So what do you do when you don't know what you don't know?

I had to reply to your thread because you know more than you think!

I currently race and have for the past five years a 1984 Anson SA4 Super Vee/Formula Atlantic car in regional SCCA and vintage events. Up to six years ago I hadn't driven a race car in 30 years and decided I wanted to drive again.

These are my suggestions.
1. Get a good computer and a good wheel and pedal set. Buy Grand Prix legends. Though this doesn't replace real driving it is a lot of fun when the weather is bad. This is one difficult race simulator.
2. Buy the series of Ross Bentley books.
3. Buy the series of Carrol Smith books. Read all you can.
4. Don't get wrapped up with heel & toe on a street car. Most of the time the brake pedal and gas pedal aren't in the right position.
5. Do the driving school. Skip Barber is great and there will be people just like you there. Some faster and some slower. If you want a more low keyed school check out the driving school at Portland International raceway. They use Spec Racer Fords and they have an arrive and drive program for later on. I am sure there are similar schools at other tracks.
6. I don't know much about karting other than it looks like a lot of fun and they are great at developing skills and left foot braking.

Good luck with what ever you do.

Tim Bland

 

Random comments based on your statement: Some have aptitude for a sport while some just love a sport. I can be away from skiing and just put boots/skis on and ski anything. Yet I have raced SCCA for years yet always have to shake the rust off and build speed and remind myself to be calm in the car. I won a regional championship once but really, racing for me "other sports beckon" but I really like cars and really like racing so I punish myself and love it. Based on your rate of participation you could be very frustrated trying to find your rear-end with both hands due to long layoffs between events unless you got some aptitude. So you got to be able to live with that. Arrive and drive is not as expensive as you think. When you factor in the costs and pain of ownership and consider your low participation rate A&D is a fine solution. There are not too more painful things than finding a home for your trailer, loading all the junk before a race knowing you have forgotten at least one thing, and long slow tows home to go to work on Monday. It rarely pays to pull all this junk because often the part you broke is the one thing you left at home. Then you buy a large tow vehicle and convince yourself it is an OK daily driver. I got transport from Cali to CoTA my only race ever out of Cali.. I had to race at the newest F1 track in North America...but that is another story. I owned my car, nothing broke, and only used gas and tires. That weekend cost me over $7k. A&D would have been less. Learn to heel/toe until it is "un-natural" to not heel toe. Unless you are driving an SMG BMW, P-bug pdk, or F1 Ferrari etc poor ability to heel/toe you may as well stick to fishing. Skip is great as you know. If you have to pay to learn they all cost about the same you may as well buy skip. But skip is great knowledge but way more than you need for trackdays. Trackdays don't do lots of open wheel cars. Tintops rule the trackdays. So if you want to race do skip or do SCCA superschool just to get licensed and have at it. Then open wheels are fine because there are separate run groups for open and closed cars. A NASA or SCCA license and people will rent you racecars that you can race or do trackdays in. I license means you are supposed to know what you are doing. An unknown is a guy with no race license who wants to rent a race car for a trackday. No one wants his car wrecked. Bad things happen but a licensed driver should be able to mitigate most risks. Don't worry about being slow in school. No body wins school and there are no talent scouts looking for the next Kimi to race in F1. Sometimes if you are the slow guy and suck the instructors give you extra instruction to bring you up to speed. So more for your money. Enjoy it. It sounds like you want to have fun. Jump in the water is fine. Everyone has to start somewhere. You will find racers/trackers very friendly at the track.
You mentioned budget. Don't forget to own good protective equipment. It is fine to buy a $199 helmet if you are not sure you like the sport. But once you know you are in for good buy decent stuff with good features. Stick to the better helmets the simpsons and bells and such, go with nomex in suits not fire retardant cotton , good gloves for good contact to the wheel so you can feel the feedback, nomex underwear vastly improves your fire protection, balalcava head sock so you helmet does not smell like a tennis shoe, and don't even bother starting the sport if you are not going to buy a HANS or equivalent. Learn about race car safety systems so you can decide if the A&D car is up to your standards. A car passing SCCA or NASA annual tech is a very low bar. Until you learn a few things ab out safety systems don't rent anything without a current annual tech even for a trackday.

 

Try the Porsche Sport Driving School at Barber, in Alabama. Two day arrive and drive course that will get you on track in a controlled environment and also has a good classroom component.

I would book it for the fall, when it will be really cold by you and really pleasant down in Alabama.

It's a first rate program in a world class facility with new cars run by professionals.

All the Best,

Ron

 

Start here, particularly at Laguna Seca. Great instructors at a world class track. Skippy used to sell insurance so your worst case is $500 plus the course fee. My only question is whether the Miatas might be a better fit for you than the open-wheel cars. There's no question that the open-wheel cars are better race cars, but they do take some getting used to. I did the Miatas, and we had to spend a little bit of time waiting around while they pulled the open-wheel guys out of the gravel, particularly at T11.

After three days, you'll probably end up getting hooked. Next step? Well, in the end, probably bankruptcy court.

Dale

 

Agree with doing Skip. I actually drag raced quite a bit in my younger days, but never much road racing. I did the Bertil Roos 5-day at Pocono, and the track was setup with a long "straight" on one of the turns.

Interestingly enough, the instructors asked me if I had any drag racing experience because while my braking was crap, my exit out of the final corner, on to the gas, and getting to the end of the straight were among the best in the class (per the data logger).

But I digress - you may be back of the pack - who cares!!! You are there to learn and everyone must start somewhere. I consider the Roos school one of the most cherished experiences I've had - I met some great people (Guy Cosmo, Andrew Prendeville, Dennis Macchio), learned a bit, and had a BLAST!

Do it.

 

+1!!

Matt

 

I went through Skippy in the MX-5 cars in 2007 at Laguna. We would run and then the open wheel guys would have at it. Bottom line is the open wheel guys spent a lot more time in the gravel than we did. Why? Narrow-wheelbase + sequential gearboxes that require heel/toe shifting + low ride height + brakes that lock easily = can take some time to get used to. Now, it is my understanding that Skippy has upgraded their open-wheel cars since then, so maybe they are easier to drive than they used to be.

The difference is anybody can drive a MX-5 car. It will have more body roll, but they are still point and shoot. So you might want to consider this for your first time out.

And BTW, you're going to have to doing a racing school somewhere to get a SCCA or NASA provisional license. I had no problem with the Skippy school, but you might want to check.

Another alternative is Bondurant. But there you will be driving Vettes, which is probably about as far from a kart as you can get. I did both, and driving a big honking C6 is a hoot. Fortunately, I guess, the Bondurant tracks are short so you can't get into too much trouble. But a buddy of mine did manage to do a Mighty Mouse when he missed a turn in.

PS Learning how to do trailing throttle and braking about T2 at Laguna was one of the most frustrating things I have tried (except getting a gold swing down), but one of the most enjoyable once you figure it out. The key is carrying enough speed into the corner to see the car through the top of its apex as it goes through the corner, but not so much as you end up in the gravel. A buddy almost nailed it. He had the most beautiful 4-wheel drift you have ever seen, until he ran out of road. He went sideways into the gravel so hard that it pulled both tires off the rims. But it sure was beautiful while it lasted!

 

All very good suggestions above.

A few pile-ons:

Coaching and seat time are key. Emphasize the instruction. Skippy MX-5 is probably the best place to start....balance of instruction, seat time, budget optimization. If anything, see if you can do 2 schools within a year, different tracks....the skills you learn you CAN practice back home (at a safe speed, of course)

I've only flown over the NWT, but have you considered rally? Not sure if there is any organized rallying up there, but a (decent) rally car and some (open) space could make for a playground for practice. Team O'Neill rally school is on my to-do list, it's not tarmac but it is amazing car control skills.

I would say that having been around this, the Porsche racing program (in the Cup cars) and the Ferrari Driving Experience are the best instructional programs I've seen; the FDE is absolutely the best in terms of instruction; have sent my wife twice and she's back for Advanced this summer. People tend to focus on the cars, but the instructors are excellent. Challenge is they are pricey. Porsche Cup program also requires the prior classes.

Another option is to work with a Spec Miata team that can put together a couple-days-at-a-time rental ride for you at test days around SCCA regional events; just be sure to get a good coach.