Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 08:39:03 -0500 From: "Money, Jack (J.J.)" Subject: RE: [uuc] recommendations for drivers' schools? Gary asks: <> I attended the Bondurant 4 day Road Race course last May. It was awesome! As with all schools there are good and bad, but I really liked this course. If you are signed off at the end by your instructor you are eligible to receive an SCCA regional club racing license. There are other courses available without this option. Check out their website: http://bondurant.com. As for the school, like most other schools the instructors are either racers in one or many venues or were at some time. One instructor at Bondurant, who I did not get to meet as he was not there, was Mike Fitzgerald. For those that don't know him, he now drives for TC Kline in the Speedvision World Challenge (Touring Car) and also in a Porsche in the GT class (not sure of the team). I actually had 2 instructors (which was nice to have 2 different points of view). One was formerly a SCCA club racer who ran in SRF (Spec Racer Ford). The second was formerly a driver in Toyota Atlantic. Another instructor who I met and spoke with quite a bit drives a Firebird in the Motorola Cup, Charles Espenlaub. Ok, enough of the instructor background! The format was designed around maximum track time with intermittent classroom instruction. In 4 days I had 20 hours of track time (days were typically ~8 hours long with ~45 min lunches)! The classroom instruction was good and was an open format encouraging discussion and questions. There was also specific topics covered. Bondurant also does karting rental. If you feel up to it at the end of the day you can rent karts...either shifter or not as long as there is a space open. There was only one eve when that was available to me and I chose not to as it was the first day there and I was not only dead tired but I had a pretty good case of jet lag. The track format was broken up between 2 types of cars, a track prepared Mustang GT (yawn, a heavy pig with not much power) and an open wheel Formula Ford (this was fun!) We spent the first days track time doing exercises like heel and tow downshifting, late braking, cornering, accident avoidance, etc. We also spent some time in a skid car. Eventually they turn you loose on the track. The instructors only ride with you for a couple laps, other than that you're on your own. At first this was a bit disconcerting as most of the people in my group had never been on the track before (I had done 2 BMW schools) but everyone was well behaved and polite about giving passing waves (it was NOT open passing). Some schools limit the revs you can run until you reach a certain criteria. Bondurant does not do this, the format is "as fast you feel comfortable with". Some say the rev limit sucks, I have no opinion since I've never run a school like that. It might be good, it might not. I did like not having a limit but then again, I was one of 2 or 3 out of 10 that had any track experience. After 2.5 days in the Mudstains you then get into the FF's. They were great fun, a totally different car. It was amazing how much different they felt and handled. On the morning of the 4th day you do a mock race in the Mudstains. They teach you the flags and then you do practice starts. On the final practice start you start the race. It's generally 10-15 laps and it's a race. Open passing, go for it type racing. The instructors throw flags every now and again (and of course people go off course) just to make sure you are paying attention and understand how to react to them. It was great fun. I started 5th and finished 2nd behind a Porsche Club dude! Damn it!! ; ) As for the downsides, the track is very tight and narrow and speeds are generally pretty low. Tops in the Mudstains was ~90MPH and in the FFs maybe 110 depending on the gearing of your car. I realize this is not slow but compared to tracks that I've been to like Mid Ohio and Grattan, it was kinda slow. Most corners are tight too. It does make for good learning though. Obviously the Mudstains are not the best track car. They are heavy, underpowered, and generally not a great track car. They were still quite fun though, especially since it's not your car. As for upsides, everything else was great! Huge track time, great instruction, well maintained cars, nice facility, good location (Phoenix, AZ). Overall I highly recommend it! If you have any other questions let me know, I love talking about it! ; ) Hope you can do one of these schools, they are awesome! And yes, I did get signed off for an SCCA license.....not all in my group did. Jack Money Motor City Chapter iX Registry, E30 M3 SIG '89 iX ----> Sharked! '88 M3 ----> Track machine '87 M3 ----> RIP, parting out: mailto:e30m3parts@skumwerks.net http://skumwerks.net mailto:jack@skumwerks.net