Skip Barber @ Lime Rock (daily report)

Day 1 (Today)

First, KTR did a great job at fixing my oil leak and new clutch; arrived at Lakeville CT after a 3+ hour drive with highways and stop n go traffic and the car did GREAT! And now for the main event...

Day 1 started with the usual 'sign your life away don't blame us,' get a race outfit from the room (if you do not have your own), and basic classroom vehicle dynamics. Then we hopped into prepared open wheel cars and went to a small oval-like track with cones. The basic pattern was some rights and left followed by a fast sweeping right and then a different set of right and lefts. This is a very tight course and you do it only in first gear. The main point is to get to know/feel the car. The brakes take a good amount of effort to get the best from them (200 lbs of pressure/??? according to the instructor). The brake is what i'd call a hard pedal that barely moves (a good thing) and naturally the harder you push it the harder the braking. Took me a bit to get accustom to it, though all in all it seems about 1G of brake/side handling. As for the suspension, it is REALATIVLY tight and hard. The Skip Barber open wheel car's suspension is a world tighter than the modified 308 i usually drive. Akin to the 308 as compared to 'your father's Buick.' Anyway, we drive the car on the tight track for about 25 minutes.

Back to the classroom for learning about the transmission that has NO synchro so double shifting downward is what they desire. Naturally they teach rolling/heel-toe to blip the throttle so basically get on brake and stay on it while clutch in shift to neutral clutch out, then blip throttle (still on braking) then clutch in shift down and clutch out. Then we went back on the track and practiced upshifting and downshifting for about 30 minutes. The car has four gears plus reverse BTW.

Then lunch

Then after lunch more classroom discussion about the main Lime Rock track. The lines, the gears, braking points, etc. Then we hopped into basic road cars and the instructor drove us around the track about 5 times. And then, yes, we get to drive the open wheel cars on track following the instructor who was again driving the road car. First a few slow laps and then the speed picked up. It was about 8 laps total behind the wheel. Then a break as others drive around the track, then another 8 laps a bit faster and faster. Naturally the last lay was a cool down lap.

AM sure i forgot to cover a few other things and have MANY typos above. Not using my computer...

All in all it has been a great experience.

FYI: hopping into the modded 308 to drive 5 miles back to the hotel, the 308 felt like i was driving 'your father's Buick' as compared to the open wheel racecar on the track. DAMN!

 

Birdfman and Tom,

Birdman, it has been a blast thus far

Thanks for the warning, have heard about those Blue Light specials. And yes, good seat time and today we should gt plenty more.

Time to go to Lime Rock for day two...

 

Day 2 consisted of getting to know the braking ability and trail braking PLUS more full course driving. About 10 laps around with straight braking at the end of the main straight, 10 more where we would lap the track and brake and and go into turn 1 (learn trail braking), and then some more full course work (putting what we learned together). So about 30+ laps total. Alas, my time on this computer is limited as others are waiting here. So in two days have done about 50 laps on Lime Rock with yet another day to go...

 

Tom, EXACTLY right! As for the instructors, i am bad with names but will get full names tomorrow. They seem like a great crew...

...and very good at balancing between saying 'i suck' and "i can do MUCH better" In all seriousness, they are great at diagnosing both good and less than good driving traits and assisting at making sure improvements occur. Frankly, this has been THE BEST decision (taking the school) i have made all year long as i will feel MUCH more comfortable driving the 308 on Fri/Sat. i know the lines, the braking points, etc. and have a better grip at my driving abilites.

The real "trick" will be adjusting the 308's suspension... including not to bottom out on either the entry to the hill or the bottom entering into the main straight (to name a few examples). Fortunatly adjusting the suspension is realtively easy.... relalatively...

ALL hints and tips are HIGHLY welcome.

 

Lrob,

Am glad you enjoyed it and yes, the pedals on the Skip Barber cars are MUCH better situated than the 308 for blipping (until i get home and mod the pedals ). i do indeed remember seeing your wife with camcorder and yes, that is my daily driver 308 in the parking lot. If you are in the Lime Rock area today (Wednesday) feel free to stop by to chat. Would be great to meet another Fchatter

 

Am sure you had a great time! Today we practiced rolling starts (SCCA style)and did approx two sets of 8 laps full 'race.' All in all today i think we did about 25 laps around the track. It began to rain just a bit on the second (last) set of race laps and was doing faily good but there were a few spinners so they called everyone into the pits. Alas, when we went out again i could not seem to gather together turn 2+3 and got offline due to driving a bit too hot into turn 1 and went out in the grass a bit. All in all it was a GREAT experience both learning and enjoyment.

Highly recommended.

As for the 308, you can see her on the track Friday and Saturday Hope you can make the FCA event!

 

Yes, combined with the slightly wet track and the changing surface in that area i was too hot into 1 (Big Bend), slid during the turn in for 2 and the rest was HIStory. Not a major 'off' as a few others were hitting tire walls, etc. It got messy with cars going off as the rain fell. i can see how my experience with snow driving and some off-roading helped during driving in the rain, BUT i was too fast into turn 1 after the straight for the prevailing conditions... plain and simple. Downshifting those cars was VERY easy and i can see the 308's pedals need some (eh hem) 'rearranging' combines with an idea i have been flirting with. The idea is a heel stop. Will add the heel stop when i get home.

Probably for insurance purposes they do not clock speed or time any event. Makes sense.

 

FYI Skip Barber instructors for the Lime Rock event were:

John M
Carl L
Alex K

i'd also want to mention and thank the pit crew, mechanics, etc. In fact everyone at S.B. were very welcoming and even the lunch was pretty darn good (for track food).

 

i could either get into great detail... or enjoy my holiday. Sorry, i choose the later. BASICALLY, it was a very impressive learning experience and also lots of fun AND an excellent investment. Three days, 50+ laps around Lime Rock, and if something got bent the bill was not given to me.

As for tomorrow... my car, my bad, my problem. Guess one may be a touch more cautious on the LOUD pedal... or maybe not. Perhaps it depends on your skill level, knowledge of the track... and depth of wallet. In my case most of those mentioned are not as deep as a true professional racer with $$$$$ sponsor funds.

Still, taking the three days Skip Barber course should allow for a MUCH MORE comfortable expeirence when it is my personal $$ on the drive line.