ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion - I'm going to Skip Barber!

Just an update...a real long one:

I had a blast at Skip Barber. I went with 2 friends. We did the One Day Driving/Racing School combo.

We were in class for a total of 1.5 hours and we were out driving for 6.5 hours.

1st half of the day is the Driving School. We were in class for 1 hour. They taught us the basic stuff (ie. weight transfer, contact patch, skid control, threshold braking, trail braking).

The one thing I didn't really like about it was the introductions. You had to inform the class (16 students):
1 - Your name
2 - What you do for a living
3 - Where you live
4 - What you drive

I felt that it was an ego boosting bragging rights type of thing. Of course I went first because I was the first student to show up (1 hour BEFORE they opened. lol).

Let's just say, as an accountant, I was working a ghetto, minimum wage job. And let's just say, me driving my GS4 & CR-V is like driving a 1988 Mazda 323 to these guys.

There's a guy who just sold his C5 Z06 for a SRT-10 Viper and he has a C6 as well. This other guy had a SLK65 AMG, his wife drives a ML55 AMG and his daily driver is a S500.

Then there are your old school boys who have 60's muscle car that they work on as a hobby.

A few occupations were pretty damn impressive....Him: Heart sergeant, wife (who was also a student): Judge.

There were more lawyers, doctors, and investment bankers, than I can count.

After the morning class, we headed out and practiced three things that we were taught in class. Each event was 1 hour long:
1 - Wet skidpad run in Dodge Neon & Dodge Dakota. You drive around a wet oval between 35 - 45MPH. The instructor next to you then decides to pull the parking brake as you hit the turn and you start sliding at 35MPH sideways. Your goal is to recover and drive off.

The Neon was much harder to handle. The Dakota was much more predictable. I got the hang of it after a few spin outs in the grass. The Dakota was fitted with BALD tires in the rear to make sure you get no traction.

2 – Threshold braking. You accelerate a Neon 40 – 45MPH down a straightaway and you slam on the brakes and try to stop the shortest (they disabled the ABS). Kinda boring. But I did a burn out each and every time I started accelerate. I revved to 6,000RPM and dropped the clutch. Let’s just say there were LOTS of white smoke. To make things more interesting, I had the Parking Brake engaged when I did this so when I was doing the burnouts, the car wasn’t moving. Surprisingly, the instructors didn’t give a rat’s @ss about you abusing the cars. Actually, they promote it. But he did tell me not to do that as it was hurting my braking distance since the wheels were burning up by the time I need to brake.

3 – Autocross a small track (consists of up & down hill as well as increasing & decreasing radius turns) in a Neon. Then we got to do the course in the 500HP SRT-10 Viper. Man, that thing is the scariest car I’ve ever driven. Surprisingly, it’s handles VERY VERY well. But one wrong jab of the gas and you’re smoking the rears regardless of what gear you’re in. Like they told us “the Viper does the right thing VERY VERY well, however, it also does the wrong thing just as well”.

Then the instructors took everyone for a drive in the Viper. They were just drifting everywhere. I was amazed how these guys can drive so fast, yet so smooth. When they were drifting the Viper with me in the passenger seat with its rear wheels screaming. It felt SOOOOO smooth. These guys are AMAZING. Btw, all instructors are ex-pros of one type or another.

4 - Then all 16 students were separated in two teams. Each team of 8 students did a relay race in the Neon around the small track. Each student is clocked and the entire team is clocked. On the track there are about 8 cones (each informing us of where the racing line/apex of a turn is, etc.). Each cone you knock down is 2 seconds to your time.

Guess who was the fastest driver? I would had guessed the guy with the Vipers, AMGs, Z06s, M5s, etc. But guess what? It wasn’t. It was a guy who drives a GS4 & a CR-V. Yup, somehow, I got the fastest time! It was 23.71 seconds. The closest person was 23.78 seconds. Then everyone else was in the 24 & 25 second range.

After the relay race, we took 30 minutes for lunch. Right after lunch, we went into a classroom and the instructor explained more about heel & toe & more about the Formula car we were about to drive.

We then got in gear & we went lapping. We followed the instructors who were leading with a Neon. Let’s just say this……the formula cars can go 0-60 in less than 5 seconds and can corner at 1.3g. It has a top speed of over 130MPH. With it’s HP to weight ratio, it equivalent to about 700HP in a streetcar. Guess what? We had a pretty damn hard time keeping up with the instructors driving the Neons.

I’ve learned a VERY VERY important lesson. It’s NOT about the car, it’s about the driver. I can almost bet that in a track such as Lime Rock, if you give your average Joe a Maxima and you give your Skip Barber instructors a Neon, the Neon will probably beat the Maxima around the track.

We had three track sessions. Each session was about 6 laps or so (each lap is around 1.5 miles). Each pace car (driven by an instructor) would take 3 - 4 formula cars around the track. At each moment, there were 3-4 pace cars out in the track with 3 or 4 formula cars following it.

The first session was just getting used to the Formula car and the way it handles....and let's just say that it is NOT forgiving. There is no warning when it brakes loose. With the streetcars, you can feel it breaking lose, and if you’re lucky, you can save it. With the formula cars, when it breaks loose, it’s like a hammer. It just swings on you and you get panoramic views of Lime Rock.

Our first session was at 65MPH and lower. We got out and they spoke to us about what we’re doing right & wrong. Then we hopped back in for our second session. Guess what? It started raining. I was coming in too hot at the turn and got nervous. I quickly heel & toe downshifted, but I didn’t blip the throttle enough (needed it to get up to 5,000 RPM, but I just got it up to 3,500 and when I engaged the clutch, the rear wheels locked up for a split second and I went around 3 times before flying off the course into the grass (about 8ft from the guard-rail). At that point, the instructor & my 2 buddies left me. I got her back on the pavement and I played catch up. I redlined 1st and decided to powershift into 2nd. Well, when I did that, the rear just came around again!!! I went 540 facing oncoming traffic. Luckily, spotters saw me, and radioed the pace car behind me to slow down to give me time to back up and take off again. Again, I was playing catch up. As I went around the track, around the last turn (turn 7 or 8...I think they call it West Bend), I spun out again!!! This time, I was 3ft from the wall when I came to a stop. I bet the instructors were praying that I would come in the pits. Well, they didn’t have to tell me, I came in on my own. I had to get my seat adjusted as well as ask for a pace car. I later found out that I was still driving on the “race-line” line when all the pace cars were driving the “wet” line already. After my first spin, I had no one to follow, so I drove the racing line as I was taught. I didn't know there was a different race line when it rains!

Anyway, there were 3 other people who spun out. But they all spun ONCE. They were smart enough to slow down, I wasn’t.

After that session, the instructors said I probably broke the record….3 spins in a lap. They also offered me dramamine.

Our last session was the best one. The rain stopped. The track dried out. And the sun came back out. By now, they knew who the aggressive drivers are and who the cautious drivers were. Out of all 16 of us, my buddies & I were picked as the riskiest & most aggressive drivers. So, we lead the pack. We went a good 8 – 10 laps. With the pace car up front, we were no more than 5ft from its rear bumper. We were drafting the entire course. I was no more than 5ft away from my buddy in front of me and my other buddy was up my butt. Once the instructor sees that we got the correct racing line and that we’re tight together, he really began doing hot laps. His pacecar was squealing though the turns and he went all out. When he went in corners, the bodyroll of the Neon was crazy, I swore the rear inside wheel was almost off the ground. We were clocked at over 120MPH at the straightaway about 5 feet apart from each other. We LAPPED the other students at least once. And we LAPPED the slower ones at least TWICE during this session.

At the end of that session, the instructors were all surprised that the group that had 5 spinouts in one lap from the previous session somehow got everything together and drafted off each other. The other students who were not as aggressive told us that we lapped them twice.

Let me tell you something about drafting….it works! At one point, I was the last car and I slowed down too much for a turn. When we headed down the back straightaway, my buddies were drafting the pace car and they just started pulling away from me! Then when we reached the front straightaway, they were a good 8-10 car lengths away from me and I was about to be dropped. The instructor saw what was happening and he slowed it down a bit so I could catch back up to the pack. Once I was back, it was much much much easier to drive fast.

Anyway, to sum things up, we had a blast! Although the class is expensive, it’s worth its weight in gold. You CANNOT learn any of this by reading it in a book or a magazine. You can learn the concept (which I’m sure a lot of people know already), but the only way you can learn is by applying the concepts behind the wheel and practicing it. Another great way to learn is by sitting in a car when a pro drives it. I was SO amazed how they can drive so fast, yet so smooth. I can’t really tell when they transition braking to accelerating. It is just so smooth. And you can't feel them shifting. It is amazing how well these guys can heel & toe downshift

Just remember, it’s not about the car, it’s all about the driver!