The wife came through and said I get to go to racing school as birthday present. I am thinking of doing the 3-4 day Derrick Daly Formula racing school. I like them because they have full data acquisition and they have a good reputation.

Any comments or other suggestions?

 

Went to Bondurant in AZ and loved it................

 

I would probably pick one of the Skip Barber schools...maybe Laguna Seca for example.

 

i highly recommend skip barber. the instructors there all awesome. Very patient and professional. they can hear what gear you on and what RPM too!!!!!! they also show u more than what u expected. i went to 3 days racing school at laguna seca skip barber and now i am even thinking of going back to the advance level. 3 days course is a must !!!!! you learn so many things during the 3 days and never get bored. lots of friends went there too!!!!

 

I just went to the Derek Daly school in October and spent five days driving one of their formula cars (basicly a formula continental made a bit stouter to withstand agricultural student driving and gearbox abuse). It was an amazing experience. Great instructors.

I went to a DE the day I got back. After driving an open wheel formula car, the turbo (that I used to think was the best handling car I'd ever driven) now feels wallowy on the track. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion compared to the formula car. Obviously the turbo has way more torque, but the cornering just isn't even in the same ballpark.

I'd highly recommend the Daly school. Great instructors. The cars all have a data recorder which is used to compare your lap to the instructors "ideal" lap. It lets you see where you lose time compared to the instructor. The only thing it doesn't show is errors in line. These are picked up playing follow the leader with the instructors. (I've attempted to post one of my charts from the second day of the school)

I spent the first 4 days on radials and the last day on slicks. They won't put you on the slicks until they think you're ready because they are a lot less forgiving and the car is set up with a lower ride height with the slicks. If you go off roading on the slicks, you will probably get to buy some new plywood for the bottom of the car as the runoff areas at the track are all very safe (no walls or armco steel) but they are covered with 2 to 4 inch rough stones which will chew up the bottom of the car at the slick ride height. If they think your borderline (and you don't mind buying a piece of what is probably the worlds most overpriced plywood), I would push to get on the slicks. The slick are 7 seconds a lap faster. It's as much fun as you'll ever have while fully clothed.

A bit of advice. I wouldn't make too many show reservations during your time in Vegas. The five 20 minute driving sessions a day will wear you out. (Especially if you are on slicks pulling 1.5 g 's!!) I was going out at night with my wife when I would have rather had a cold beer, room service, and a 10:00 pm bedtime.

 

Where can you find out more about this school?

 

Here is the website.
http://www.derekdaly.com/

 

Skip Barber all the way, awesome instrutors, great cars and great amateur racing series once you complete their school.

 

Buddy's point is a good one. Daly doesn't have any amateur series to race in if you want that. It does qualify you for an SCCA license. This wasn't really an issue for me. My local road race track's licensing requirement consists of giving them $35 and your licensed .

 

I did Panoz at Road Atlanta - thoroughly enjoyed it but had a very small class which made a big difference. A few well known WSC drivers in the instructor line-up made it fun too. Not an open wheeler, but great orientation and the instruction and prep was excellent. Can do it at a variety of tracks including Sebring!

I've also heard great things about Daly's operation too!

 

yap yap . u guys are right. skip barbar all the way. more professional racers went to skip. the first step to become professional racers in USA. u will never regrat

 

Besides providing excellent racing training, Jim Russell's
school is the only one I know of that allows real passing
during the track sessions. If you've ever taken a class and
been stuck behind a slower driver for your whole sesion,
you will appreciate this. To be able to knock off the whole
class and begin lapping the useless ones, *and be encouraged
by the staff* is priceless.

 

Thanks everbody. I have heard many good things about the names you mention but the biggest factor to me is the data acquisition. Everything else is just an opninion if you don't have it.

I heard that Panoz in Atlanta has data acquisition. Anyone use it?

 

PRG:

Please give me a rundown on all the goods and bads. Do they nickle and dime you for going offroad? Can you give me a detailed itnierary? Can you pass during lapping times if someone is slow in front of you? Please add anything else.

Also, looks like they were working on your braking, wanted you to get on it harder and later. How were your lateral g's? Do they have steering angle, throttle position and give you g-g plots?

 

re damages. Contractually they are within their rights to nickle and dime you, but they didn't while I was there. I went off road once with the slicks and damaged the bottom of the car. It was slightly damaged before I got it and thoroughly trashed after my excursion. They didn't charge me because it wasn't perfect to begin with. In short I think they were more than fair about the damages but don't count on not having to pay because you probably will. If you go offroad with the radials, it is unlikely (but possible) to significantly damage the car.

re itinerary. Day 1 "technique oval" you drive a approximately 1/8 th mile coned off oval in a large parking lot . Work on braking, trail braking, brake throttle transition. Also use a skid car which wasn't terribly useful imho to work on over/understeer correction. They also finish the day up with a lane change exercise is a Z3 street car( not super useful imho). You will get plenty of time in the formula car though. On the oval you only turn left. Your neck will be fatigued by the end of the day.
Day 2 consists of 5 x 20 minute lapping session.
Day 3 consists of 5 x20 minute session with multiple practice starts and passing exercises with the instructors.I did two more advanced lapping days. The itinerary on this was 5 x 20 minute sessions. I worked on passing technique with the instructor during several sessions. You could basicly work on what you wanted to during the extra days. Once you complete the 3 day school you can come back for advanced days in the future. I may do this next spring before the racing season starts at my local track here in Oklahoma.

re passing. Corner entry passing is only allowed with the instructors during the passing exercises. Student passing student occured only in the back straight with a point by. They would flag the slow guys if they weren't watching their mirrors. (This factor would favor the Russell school.) With 5 cars on a 1.8 mile track there really wasn't a problem with getting stuck in traffic.

re data collection. what you see on the graph is what you get. RPM, Speed, longitudinal g's. When you review the data you can look at any lap and any position on the track during that lap.

re my weenyesque use of the brakes. This plot is one from the second day. Wound up cutting 3 more seconds off over the next 2 days on the radials. The beauty of this system is that you can see exactly where the time is to be had. No guessing. No chance to BS yourself about your performance.

re the cars performance envelope. They say the car will pull 1.5 g's with the slicks. The instructors say it is a better handling car that the formula mazda (essentially the russel school car if I'm not mistaken) but not as powerful. The front wing is for show. The rear wing is functional. The highest speed are obtained in a big sweeper where the wing and a commitment to the throttle is what holds your back end to the track(most fun/terrifying) . If you haven't driven a purpose built race car before (I hadn't), the brakes are like nothing you've ever experienced. It takes a while to get used to just how late you can brake.