I'm trying to choose between a long Skippy MX-5 race weekend at Homestead in Jan or a Skippy 2-day advanced school at RA in March. I'm learning towards RA because it would be great to go to a school first before trying to race RA. However, I'll get a lot more track time at the Homestead race. I hear that the Homestead track is shorter, but kinda fun. So what say ye? Dale
I've driven both quite a bit.....there is NO COMPARISON to Road Atlanta. Homestead is another "Roval" that just is not even close to the same league. I think you would learn more at Road Atlanta even with less seat time but it is not for the faint of heart. The only part of Homestead that gives close to the same feeling of on the edge like Road Atlanta would be NASCAR 3 apex to NASCAR 4 exit where you have it hit it perfect to keep from lifting or only slight breathing, well at least in any car that is geared to around 170 at the end of the front straight, while drifting all the way out to the wall every lap only missing by millimeters each time before it hooks up. However, I don't think they run that configuration much. The infield is just plain boring compared to a lot of track much less Road Atlanta. Just my personal opinion here, but I'm sure others would agree that have driven both in competition. D
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Dave's right. There's really no comparison, especially if you will be racing RA, you'll need the time to begin to master it. As a Texas benchmark, TWS is a far more interesting track than Homestead. Road Atlanta rocks. Mark
Homestead is my "home" track it is nice but it is not in the same league. It is a pretty good place to learn (flat, few surprises) IMHO RA is one of the top road courses in the world. More seat time is important but RA is quite an experience.
Absolutely, I could not agree more at least for all of the tracks in the US. Unfortunately I've never head the pleasure of driving overseas except at Goodwood. I'm pretty damn fast there but my skirt still blows up everytime I come down the hill into the final turn. Just about every pro driver I've ever talked to or worked with loves Road Atlanta. She can bite you badly if you step out of line though ;-) ......I've had a few incidents as a driver and some really bad ones as a crew chief but then again I've also had one of the most satisfying duals and eventual wins ever there. There is no place like it. If you decide to go, please give us a report and maybe you will be hooked on that place like a lot of us are. d
Road Atlanta is one of the country's great tracks; the sequence from turn 1 through turn 7 is as good as US track gets. Every serious amateur racer should know Atlanta. That said, Homestead is ok for a roval, and if you need seat time, well .... The problem with your choice is that I'd rather race than do an advanced school; what's the advanced school format? Does Skippy let you do laps, or is the time filled with exercises? Good luck Dale.
Agreed. The two biggest crashes I ever had were in the Esses, but it was the first place I raced (and won) away from a roval (Charlotte and Rockingham). It's a very satisfying place to "get right" and to get it right requires a solid foundation...
Years ago I did a Panoz racing school at Road Atlanta. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for that track, great fun... and that turn 12... be brave!
Race weekend vs race school is very different... WRT Homestead, it does depend what config you run - the F-challenge runs the whole infield and none of the nascar corners just using the straights. The Grand-am config, misses the turn off the banking at the end of the back straight and goes all round the banking (and have much higher speeds into 1). Full Road course (FC) http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com/images/hms_rental_full_lg.gif Grand-am config http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com/images/hms_rental_modified_lg.gif The Full road course is actually quite interesting in 2 places in a challenge car, turn 1 off the banking into turn 2. Its more or less possible to turn in flat, get the car settled and then brake for 2 - this can lead to a very exciting trip across the grass or into the gravel trap if you screw it up, and is not possible all the time, dependent on tires etc. Certainly if you miss the turn 1 apex on this strategy you are in a world of trouble. Then turn 10 off the banking is interesting because you need to brake and get back hard on the power as you charge down the banking. There is a big angle around the apex as the banking flattens, and lifting or missing the apex can lead to a very nasty oversteer and snap into the concrete wall on the inside. 3 people did this on day 1 of the Ferrari challenge season last year and missed the race. I'm pretty sure these spots would be much easier in a Mazda and if they are easy flat, then the rest of the infield is pretty straightforward. Road Atlanta is a great track, but if you are already racing and qualified with skippy (as your note suggests), I would recommend the lapping days over the school. You'll get more seat time on a 1-day lapping session than a 2 day school.
Damn you, I was all set for RA and then you go and post this. This T1 to T2 sounds a lot like T1 and T2 at TWS in College Station. In a Spec Miata, you enter the front straight in 3rd and quickly shift to 4th. You then look at the funny cloud formations for a while. Then right before you dive down the embankment to the infield, you shift to 5th. You then dive down to T1 flat out in 5th. When you hit bottom, you downshift to 4th and thresh hold brake. You then lift and rotate into T2. If you haven't scrubbed off too much speed, you stay in 4th. If you have, bang a 3rd, and floor it around T2. Done correctly, you understand what momentum racing is ALL about. It is a bit hairy the first couple of times, but then it becomes routine. (BTW, it is a hoot to dive under a 360CH at T2. Let's see. I have a total of $15k into my SM. The 360CH driver has $15k in his bumper.) The main problem with the Skippy series is seat time. Don't believe what the web page says. One lapping day = one hour. Bummer. Dale
I've only done the full road coarse at Homestead, its kind of fun but repititious if you ask me and still very boring as compared to Road Atlanta, or Road America, Mid Ohio, Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Watkins Glen, VIR, etc... or yes even Sebring or Daytona. In my personal opinion it is still a "roval" not much difference from TMS or Vegas or even the defunt Pikes Peak where you just don't have to have a lot of skill to go fast, just a good car set up right and frankly you set up for the banking more than the infield as if you don't you will lose. What I mean is there are "NO" high speed corners that demand precision and skill to manuever much less the "oh my God affect". Its pretty "safe" for beginner learning and car control but not really that good for setting up a car frankly. If you feel you are past that, I would move to going to a school at a dedicated road course. You know there are other good schools out there besides skippy. But then again I'm thats just my opinion.
Different opinions on Homestead may be due to speed - a challenge car does of course carry a bunch more speed that a skippy car, plus its heavier than a formula car or a spec miata, which does involve some excitement if you over drive it. Interesting on the lapping day stuff - I've done lapping days at Infineon with the Russell school where I got so much seat time I could hardly walk at the end of the day, that damn cf formula car pulls 2.5+gs through the carosel there and that's pretty tiring when your in your 4th hour of driving for the day. Thinking back on skippy - a group of FC guys (6 of us plus 6 coaches) booked a whole MX5 skippy class at Laguna and while it was pretty good, they did a) intersperse us with a formula car course and b) sell lunchtime hour sessions also. Not really very impressive in terms of track access. We more than made up for it by driving the living daylights out of the cars - 3 cars in a line rubbing bumpers at 115mph They perhaps hadn't considered that the 2K damage excess wasn't much of a discouragement to a bunch of challenge drivers who can spend 2K just for a rear splitter. We had two spare cars at the start of the course, and were down to -1 spare after the course... For me a race weekend > a training course. Racing is life everything else is waiting around as a rather famous amateur racer once said
The one big advantage to Homestead is that the Florida Keya are only 30 min away - so when you are finished racing you can go sdown there for seafodd and great sunsets. Also, the weather is great in January - they race one of the Challange races there and have the private owned F1s some of the time. There is not much around RD other then the Chateau. I have never had the pleasure of running RD but have run Homestead many times and really enjoyed it
I took the Skip Barber 3 day course last year at Homestead and loved it. If I had the choice of location I would absolutely take Road Atlanta. Homestead is nice, but RA has elevation changes, blind corners much more technical track. Also Homestead is not exactly a jewel of a town. In the middle of the night I heard gunshots from my hotel room. The good news is the locals don't know much about Ferrari's. We had a red Maranello and a black Enzo parked out front of the hotel and the woman at the front desk said, "I like your Mustangs".
