Attended Andretti racing school:)

And I met Mario! Cool guy, was very nice and pleasent. This was at the Chicago Speedway. We did 34 laps of one-on-one instruction.

I would actually consider this more of a driving event than an actual school; mainly because the emphasis was on getting us on the track and having fun... it was not presented with the detail of the Keith Code twist of the wrist motorcycle classes (levels 1-4). I've never attended another car school, so I can't compare it to any of those.

Anyhow, there were only about 9 students, and we went out on the track in groups of four and did four sessions each. Once you were in the car, you stayed in it for all four sessions.

Oh, the car? 5.7L about 400hp, 1800lbs, single gear - no shifting (once again to get us in the track w/little instruction, and keep us from 'hurting' eachother), just shy of 170mph. I wasn't so freaked out by the speed, but the handling + the 18 degree corners on the track. It was kinda like going fast on a bike where it wants to hold its line.. but oh, man, that cornering was really a rush,dipping down towards the apron and back up towards the wall. Cool thing was though, I never felt like I was going to hit anything (wall/apron), the car just went where I pointed it , never wandered around, and was (obviously) very, very planted.

I'll try and post some more photos later. The ones below were of the first car I was in, but they pulled me right out of it after these pix were taken and the simm card filled up - D'oh! (a friend has more pix). I think they were concerned I was going to hit the car in front of me during push start.

Regrets? Wish I would've taken a 'viewing guest' and a camcorder!
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Yeah it is . Actually, they told us the car would go about 200mph. I have no idea at which point it would start to break loose; obviously we weren't near it.

Talking to Mario was a lot of fun. If was kinda cool just walking around the pit area with him, chatting about various tracks, the cars, other BS Never thought I'd actually meet him! All in all, there weren't many people there. Maybe a total of 30 including students/staff/observers.

 

Yeah, they kept saying, "Get off the track loser!"

Actually as Andreas, says, the tell the flag guy what to do. I think they also may be communicating with the people working in the pit who relay the instructor's comments to the student at the end of each session.