Finally a racing school that takes you a step up

I went out for three days in them in the end of April. Lola chassied, Evo engine, sequential trannies, gobs of downforce. Its an amazing car that will keep people learning for some time. Minor bugs were still getting worked out on the cars... but nothing big. I had never driven a true aero car and realized I have a lot to learn... mainly about trusting downforce on turn in.

All in all, I think a lot of folks are going to have a lot of fun in these cars and learn a bunch.

 

Andreas: I have been going to Russell for several years and have always enjoyed the environment and the quality of the instruction. As Gonzago indicated, they have foregone the old Formula Russells in favor of the new car which can be seen here
According to my friend who is the chief instructor, the new cars are "Awesome! Totally Awesome!"

http://jimrussellusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=87

If I have time to go with my regular group of misfits in October, I will definitely be sampling the new ride. Also, there is a common belief that if you can learn to drive Sears Point well, you can learn any track in the world. it is a great place to develop car control and learn all the mechanical nuances of a track with lots of elevation and directional changes.

 

You're friends with that Mark guy? He has a big reputation as being, kind of, a "phallus".

Anyways, I can't wait to hop into one of these cars, although frankly I can't see the championship lasting.

 

He's a good instructor and a good guy. Even when I was a total noob he was very patient with me, but sometimes he can be pretty blunt with students who are doing really foolish things or think they know more than he does.

 

Peter is 100% dead on with his comments here. There is only so much you can learn from watching videos and pouring over some black and white traces on a computer screen. The key phrase that he uses here is "Using all the tools at your disposal shortens the learning and reacclimation curve. Using all the tools that you have available will help to get you up to speed as fast as possible. Having a coach to help quicken this process is the cheapest and easiest part. Driver's that are good coaches help you to better your feel. They can show you how to drive the track by riding along with you and driving your car with you in it to show you what the car is doing. Most guys I have seen have a hard time visualizing what the data is telling them. If this is the case I will drive their cars on the track with them in it to help them out. We talk while this is going on to help improve their "feel" of the car and adhesion the tires have with the track. Then looking at the data again backs up these points. The driver can now see where those simple .1 second here and .2 seconds there are being left. They can feel how to get the extra time. And the tools in their toolbox have thus been increased significantly because they used all the tools available to them at that time.

 

Kimi did, Massa most certainly did not.

 

...and some of us are neither

 

+1. Kimi went through Formula Renault while Massa took the F3000 route.

 

I lived in France in the mid '80s and took a F3 course in La chatre. After, I rented a car from the them a mechanic and team manager, and raced a few races in Europe. More fun than sex...well maybe if I could have sex while driving the race car...