Skip Barber 3-day Racing School at Laguna Seca

I will have video of one lapping session on DVD in a few weeks. I'll get some highlights digitized and posted to the web as soon as I can. I can't wait to compare the video to the video I took driving the M coupe at Laguna.

The three day course was amazing. Most of the classroom stuff was a little remedial after having read "Going Faster," the textbook for the course. That is not to say that the instruction was a waste. There is no substitute for having a professional critiquing you. Even if you've read something or seen it done, it doesn't always click until some one tells you point blank what you're doing wrong. Most importantly, it's about the combination of instruction and instant feedback from the track.

The driving was great, the formula Dodge cars are sinfully fun. 2.0 liter Neon engines making about 135hp @5800rpm. 0-60 in 4.5s and about 1.1g of cornering grip. We ran on 205/50 15" Michelin street tires. The next step up is the R/T 2000, is very similar, but with something like 150hp, racing slicks, and some aerodynamic downforce. The R/T 2000s can dish out about 1.2g of lateral grip. I can't wait to try these next....

Day one started out in the paddock doing an autocross. The idea was to get us used to the cars, find their limits, and get used to how they handle. I did a couple spins during the autocross section on day one testing the limits. This first drill was all done in first gear.

After the autocross we moved on to shifting drills, blipping the throttle on down shifts to match revs between the engine and the rear wheels.Thankfully I already knew how to blip the throttle, but it still took some time to adapt to the pedal layout and being so reclined. Most of the first day was getting used to the new car, new position, new shifter, feedback, etc...

There was no continuous lapping on day one or two. So it was hard to get up too much momentum and get yourself into trouble. This is probably a good thing for people who've never been on the track before. It also helped keep everyone focused on the skill/drill being taught that session. Even so, I drove as hard as I thought I could get away with and worked on my technique and lines on the backside of the course.

We spent day two doing braking and passing drills. I got a lot of practice working on threshold braking. It is pretty cool to do this in an open wheel car because you can see the wheel stop turning when you lock them up. The passing drill was designed to simulate out braking someone into a corner on the inside and beating them to the apex.

Throughout the 3 days we were given rev-limits to keep the speed down. There wasn't any enforcement other than your honor and the sharp ears of the instructors. I know I wasn't the only one to abuse the limits a little. I would have been shifting mid-exit on every turn if I followed the rev limit exactly. Day three we did more drills. We practiced out braking another car into a corner to pass. We did several rolling "race" starts. In the afternoon we did open lapping sessions with passing on 3 of the long straights. The rolling starts were a lot of fun, each row had a chance to be on the lead row, except the unlucky odd car out, in this case me. Luck of the grid. Its an interesting drill, because you have to have a plan before the green flag goes down. Likewise you have to be flexible to adapt to everyone else's moves. It reminded me a lot of the final sprints for the finish in cycling. There is a lot of jockeying and everything depends on who's wheel you follow.

On the Grid

We also did trail braking exercises. Trail braking is the technique they teach for taking turns 2, 8 and 11 at Laguna. For these tighter corners, the trail braking works to extend the preceding long straight by pushing back the braking zone. The trail braking also helps rotate the car. Plus it is just amazingly fun too. :)

On day three I had two spins, one in each of my two open lapping sessions. The first was in turn 5. I just carried way too much speed into the corner. I held it together through the apex and thought I could safely ease back off the throttle and make the exit. Lifting was a bad idea, I did a nice 340 degree pirouette but stayed on track. When I came to a stop, the motor was still running so I just gunned it, and got going again.

The second spin was halfway through the last session. Up until it happened I was pretty consistent, working on hitting all my marks, concentrating on my braking modulation. Then, flying down into turn 2, probably around 100mph or so, I turned the car, aimed at the 1st apex, and started braking at my brake marker. Then, wham, the wheels locked up. So I'm thinking, "crap I hit the brakes too hard" and start easing up on the brake pedal. The wheels are still locked, and at this point I'm starting to rotate. I counter-steer and let up more on the brake. Next I'm looking at the gray underside of my car's fiberglass bodywork as it goes flying off and zings by my head. At that point I stop thinking about saving it and put both feet in hard. I do a full 360 and end up nose first in the gravel trap. The post analysis indicated that I down shifted and dropped the clutch at the entry of the braking zone and totally locked up the rear tires. That's why, when I let off the brakes, it didn't help. No amount of counter-steer would have saved me either. The worst part was, no one saw it! Don't get me wrong, every one noticed: the long squealing of tires, flying gravel, and the loud thud of the fiberglass bodywork hitting the track, the session getting black flagged.... But, no one was watching the entry to turn 2. They did in car video of the previous session (so my other spin is on tape) but not for the last session.

The spins were valuable lessons. It demonstrated to me just how important locking up the wheels is ("both feet in") when you spin. If your wheels are locked, you're more likely to keep going the same direction you were going when you started to loose it. (Newtons first Law) This will generally carry you to the outside of the track, where you usually have more run off. In general at Laguna the walls are a lot closer on the inside of the course.

Skip Barber schools (also Russell, Bondurant, and some other schools) now qualify (at the instructor's discretion) you for a regional SCCA racing license. So the only thing between me and racing is now a lack of a race car....

The fun factor on these cars, and presumably the even hotter R/T-2000 cars that you use in the advanced racing 2-day course, cannot be overstated. It has me seriously considering doing the advanced course and some lapping days (done in the R/T-2000) and qualifying for the Skip Barber race series. It's pricey, but weighing the cost of the series versus buying, maintaining, and trailering a race car of my own makes it look a lot more "reasonable." Emphasis on the quotes around reasonable :)

I do plan to do an advanced car control clinic at Laguna sometime in the next 3 months. Basically a day of sliding the Formula Dodge cars, trucks, and Vipers around a wet parking lot. The three day course is a prerequisite to give you an idea of the skill (and fun) level.

In parting I have to give a heap of credit to an instructor I had at my last TracQuest event at Laguna: DJ. He taught me things about driving Laguna that could only be taught be having someone as gifted as him yelling "more throttle" at all the right times, all the way around Laguna. DJ is a Skip Barber grad and was the the voice that put me over the top on wanting to attend the school.

Some Links:

• Skip Barber
• Formula Dodge
• Jonathan Gibbon's Experiences the Skip Barber racing school Also in car #80.
• Bob Podd's experience at Lime Rock
  
• My BMW M Coupe page