Racing school recommendations?

June 14, 2008 9:04 PM

Help me find a good racing school course!

I'd like surprise my boyfriend with a racing course as a gift for generally being all-around wonderful. He's got his SSCA racing license, but I think he's still a novice until he completes a couple races (hopefully his year). He's done well in the races he has competed in, and has a formula car of some sort, but I don't know if he would be considered "advanced". What would be some good options in the US? Preferably someplace where we can spend a weekend, and bonus points if there are intro classes for me too.
(Posted here because he already reads all the racing forums, and anonymously because he sometimes reads Mefi too).

posted by anonymous to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 comments total)

I've never been, but a couple of weekend vintage car racers have told me Bob Bondurant is very good.
posted by arse_hat at 10:17 PM on June 14

Evolution performance driving school. (Warning: movie with sound will automatically start playing)
posted by jclovebrew at 11:28 PM on June 14

Just some information here:

A novice in racing terms is defined as someone who has participated in less than (number depends on governing racing body) races. No course will remove the novice status, just more race entries.

I think that, if he is already racing, you will have to aim high with the courses. Most courses for racing are pretty basic and aimed at people that aren't already in it. If he genuinely wants to improve, a Jim Russell or Skip Barber school courses are one of the most suitable, although in-depth racing tutelage is pretty hard to find. These courses (available at most of the large circuits) are the best bet, and regardless of what sort of racing he is after, the single seater/open wheel racing schools generally are aimed higher than the 'come and drive around a race track in a road car' type schools?

Where abouts are you? (mail if you like) and I can find the nearest track to you with a good course.
posted by Brockles at 12:01 AM on June 15

I have attended a couple in the Atlanta area- Road Atlanta and the Atlanta Motor Speedway. There is one down in West Palm Beach FL. that offers up Z06s (Corvettes) that I have wanted to check out. Seems like they have lessons geared for both of you. Most of the schools I have been to take into account the experience level of the driver and adjust accordingly.
posted by bkeene12 at 8:30 PM on June 15

First of all, you rock as a gf. I'm jealous. Second.., well I second what Brockles is saying: your boyfriend is already beyond most of the base-level "racing school" courses. To get some good benefit, go for something more advanced, like this. Note the price -- you're talkin' $3000+ for one weekend. Another option is to sign him up for a few HPDE/PDX events ($150-250 per event) as a way to get more "seat time", which is really what he needs at this point.

Here's a Google search -- be sure the course in question isn't touted as an "intro to racing". Also, SCCA-accreditation is irrelevant at this point, as he already has his novice license.

(Just for reference: in the SCCA, you have to complete 2 schools to get your novice permit. After 2 completed races, you can apply for your regional license.)

I'd like to suggest an alternate idea: a data acquisition system. I have a Traqmate and love it. It uses a GPS to record your sessions, so you can see where you're slow and need to work more and, just as important, where you're fast and don't need to change anything. You can even compare your laps to some hot-shoe on the internets (e.g., NOT ME) and pick up some tips on where to shave seconds off. The Traqmate Complete is the one you want. It's not cheap, but for around $1000, it's like an on-board racing coach. If that's not expensive enough for ya, get the integrated video recorder system bundle for around $2100 and make cool on-board videos, complete with graphics showing speed, Gs, etc. -- great fun to watch!

(No affiliation to Traqmate, just a happy customer. Feel free to MeMail me.)
posted by LordSludge at 8:39 AM on June 16

LordSludge has a good suggestion - the Skip Barber stuff is pretty decent. Also, the Roebling road location for this one would be pretty good - Roebling is a decent track and very safe and so easy to concentrate on the driving without worrying about the proximity of the walls....

Basic lessons in car control are always good if you have a decent instructor - too many people just have halfway decent driving skills and hop in and do 'ok' and think they are most of the way there. Often a few fundamental bad habits create issues that are harder to shift the longer you have them. Having the balls to just relearn everything from scratch and understand that a racing car is a very different animal to anything else they may know how to drive is the best attitude to have. No matter how good someone thinks they are as a driver, they will always have a lot to learn - even the best are constantly learning. As such, any in depth course will be of use, the better the reputation, the more use will be got from it. Also, once he has completed some sort of basic course - even if it is just to confirm that he has the basics right before going any further - then one to one tuition is the way to go. There are various ways to do this. The most expensive is to rent a test day in a professional teams car and have an engineer working with him, in the middle is a one-on-one course as above.

A more simple way to do this is by testing more. Racing is not the best time to learn technique and driving, and can be expensive in terms of actual seat time. A lapping day where he can drive his own car at a track and start with the basics (learnt from the school) and just experiment in a structured method may be good value for money. These can be relatively cheap and in 30 mins on, 30 mins off sessions. The next best thing is to take a driver or engineer to the track with him to coach either by spotting or working with data/telemetry systems. If he doesn't mind taking instruction from some young kid, the professional drivers who are around the 19-21 age range always need extra money and can often be extremely knowledgable. They may even be local to the track for cost effectiveness.

While telemetry systems (as suggested in that same answer) are the best way of training drivers (I use them extensively in the driver training that I do) there is an awful lot of knowledge required in interpreting the data - just working out what is fast and isn't is a fraction of the story. Understanding the vehicle dynamics and what inputs and techniques the driver needs to use to get the best out of the car are a minefield of experience and technical knowledge. Consequently, you can be shooting in the dark an awful lot with knowing what to look for, and accurately diagnosing the cause of a problem (technique, line, car set up, circuit conditions etc) may cause a lot of going around in circles. Especially if the driver is a massive variable through lack of experience. Changing one thing may make the problem go away, but it will not necessarily fix the real issue. There is a reason that racing is damn difficult, after all.

I think it may be possible to get a halfway decent engineer/driver/coach to work on someone's own car for something in the region of $400 or so a day (plus expenses) - especially if he gets an up and coming driver who is hard up for cash to help him... Being as he is after the basics and good, solid early learning this may be the best solution. When picking a driver to do this, choose the one that doesn't have rich parents but does well anyway. Especially if he isn't in the best team. Generally, these are the ones that think about it a lot more as they don't have all the breaks that the rich ones get... Something to consider. Hell, if I'm not doing anything, I might even be talked into that sort of money.

Something else for him to consider - I can almost guarantee without even knowing or seeing the guy that he is not fit enough. Once he gets the basics done, he needs to hit the gym. Stamina and leg, wrist, shoulder and neck exercises are key. Racing is more demanding physically than most realise. In addition, the mental requirement to accurately analyse what you are doing and change it while driving is extremely high, and even the slightest fatigue can affect it. If he feels in the slightest bit affected (sore arms, legs or even out of breath) by driving he is a long way off. I expect my drivers to be able to do two consecutive days of driving 6 hours a day and not be tired if they want to be competitive. As a hobby, this is overkill, but the fundamental aspect is the same - any lack of fitness will affect his driving.

Anyway, I could write a book on this, so I'll shut up. Suffice to say, the racing school is only one small part of getting more out of this hobby. There are some excellent books on the subject to be read - try Carrol Smith (although they are a little out of date in the tech areas) and Ross Bentley's book is very good. Once he has a good basis, there are many, many, cheaper and more effective ways to learn than working up the racing school ladder. But testing is better value for money than racing in the long run. Well worth remembering that. My drivers typically do 16 full days testing before they even see a race and we always significantly out perform the other drivers in the early races.
posted by Brockles at 6:49 PM on June 23