Skip Barber 2-Day Driving School Thoughts?

If you go for one day, I guarantee you will be left wishing for another day. What usually happens, and the instructors at most schools will say this, is over night a lot of what you learned sinks in and becomes a little more natural the next day. Part of the benefit of multi-day schools is the tangible progress you make.

 

IMHO, take the two-day race school that puts your ass in a Formula Ford or equivalent--much more fun and education for the buck--and you will know a whole lot more about yourself when you are finished--like how big your balls really are!!!

 

Vik.
I did the 2 day drivers class at Lime Rock 2 years ago. Was a blast!
This spring i did the 3 day race school at Lime Rock again. Its addictive.
With the 2 day class you wont actually ever go out on the course. They have a figure 8 track, skidpad and basically a parking lot for braking exercises.
So really the track is of no consequence here.
Have fun.
P.s If you are booking this shortly before you go they will sometimes discount the rate to fill up the class. You just have to ask.

 

no need to think. just go.

 

Do a search there have been many threads. Have fun.

 

Barney, did the school there and he loved it(Trinacria is his user name). Send him a PM and I'm sure he will give you all the feedback you need. I believe he did 3 day open wheel.

Lime Rock is a fantastic track to hone your skills - lots of technical turns and not super high speed.

 

Definitely do the two day, you'll probably still end up wanting more. I think Lime Rock is a terrific track to learn on. You really need to get it right to go fast. Plus they have good Xcross and skid pad facilities as well.

 

Vik,

I think you have to make a distinction between driving school and racing school. Also, check out which cars they use, and if they use a mix of fast and slow cars. You don't want to end up with a lot of time in a slow car.

I did some research and came up with a two day racing school that exclusively used spec racer Cobras.

www.racingadventures.com

And definately take the two days.

I actually paid for a private instructor in the car (something they had never done before, but were happy to provide for $300 extra per day). That was the best move. You will get instruction during every lap, and not, like everyone else, at the end of ten laps from someone that stands at the pit exit.

 

Vik,

In a racing class you also get to do exercises like threshold braking. I'm afraid that you will be bored with a driver class. It is really a class you send your son or daughter to, when they are interested in high performance cars, but are lacking experience.

You already have the experience with a high performance car and are (hopefully) mature enough to stay out of trouble.

 

I considered the skip barber school, but was disappointed to find out that they did not use telemetry , nor lap timing (this accroding to the people I spoke with.) After inquiring to a few other schools, I found that only a few used either telemetry, or timing, and the rest relied on visual assesment by the instructors as a barometer for improvement, and a studen't inate competence on track; while that's sufficent for some, at close to 4000/weekend, I'd at least like some debrief time with data logging and analysis. If I were, I'd look into finding a school that utilized data logging/telemetry or at the very least, lap timing.

 

Derek Daly in Las Vegas utilizes 2 liter formula fords with a Stack data system. I did a five day school and a subsequent lapping day there. The five day school is one of the best vacations I've ever taken.
The data review with the pro between on track sessions was very useful. They plot your best lap's data against a pro's lap and show you exactly why you're 3 (or 12) seconds slower than they are.

 

Do it! I did it years ago at Laguna Seca and it was just great.

 

Rijk where did you get the picture of Jefferson Circuit? Is that you? I live about an hour from there- Summit Point is my home track.

But back to the subject- two days at a minimum would be my recommendation.

 

That's me on May 3 and 4. A present from my wife for my 50th birthday.

 

I have taken both the 2 day Advanced Driving School and the 3 day
Racing School at Skip Barber.

I would think that you would learn very little by taking the Advanced Driving School even if you have very little knowledge of "advanced" driving. That was basically my experience when I took that "class" about 10 years ago. The "class" may have evolved since then to include more advanced driving skills but I would still think that the "class" is not worth the money that you would pay.

I suggest that you take the 3 day Racing School instead of the 2 day Advanced Driving School. By taking the 3 day Racing School, you will learn much more about driving dynamics in the form of classroom instruction as well as in seat time(and seat time is essential to learn driving skills)

Moreover, prior to taking the racing school, I would recommend reading a basic book on racing such as "Bob Bondurant on High Performance Driving" or more advanced book such as "Going Faster"(by Skip Barber). The book will give you insight on car dynamics and allow you master the basic skills(such as heel and toeing) necessary to learn advanced driving skills or racing skills.

 

I also highly recommend that book!

 

I would add Carroll Smith's "Drive to Win". The best IMO.

Rijk- come back and drive Summit if you haven't already. We have FATT days and if you own a Porsche you can experience it many times during the season. If you own a Ferrari maybe twice(?)

A wonderful track- terrible food and even worse bathrooms.

Shenandoah will be ready next year...I currently have the lap record (set in a BMW X5) of 14 minutes 27 seconds (or thereabouts).

 

Yes. Nope. In some ways.

Remember, I took the 2 day Advanced Driving School 10 years ago. So the curriculum may have changed. However, reading the description of the school on the Skip Barber website tells me that essentially it is the same course.

At the time when I took the 2 day Advanced Driving School, I was a 33 year-old car enthusiast with no track driving experience. I thought I was an excellent driver and wanted to become a better driver. But more importantly or secretly, I wanted to learn how to drive fast or wanted to find our what it would feel like to drive like a race car driver. Some of the other people in the class were like-minded and but others were there because they had had an accident in the rain/snow and wanted to learn better car control. These were mostly middle aged men and women who wanted to learn skid control in slippery conditions.

The classroom session, for me, were not very educational since I already knew most of the topics from reading books which I already alluded to.

The driving portions were done in automatic BMW 3 series. We learned threshold braking(if I remember correctly, this was before ABS was widely available in cars), turning while braking, learning about oversteer and understeer, and skid control. The excercises for these skills were somewhat helpful to me but I wished that the speeds at which they were done were higher. The speeds at which they were done were not fast enough for me to learn from.

The best part of the School was at the last segment which was a short autocross race. The students were divided into teams and a relay autocross race took place. It was a very short course, lasting about 20-30 seconds to complete per driver if I recall correctly. Now if they offered the School with more of that kind of activity, I would recommend it heartily. However, I just found the entire school a bit slow paced and boring for me.

Now fast forward about 8 years and about a half dozen track events. I took the 3 day Racing School at Laguna Seca.
This course is what I envisioned the 2 day Advanced Driving School should have been. All the students were there to learn how to drive and control the car at a high rate of speed. Some already had racing experience(i.e. vintage racing or autocrossing) but most did not. All the students were male and most were younger than me.
The School provided classroom instruction which was straight out of the book "Going Faster!".
We spent more time in the car, perhaps as much as 60-70%.
The skills exercises included all the ones taught at the Advanced Driving School but performed at a higher rate of speed. There were some racing specific exercises such as passing, driving the correct racing line, etc.

What made the Racing School much better than the Advanced Driving School is that the exercises are done at a higher rate of speed, they are done for a longer period of time and they are done in a highly responsive car(a "race car"). Because the race car is much more reponsive and sensitive to the driver's inputs, it makes it much more clear that smoothness is important in driving fast. It also makes it more obvious what understeer, oversteer, etc
(weight transfer, vehicle dynamics) are.

I would have to say that it is about 20 times more fun and instructional than the Advanced Driving School.

In conclusion, the Advanced Driving School is for boys and girls.
The Advanced Racing School is for men.

If you could afford the 3 day Racing School and if you are a male with a pulse, I would strongly recommend it over a 2 day Advanced Driving School.

Ed