 24" of each other. I'm a lot further from being ready for my first race than I thought.
Dropped the 3 secs of my time today to match my instructor's best from yesterday. They told me to forget about threshold braking and start braking earlier but much lighter to be more precise with trail braking and carrying speed into the corner. I was pretty amazed at how well it worked.
I did make the mistake of telling of telling him I matched his time from yesterday. He just kind of smiled and hammered out two laps 1 sec and 1.5 seconds quicker. Oh well.
All in all a pretty exhausting day with over 3 hours of open track time, half of it on the full 1.6mi track. Tomorrow is rear engine formula Mazdas. Now I'll have to adjust all of the neat trail braking stuff I've learned today since they obviously won't take it quite as well as the vipers. Should be a little closer to a 996 though.
06-29-2016, 09:15 PM
#6
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Glad to see you are getting seat time! Nothing makes you better than that. All the gizmos on a car without seat time don't mean a thing. Good for you!
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06-30-2016, 11:47 PM
#9
Race Car
Thread Starter
Great last day in the formula Mazdas. 1/3 of the price of the vipers but twice as fun. So responsive and rewarding to the right inputs and punishing when you get it wrong. Didn't grab any times just drove and smiled the whole day. Only ended up with a little over 2 hours of open track time which strangely didn't seem nearly enough.
I can't recommend the school enough. Great instructors, great cars, and a very well run program. Here's a quick synopsis of what I learned this week:
- Heel/toe shifting
- Greatly improved vision - looking much further ahead and trusting my peripheral vision for where I'm at
- car control, balance and managing weight transfer through throttle, steering and braking
- trail braking front and rear engine cars. Technically included in the last point but it made such a huge difference it's worth its own line
- how to carry more speed into the corner with less effort
- race starts and restarts
- how to tail the crap out of someone safely while still keeping your vision 4 seconds ahead
- and that free redbull and long driving sessions go very well together
And now I qualify for an SCCA racing license pending physical. Scary huh?
One of the highlights was watching Bob Bondurant (83yo) doing laps in his GT40 while we were on lunch break today. it was awesome.
I can't recommend the school enough. Great instructors, great cars, and a very well run program. Here's a quick synopsis of what I learned this week:
- Heel/toe shifting
- Greatly improved vision - looking much further ahead and trusting my peripheral vision for where I'm at
- car control, balance and managing weight transfer through throttle, steering and braking
- trail braking front and rear engine cars. Technically included in the last point but it made such a huge difference it's worth its own line
- how to carry more speed into the corner with less effort
- race starts and restarts
- how to tail the crap out of someone safely while still keeping your vision 4 seconds ahead
- and that free redbull and long driving sessions go very well together
And now I qualify for an SCCA racing license pending physical. Scary huh?
One of the highlights was watching Bob Bondurant (83yo) doing laps in his GT40 while we were on lunch break today. it was awesome.
07-01-2016, 12:02 AM
#10
Rennlist Member
Fantastic.
One day soon, I'll join you on the track..
One day soon, I'll join you on the track..
07-01-2016, 10:52 AM
#11
Great last day in the formula Mazdas. 1/3 of the price of the vipers but twice as fun. So responsive and rewarding to the right inputs and punishing when you get it wrong. Didn't grab any times just drove and smiled the whole day. Only ended up with a little over 2 hours of open track time which strangely didn't seem nearly enough.
I can't recommend the school enough. Great instructors, great cars, and a very well run program. Here's a quick synopsis of what I learned this week:
- Heel/toe shifting
- Greatly improved vision - looking much further ahead and trusting my peripheral vision for where I'm at
- car control, balance and managing weight transfer through throttle, steering and braking
- trail braking front and rear engine cars. Technically included in the last point but it made such a huge difference it's worth its own line
- how to carry more speed into the corner with less effort
- race starts and restarts
- how to tail the crap out of someone safely while still keeping your vision 4 seconds ahead
- and that free redbull and long driving sessions go very well together
And now I qualify for an SCCA racing license pending physical. Scary huh?
One of the highlights was watching Bob Bondurant (83yo) doing laps in his GT40 while we were on lunch break today. it was awesome.
I can't recommend the school enough. Great instructors, great cars, and a very well run program. Here's a quick synopsis of what I learned this week:
- Heel/toe shifting
- Greatly improved vision - looking much further ahead and trusting my peripheral vision for where I'm at
- car control, balance and managing weight transfer through throttle, steering and braking
- trail braking front and rear engine cars. Technically included in the last point but it made such a huge difference it's worth its own line
- how to carry more speed into the corner with less effort
- race starts and restarts
- how to tail the crap out of someone safely while still keeping your vision 4 seconds ahead
- and that free redbull and long driving sessions go very well together
And now I qualify for an SCCA racing license pending physical. Scary huh?
One of the highlights was watching Bob Bondurant (83yo) doing laps in his GT40 while we were on lunch break today. it was awesome.
Putting this one on my list.
07-01-2016, 03:03 PM
#12
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07-01-2016, 03:08 PM
#13
Race Car
Thread Starter
The King of Meme strikes again!
07-01-2016, 03:10 PM
#14
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U Da Man Slakker!!! WOot WOOT!!!
07-05-2016, 03:30 PM
#15
Thanks for posting this. I am going in August and it is nice to hear from someone that just went. I was a little unsure if the transition to Dodge changed anything with the course. I wonder what is going to happen when there are no more Vipers.