FERRARI EXPERIENCE AT MONT-TREMBLANT

I just returned from the Ferrari school at the Circuit Mont-Tremblant, north of Montreal.
The course was a basic two day drivers ed. type of course, utillizing 12 new F430's around one of the best circuits I have ever been on. It is exactly the same format and size as the courses Ferrari offers in Italy at Mugello.

In overview, the event was first class, from the great hotel included in the package, the dinners with other participants and Ferrari staff, the great track and the very high level of experience among the 6 instructors.

We had 15 participants and we were split into three groups. The circuit is a 2.5 mile, european style circuit through the forest with elevation changes on straights and into the corners. The track also had a watered skid pad area and a very nice instruction classroom. The quality of the surface was perfect and the track is also used by the Jim Russell School as well as several clubs and other driving course organizations.

Day one had us doing some basic skidpad stuff, a slalom and braking excercise and lapping on the more technical north loop of the track.
Day two covered more north loop time, the south loop and more skidpad, followed by lapping of the whole track.

Day one was great with a really interesting format for the lapping portion, where we drove with an instructor first and then were passengers in an instructor's car, while another student, on his own followed the instructor car. Great for learning a line and braking points. The skidpad was done with an instructor riding along, and trying to break out the rear and catch it again. The slalom was done solo on the back straight with a slalom course followed by a high speed run down the straight with a braking and downshifting exercise at the end of the straight. The carbon brakes are so good there was zero drama braking from over 100MPH in a very short distance. This was a training excercise to set us up for the chicane at the end of the back straight when we drove the full course on day two.

Day two was very interesting as it had started raining the night before and the track was soaked. The rain continued in the morning so we didn't need the sprinklers at the skidpad for the figure eight "drifting" class. Drifting in a F430! That's just wild!

The south loop was really fast with less turns but with two great straightaways where you could shift into 5th gear. We ran the 430's in "normal" mode on the mannetino and the car reacted extremely well to the wet conditions. If you brake and downshift in a straight line there's little reason for the CST traction control to intervene, even in sloppy wet conditions.

We had lunch and watched the clouds thin and eventually disperse for the afternoon track session. We had ten cars on track always - five with instructors carrying a passenger and 5 with solo student drivers. This is more fun than you can imagine, because having a school on a full sized track gives a rare opportunity to really run hard and fast.
The instructors in the lead would move at the pace of the solo driver driver behind them and if you pushed them they went with the pace - great fun all round.

I can recommend the course wholeheartedly, especially to anyone who has never been to a driving school. Most of the participants had never had any formal race training and they all enjoyed themselves. For those of us with track experience, the solo sessions provided enough opportunity to run as hard as we could. I'm sure that everyone there left a far driver than before and for most, they experienced the capability of a Ferrari like never before. I'm certain that everyone will really drive their cars now, especially after seeing how great the cars are in very wet and sloppy conditions. They didn't melt, the tires did their job and the car was absolutely stable all the time.

FNA are certainly going to do it again next year and they are seriously considering bringing their advanced level course to North America as well.
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The course is the Ferrari beginer level program. They give lots of leeway to experienced drivers, allowing you to skip the passenger seat sessions, except for the first one where you get shown the driving line.
I enjoyed my lead and follow sessions as the instructors really stepped it up when you got right on their tail. They were certainly not pacing you, but allowing you to push them to the edge of your capability, especially on the back straight up to the chicane where you you get into 5th gear at the crest of the hill and chase them down into the chicane at up to 120MPH. Another great turn was turn 1 and 2 leading into the esses where the roadway crests a hill and drops hard into two right handers. You stay on the gas in 4th over the hill and push real hard until you downshift into 3rd for the 2nd right hander entering the esses. The F430 is really awesome on the track and the F1 transmission comes into its own in the tight twisty sections.
I had a great time and got enough seat time on my own. I really enjoyed it and the total course with its 2 1/2 to 1 student/instructor ratio beat anything else I've done with BMW (Z8 program), AMG advanced course and Bondurant's two day course where the instructor student ratio is at least 4 to 1. The hotel and dinners being included made for a real good overall experience.

 

The total number of sessions in the season is 12. I was in in the 11th session with one to come. The track cars will do a total of about 3,000 miles over the full season and they were not anticipating needing rotors on any of the cars. All of the cars, except the two skidpad cars, were on their second set of pads.
The brakes felt excellent in all of the cars I was in and the course was taught with correct emphasis on braking. The slalom and brake excercise really hammered the brakes with repeated hard braking from at least 90mph to standstill all morning.

 

I'm there!