Driving Schools (long)

[Brady Dohrmann]

>I will agree with the part about learning about car control, but not
> >racing.  Commercial racing schools don't teach dick about racing.

I agree that no school can substitute for real world experience, whether
it's a driver's school, cooking school, basketweaving school etc.  Reading
out of a book isn't going to teach you how to avoid an accident as well as 4
hours of in-car training with IMSA drivers telling you what you're doing
wrong/right, and how to fix it.  Not to mention being in Bondurant's Mustang
that you know you can crash and not get hurt, vs. your own personal race car
that you paid for out of your own pocket.  You learn a lot of basic concepts
(and some complicated ones too) at driving schools that you can/will apply
when you start racing.. stuff you would have never thought of before.

> >Most people I've met who have been to Skip Barber, Bondurant, will tell
>you
> >that their money was better spent on driving schools than on car mods.

>And how.

I was on the start for stage 6 of the Prescott Forest Rally this year trying
to kiss ass to Mark Lovell, telling him how I was going to spend $3000 on
new shocks so I could hang with the big dogs at the next rally.  He looked
at me and told me to take that money and go to some driving schools instead
because it would make a bigger difference.  Mark Lovell won the SCCA Pro
Rally title in a Prodrive Subaru.  Hearing that unbiased opinion from
someone who knows what they're doing is pretty reassuring.  I've heard it
from several other people too, all of which were faster than me.

>Actually, you mean racing.

Well for the average Joe who can't afford racing, lapping days are a cheaper
alternative.  Lapping days aren't exciting 100% for everyone.  Heck, races
get boring sometimes too.. you're not always in the middle of a 3-wide pack
going into a corner.

>I think that depends.  Have you actually raced cars or karts?  Have you
>done so *before* going to Bondurant?

Well first off, I've done my share of motorsports stuff including Karts.  A
few years after I went to Bondurant, I bought a Karting setup and raced for
about 3 months and wasn't all that interested in it.. sold all my stuff and
got into cars which I've been into ever since.  I like cars more because you
can relate to it better since all my friends race cars, I drive cars to work
everyday, I work with cars etc.  Nothing against Karting, but it wasn't for
me.

Secondly, I have friends who got into racing without any previous driving
experience and no driving schools... it took A LOT longer to get the hang of
things and even after a year a friend of mine is still trying to grasp basic
concepts that you don't really learn by lapping all day.  He's a fast
driver, but he doesn't have his ass covered in all areas, which is basically
something they teach you at bondurant.

>At my school, I was one of two people who had raced karts and we were a
>fair bit faster than anyone else in the school

Well anyone with racing experience going into a school full of newbies is
going to look good.  If an engineer went to college again it would be a blot
easier.  The point of driver's schools is to learn how to drive better (and
suprisingly there are a TON of things you learn about how to drive better on
the street, like accident avoidance which thanks to bondurant has saved my
ass several times), not show up a bunch of beginners.

>If you read one or more of the books I listed and apply the theory, you
>should learn significantly more in one season of karting that any 3 or 4
>day commercial school.

Well my roommate is one of those guys who knows everything about cars
because he reads message boards on the internet, but when it all comes down
to it, real life situations don't add up because it's different than what he
read on the Net.  I bet I could get more information if I read books for 3
days straight, 10 hours a day than if I went to a 3-day school.  But, i
wouldn't have any hands-on experience and with cars, that's what makes all
the difference in the world.  I always argue with people who claim to know
everything (not directed to you personally) because they read it in a  book,
but 99% of the time it doesn't really add up when they're asked to apply
themselves in real life.  I would rather be racing in my $7000 race car,
wheel to wheel with a bunch of Bondurant graduates then a bunch of bookworms
who have never been on a track before.

>Not much can be taught in a day.  There is not enough time for classrooom
>sessions, consultation, and seat time.

Well the thing I noticed was that they didn't have qualified teachers
running the program.  They were always other club racers who were fast, and
they'd ride in the car and say "Yep, you look good here.. now we're on the
straight so hit the gas.. Turn left at this left hander...."  Most of the
local one-day schools taught at local track days are just to make sure the
beginners know how to drive well enough not to crash their car the first
session.. not to teach you anything decent.  Then again, they try to teach
everything there is to know in one day.

>Now, one could argue that you could do 20 1-day schools or DE events for
>the cost of a commercial school.

The difference is though, at a driver's school they will teach you how to
drive any track well.  If you do 20 events at the same track, you might get
good at that particular track.  A good comparison would be to take two
people who have never driven before.  Send one to Bondurant, then have the
other to 10 lapping days at the same track.  Wait two weeks and enter both
of them in the One Lap of America and see who does better.  You get three
laps at 10 tracks (just generalizing) to do your best lap..

>Karting is the only subject under discussion that will actually teach you
>about racing and let you know if you really like racing or not.

Not really.  I like racing but I don't like Karting that much.  If you're
into rally, karting won't do a whole lot for helping you make up your mind
about rally driving.

>At a commercial racing school, you can forget about adapting the set-up to
>your liking

It's not a setup school though, it's a driving school over 3-4 days.  Any
new driver shouldn't be worrying about how to setup cars anyways.