Bondurant's Four Day Grand Prix Racing School...

I wrote a series of posts on the Scottsdale Exotic Car Club website about my experience at Bondurant's Four Day Grand Prix Road Racing School...here's what I wrote:

Day One

The staff is really helpful and knowledgeable. Most requests by folks in the class were answered with a "yes" or "let me check in to it for you". The group sizes are perfect. My group is three people which gives you plenty of alone time to try to figure things out (or develop bad habits) and also plenty of instructor time as well. The day moved along well, with a good balance of classroom and car time for a first day (I expect to get much more car/track time the next three days).

We started out with introductions. Then a tour of the facilities. Next, things really got going as we all piled into 2 Bondurant vans and hit the Bondurant Track. I think it was really eye opening to folks to see how the big, bulky vans could be made to perform on the track by an experienced driver. Lots of laughing as people struggled to come to grips with the speed we were carrying into and out of corners. No one got too car sick. Next we paired up with instructors and went out in the instructor Caddy's to learn a few things about heel-toe shifting. After that, it was our turn to grab our own Corvettes and give it a try. There was plenty of time allotted to get it down...including the instructors jumping in as passengers to give some pointers. We went back to the classroom to debrief and learn some more stuff. We all piled back in the vans for lunch...just down the street at Jason's Deli. After lunch, we spent a few minutes in the classroom discussing how to get into and out of corners. Good information on brake markers, turn in points, apexes, exit markers, how to trail brake, how to steer with the brakes, how to roll back on the throttle, etc. Then, we hit the track to apply it. This was a second gear exercise so there wasn't any shifting to deal with. As with the heel-toe exercise, plenty of alone time as well as instructor direction. This time, my instructor rode around with me, gave me some pointers verballly then jumped into the driver's seat and showed me what he was saying. After doing circles for about 30 minutes (I think...lost track of time) it was time to go do the accident avoidance course. This is where you are driving up to 3 different lanes at 45MPH and the instructors tell you which lane to chose at the last second (at least it feels like the last second...it turns out that they show the lane about 4 car lengths in advance) via red and green lights at the end of the lanes. After that, you do a braking exercise to get the feel for emergency braking. Finally, we wrapped up with another heel-toe shifting session which seemed to go much better than the morning session since there was time to reflect on what was going on (at least for me).

Tomorrow we get some more classroom...some more parking lot...and then we finally hit the track. So far, my impression is that the Bondurant class is an excellent way to build driving confidence and skills whether you are on a track or on the street. Highly recommended. More to come!

Day Two

Okay...I'm finally recovered from Day 2 (it's now the end of Day 3) at Bondurant. Day 2 starts out with a quick classroom session and it's out to the paddock to the skid cars to learn more about oversteer or understeer and how to control them on the Maricopa oval to finally put together the heel-toe shifting, trail braking, hitting turn in points, apexing, exit points, and all that. The skid car is an outstanding contraption that allows either the front or rear to be raised off the ground inducing either a push or breaking the rear end loose. The instructor starts off showing you what will happen and what to expect. Then it's your turn to drive and go through a series of exercises controlling the oversteer or understeer. The concept of weight transfer gets applied in the real world and you get to see the effect of braking or getting on the throttle. You even get to experience a full spin (and get to learn the credo "in a spin...2 feet in"...meaning push in the clutch and brakes if you're spinning to a. stop the spin and b. to save the transmission should you go backward...don't want to go backward with the transmission in gear). Next, is the Maricopa oval to put together all of the things learned the previous day. It takes some time to string all of the ideas and techniques together but you eventually get it. There is plenty of time to practice...you end the exercise having plenty of seat time to get it down.

After lunch, it is finally time to open up the track somewhat. There is some classroom time going over the track, break points, shift points, turn in points, apexes, exit markers, drive lines, etc. The chalk talk sessions don't make 100% sense...you really need to be on the track to see what needs to be done. Once on the track, you get to experience it with the instructor. Then there is a session of lead/follow so you can see the lines that the instructors take. After a number of laps following the instructor, they turn you loose. It is both refreshing to be going as all out as you can and frustrating that you mess up 90% of the things you're supposed to be doing. There is plenty of track time...probably about as much as you can stand while continuing to drive safely. You also get a few ride alongs with the instructors. They'll sit in the passenger seat and see what you're doing right and wrong (more wrong than right early on day 2 track time). Then you swap seats and they take you around showing you what you should have done and how it would feel. As embarrasing as it can be to have someone ride along with you...it is absolutely the best instruction time. I should point out that at this stage, you're still not using the entire track...the Maricopa oval is closed off. This is primarily to keep the speeds down...but it is also in use by some other classes too. So, let's say you start out blowing 90% of the tasks at the very beginning of track time...by the end of the day, you're probably messing up 10-20% of the time (this is definitely a big generalization...results will vary depending on aptitude, adaptability, and skill).

Stay tuned for Day 3 comments!

Day Three

Day 3 is all about track time. There's no boring classroom stuff (well...just a few minutes to go over the track layout and a debrief after lunch before heading back out). The morning starts off where Day 2 left off. You hop in your Corvette and start getting back into the flow of the track with some lead/follow with the instructors. This doesn't last long and before you know it you are dicing with just the other students. As with the prior day, you get at least one ride along with an instructor to see how you've progressed. By now, your speeds should be coming up, you should have heel-toe downshifting mostly sorted, you're hitting your corners reasonably well, and your vision is starting to get farther down the road. My impression is that having a night to sleep on things really helped prepare me for the track on day 3. After a while of running around the shortened track (i.e., with the Maricopa oval blocked off)...they go ahead and open the oval part up and you're up and running on a 1.6 mile, relatively technical road course. By opening the oval up, you get to run through some fast sections on the front (the straight) and on the back (as you exit the oval). On the straight, top speed in my fairly beat down Corvette was about 92-93MPH. On the exit of the oval up to turn 7 on the back side of the track, top speed is in the 83-84MPH range...I think it can be faster but it'd take some guts...if you don't get the car stopped, a shift done, and get it pointed in a different direction in time...you'll be taking a little off road adventure. I have to say that the fun, excitement, concentration, and excitement levels get kicked up a notch with more of the track to play with. There is more up and down shifting, some tricky corners, a few places where the car can get air born, and a blind hill that requires a good entry line or you'll be in the wrong place for much of the back of the track. The morning goes much longer than the prior 2 days...we're in the cars by about 9am and we ended the morning track time around 12:30p (maybe even 12:45pm). After lunch, we have a quick classroom session to go over race starts and re-starts. Again, the instructors take you around in their cars and show you what to do and expect...and then they let you go do it. These went off okay, and they are really good if you're planning to race, so you know what to expect. But by and large, they were somewhat boring exercises that most could probably do without. The good part about it is that some of the most fun came when the instructors were showing us how to start in their cars. If they're feeling game (and usually they are), you get a pretty good first hand view of the madness at the start of a race as the cars sprint to the first corner. After the race start session, you go right in to track time...with a twist. Instead of having the Maricopa oval open, they close it and close off the chicane at the end of the front straight. This means that you come down the front straight at 90MPH and go more or less right into a left corner. It's a little more complicated than it sounds because there is a slight turn to the right before the corner and you have to carry speed through it, get on the brakes at just the right point, shift while in the corner, trail brake through the corner, and then get back on the gas. It's actually a fun ride if you get it right. A big part of being successful at it is not jumping on the brake at the slight right turn, but just letting off the gas enough to transfer weight to the front to give you a bigger contact patch so you can turn better. After a few laps doing that, it is right back to standard track time running the entire 1.6 mile track. By the end of day 3 I would say my confidence had improved 100%. I would also say that the oh-**** moments dropped precipitously and most of the time was spent trying to put in perfect laps and catching the car in front of you. I can honestly say that with the input of my instructor, I improved my speed in the corners exponentially...to the point where even though cars could pull away from me on the straights, I could catch them in the corners by the time we got back to the straight (much of the time even sooner). If you have been considering taking just the 3 day Grand Prix course, you might want to change your mind. For me, things really started coming together in the very last session and I felt like I was doing much less worrying about things and was actually racing with the other cars. The instructors say this is what happens much of the time...so just something to think about.

Day 4 will be the Formula Bondurant open wheeled cars. It's sure to be a challenge since the ABS and traction control safety net will be gone and we're moving to a rear engine vehicle. I'm guessing there will be a lot of spin outs and that the people smoothest with the cars will fair the best. I'll let you know.

P.S. my wife, Cindy, and I are also going to do the Bondurant shifter kart session (3 hours) on Thursday night...should be fun...I'll let you guys know how that goes.

Day Four

Let me start off by saying if you go to the Bondurant GP School...don't skimp and only take the three day course...day four is not to be missed. You see, this day entails more seat time, more track time, in the Formula Ford open wheel, rear engined, all-car, track weapon.

When you first see the Formula's...they certainly look raw. Just the basics...four wheels, steering wheel, shifter, clutch, brake, gas, and an engine tucked away in the back. The Formula's are a nice departure from the C5 Corvettes. The Corvettes seem clunky, stiff, and pampering compared to the Formula Fords. The Formulas, conversely, feel like they belong on the track. They stick to the curves, go where you point them, shift, accelerate, and brake like a performance car should.

The day starts off with an introduction to the car and some pointers on how it will handle (remember, you're moving from a front engine vehicle to a rear engine one). Then it's over to the garage to be squeezed into your ride. It is pretty close quarters and the seating position is way different than a street vehicle. That is, you are almost reclined in the seat with your legs more or less straight out. It's somewhat awkward and a little intimidating. When you start it up and take off, you have to really rev it up due to the tall first gear. The first session of the day is out on the oval to get a feel for the car. Lots of circles with upshifts and downshifts. If you didn't quite get heel-toe downshifting in the Corvettes, this is the car to redeem yourself in. The brake and the accelerator are closer together and at the same level so heel-toe is really easy to pull off.

After the oval, it is onto the main track (with the oval now closed off) for laps. Lots of laps. By the time they wave the checkered flag to end the session you are definitely ready for a brain break. For me, I found the Formula cars faster, easier to shift, quicker in the corners, better on the brakes, and more stable than the Corvettes. I was actually less tired and less mentally taxed from driving the Formula cars than the Vettes. That said, you can certainly get out of shape more quicly and easily with the Formulas. With the engine in the back and better acceleration, getting on the gas at the wrong place will bring the back end around really fast. I only had one near miss spin but was able to save it with my cat like reflexes (...driving the skid car the day before helped alot too <g>).

After lunch, we had a quick classroom session to talk about the next session. This would be the full track in the Formula cars. More speed, more corners, more chances to go fast and/or mess up. For me, I was really feeling good about what I was doing and could generally put in consistent laps. I'm not sure if they were constistantly fast but I did seem to do my fair share of passing as well as pressuring people to pull into pit lane to get out of my way.

For the entire day, I believe three out of the eight cars on the track spun out...fortunately I wasn't one of them. You could make the case that I wasn't pushing my car hard enough and that's why I was able to keep the front end in the right direction. In any event, as opposed to the previous days where I was worried about my line, shift points, corner speeds, heel-toe shifting, etc. my last day was spent trying to figure out how to go faster.

At the end of the day, that's what the school is all about. Getting you through the initial nervousness, through the fundamental skill development, through the track introductions, and all the other stuff you need to learn to the point where the driving is becoming natural and second nature and you can apply your efforts to simply going faster.

To close out the school, they have a "graduation ceremony" in your classroom attended by Bob Bondurant and the instructors. You are awarded a certificate of graduation, a plaque, and a grade card...yes, that's right, your instructor will be secretly grading you every day of school. The grading system is a scale of 1-5 with 1 being bad (you were probably asked to go home the first day if you were getting a one) to 5 being perfect (I doubt any fives actually get awarded). The instructors say a good average score would be 2.2-2.6. My daily scores progressed from the mid 1's on the first day to the mid 2's on the second, mid 3's on the third, and by the fourth day, my instructor, Les Betchner, rated me at 4.6. For my overall score, I finished with a respectable 3.5+. If they feel you did sufficiently well your grade card will have a page attached that allows you to sign up to compete in SCCA regional racing events (luckily I had one attached...time to go racing!!!).

I have been to a few motorcycle racing schools, confidence/teamwork workshops (e.g., outward bound), and other training to have a feel for what's good and bad when it comes to this stuff. I can confidently say that the Bondurant Grand Prix Racing School is the most professional, most challenging and most entertaining training I have been to ever.

P.S. We took a few hours to go "graduate" from the Bondurant Karting school too. Those little wheeled-rockets are a kick. If you've never done shifter karts, go spend 3 hours with them on the track, you won't regret it.