Tips on drivers school

I'm getting ready for drivers school in October, any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

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ahondafor?

Most importantly, find someone who can look after the car for you: You'll be busy enough looking after yourself, going to meetings and stuff, that you won't have time to keep track of air in tires and fuel. Let alone actually having any kind of problem...

Kirk

Joe:

Congratulations! I have just completed my Novice Permit and went through the school earlier this year. Let me see what I can put down for my thoughts:

1) Don't expect the school to answer all your questions. But, don't be afraid to ask all kinds of questions. My school didn't cover some key things (like "What do I do if I spin off track and am stuck in the gravel?" or "How does grid work?") and I had to learn just by following the leader and/or asking at the track (everyone is very helpful, especially if you start off with "This is my first time...").

2) How much experience do you have with your car? Do you have some seat time? How reliable has your car been through that? I only had help for 1/2 the first day of my school and was fortunate to have the car break then (just an oil cooler line, no big deal). If you don't have help and something breaks, people will offer to help (we had 12 corner workers and 5 other competitors offer) because they want you on track just as much as you do.

3) Relax and have fun. The instructors are there to help you and make sure that you are safe. My instructor kept telling me that I was doing well and I kept telling him where I was screwing up. He just said "Well, correct the problem!" and off he went.

4) Sign up for the 2nd school waiver. You have nothing to loose and they will refund your money for the second day. If you do well the first day and the car is in good shape for the second, run it for the seat time. There will be -NO- pressure the second day (if it's a double) and you can pack up at anytime.

5) Drink plenty of fluids. Start hydrating 2 days before the event. This is not a joke! It will help keep you fresh throughout the day and you will see others starting to get tired.

6) Get in the habit of always checking the flag stations. ALWAYS!! If you see a flag, a quick head nod will let them know you see it (not required, but really nice to do). The workers report to the Chief Instructor as well so, even though your instructor may not see something, they will.

7) Do not have to talk to the Chief Steward. However, if you should do something wrong, know what you did and admit it right away. Do not argue with him/her.

8) Have all your gear in order, know the GCR, and treat everyone with "Yes Sir, No Ma'am" type attitudes. Give them all the respect they deserve!

9) If you do do something not smart (I cut off a Neon and watched him going spinning at a high rate of speed), find the driver and talk to him/her. The Neon driver was very surprised that I came over and talked to him and we shot the, well, you know, for a while between sessions. He really appreciated me coming over, to say the least!

10) You will make mistakes. Everyone at the school knows that. They expect it. The key is to learn from them and move on. If you can do that, you'll have no problems getting through school!

Well, that's my highlights that I can think of. If I think of more, I'll post them.


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Bill
Planet 6 Racing
bill (at) planet6racing (dot) com

Joe,

Which school are you going to attend? I have plans to attend the school at Summit Point in my ITB Nissan. I have Flagged at drivers schools in the past, but never attended one. When I ask for advice about attending drivers school, the response mirrors Bill's reply, and they stress the fact that you WILL not have anytime between sessions to work in the car, you will need someone to add gas, check oil, tire's, etc. You will be either driving, sitting in a classroom, or talking to your instructor.

I have a friend who offered to help with the car, but he also wants to flag that weekend. If he feels he can do both, I will get a second crew member as primary and have him be backup.

Good Luck,

Todd

Great advice! I'm in the So Pac region and will be at firebird Int. It is a double school with a regional race on sunday.

What about tire and parts...how many and what to bring?

The car is great shape and strong. I have done one open track session and a ton of autox.

Thanks!

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ahondafor?

Always good to have a proven car at a drivers school. New cars and new drivers make a recipe for problems.

Tires... make sure you've got at least 4 tires with lotsa tread left. The first day won't be too hard on tires but the second day will. Especially if they start loosening up the reigns a little.

Bring the parts that whatever you're driving is known for breaking, and that one guy (your buddy) can replace easily. In other words, leave the spare tranny at home.

Remember, there's no 1st place in a drivers school, but a whole lot of morons go home wadded up http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/rolleyes.gif. Concentrate on why you're there and watch out for the guys around you.

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Scott
It's not what you build...
it's how you build it

<A HREF="http://www.pfmracing.com" TARGET=_blank> http://home.swbell.net/srhea66/PFMSigPic.jpg
www.pfmracing.com </A>

Tires and parts - it's like a race weekend, but with a lot more track time. I'd bring your best, cheapest racing tires (why burn the expensive ones when there's no trophy?), and all the parts you'd expect to bring on a racing weekend. You probably won't push the car as hard (at least at first), but you'll spend a LOT of time on the track. I think it's better to waste time loading and unloading your rig than to waste time sitting around the paddock wishing you had the part with you so you could complete the weekend.

Your auto-x experience is probably great background in car control, and the street school probably taught you to drive the line. I imagine that each region runs its schools a little differently, but...

I went to drivers' school pretty "green" - I hadn't even watched a race on TV in 10 years, and had only seen a handful of SCCA races. I found the school in SF Region to be pretty fast-paced and more of an overview of running in SCCA (and a ton of track time) than an education in how to race. They taught flags and rules and the line. Not much about techniques - for instance, they mentioned heel-toe and briefly explained what it was, but never demonstrated it. I didn't even understand the explanation until I was in the car and tried various ways of positioning the heels and toes of each foot and said "ah-ha! If I do it this way, I can rev the engine while braking! Neato!" I looked pretty dumb trying to clutch with my heel while braking with my toes - my feet aren't that big.

I think drivers' school would have been more useful *to me* if I had read some of the racing technique books before-hand, so that I knew what skills I needed to drive well, and got to practice them on the track.

The less preconcieved notions you have the better you will be! No habits are better than bad habits!

I went to my first drivers school with no more experience than 1) fast street/mtn driving and 2) Malibu GP. I still remember sitting in the floor of the motel room trying to figure out heel/toe shifting.
Try not to have too high of expectations of yourself. There will be someone faster than you and remember that the learning curve is different for every driver. You can only lose in drivers school and if the Chief Steward knows you on a first name basis after the weekend it is not a good thing. Take an experienced crew member with you and make sure that the car is reliable before the weekend begins. Oh yeah, Roger Penske will not be leaning on the fence looking for new talent and if you are like me, I was too old anyway. Now go have fun. And get ready for a life of addiction and dependancy.

One thing to keep in mind for people who's only experience is from HPDE events. A race school is just that, RACING. I may be stating the obvious here but you have to be able to prove you can race safely. That means assertive passing and not giving up ground on track. I made this mistake and was not signed off at my first school despite a considerable amount of driving experience.

You are not there to win anything but you have to kind of maintain the attitude that you are even if to a lesser degree.

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Paul D'Angelo
73 ITS CENDIV
Indy Region
www.iridiumracing.com

Quote:

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Originally posted by Joe Murray:
I'm getting ready for drivers school in October, any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

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Thats cool - I'm assuming your going to ButtonWillow. I will be there for the Solo2 event. This is a cool event of combining Autocross with road racing.

You should have lots of fun at the school. Last year it was plaqued with RX-pintos. http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/tongue.gif

Just remember to breath. Dont get to excited and hold your breath for 2mins.

Bill (planet6racing) has some great tips.
Have fun See ya out there.

I'll be driving my nearly completed ITB Probe. Look for a chick in a blue MOMO suit.

WOOHOO couple more days till we party!



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Toodles,
Stacey_B AOL IM: SCCAStaceyIB 1990PGL SCCA STSL "Girls Do It Better" Cal Club T&S, BWRP,WS,Lag,Hallett www.scpoc.com : www.probetalk.com Racing is my life. Winner One Lap of America 2003- SSGT2 class 1996 Ford Probe GT.

Watch the flags and your mirrors. That's a lot more important than lap times.

Actually Joe is doing the Firebird school in AZ. Joe just let me know what color and number the car is so I can find you guys Saturday morning. If there is anything else you need let me know. I'm looking forward to it, this is about my 12th school I've been to insome capacity, either as a driver(only two fortunatley) crew, or instructor.


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Sam Rolfe
TBR Motorsports
#85 ITC VW Rabbit
#85 GP Scirocco on the way
#11 GP Scirocco on the way

Thanks again Sam! The car is red with the number 16.
I will e-mail you soon with some other info.
Joe