I did Skip Barber's formula school this week (3-day course) at Lime Rock.
I'm a complete novice, and from that perspective I thought the course was very good. By the 3rd day, we were all threshold braking, trail braking, brake/throttle under/oversteering our way around the course. Heel toe shifting had become a complete reflex by the end of day 2 because they used the uphill chicane (2 down shifts while threshold braking in about 1.5 seconds).
The course was a bit light on a few areas such as live passing and getting enough rotation into Lime Rock's left hander without spinning. But, I guess that's why they have a 2-day follow on course.
The instructors were all very good, especially Rob Slonaker (chief instructor).
The cars were fairly beat up and to be honest I thought maintenance was clearly neglected on these school cars. However, to be fair, this was a school and not a race, so it didn't matter if one car had slightly better tires than another or one was setup looser/tighter than another. It's unlikely any of our street cars will come close to being as well balanced as these things (they're formula Ford Crossle's with Chrysler I4 engines and sequential gearboxes). So, a little imperfection was probably good for the learning experience.
We did have a group of Schumacher wannabees in the class, and sure enough they did lots of grass mileage and wrecked one car pretty badly. The guy early apex'd the last/fastest corner, stood on the gas and did the infamous zig-zag at probably 70mph into a tire wall. Chassis was very bent and 3 of the 4 corners were dangling by their sway bar links. And lots of fiberglass and aluminum souvenirs for the whole class. But, the guy walked away from it with no more than bruises and a round of big applause from the rest of the nut-cases.
We did have a ringer in the group as well, and we all learned a lot from this young hot-shot.
Anyway, despite the state of the cars, I'd highly recommend it as either entertainment or as a way to become a better driver. These were rear-engined cars so some of what we learned may not translate as well into a BMW as what you learn in the Miata race school. If you want to start vintage racing an M1, however, this class would be a great start. Also, Lime Rock was a good beginners track because it's short so you focus on driving skills rather than getting lost, and you really couldn't get over 110mph to 120mph and (into serious trouble). I'd guess that Laguna Seca and Sears Point would be great beginners tracks, and Watkins Glen, Sebring, etc. would be good for an advanced course.
Finally, the class is $4k plus $500 for insurance ($3k deductible). But you can often find a sale when they're trying to fill up a class that is strongly under-subscribed (30% off or so).
John
P.S. the 2 most popular phone lap timers were race chrono for ANdroid (Free) and Harry's Lap Timer ($20) for Apple.
I'm a complete novice, and from that perspective I thought the course was very good. By the 3rd day, we were all threshold braking, trail braking, brake/throttle under/oversteering our way around the course. Heel toe shifting had become a complete reflex by the end of day 2 because they used the uphill chicane (2 down shifts while threshold braking in about 1.5 seconds).
The course was a bit light on a few areas such as live passing and getting enough rotation into Lime Rock's left hander without spinning. But, I guess that's why they have a 2-day follow on course.
The instructors were all very good, especially Rob Slonaker (chief instructor).
The cars were fairly beat up and to be honest I thought maintenance was clearly neglected on these school cars. However, to be fair, this was a school and not a race, so it didn't matter if one car had slightly better tires than another or one was setup looser/tighter than another. It's unlikely any of our street cars will come close to being as well balanced as these things (they're formula Ford Crossle's with Chrysler I4 engines and sequential gearboxes). So, a little imperfection was probably good for the learning experience.
We did have a group of Schumacher wannabees in the class, and sure enough they did lots of grass mileage and wrecked one car pretty badly. The guy early apex'd the last/fastest corner, stood on the gas and did the infamous zig-zag at probably 70mph into a tire wall. Chassis was very bent and 3 of the 4 corners were dangling by their sway bar links. And lots of fiberglass and aluminum souvenirs for the whole class. But, the guy walked away from it with no more than bruises and a round of big applause from the rest of the nut-cases.
We did have a ringer in the group as well, and we all learned a lot from this young hot-shot.
Anyway, despite the state of the cars, I'd highly recommend it as either entertainment or as a way to become a better driver. These were rear-engined cars so some of what we learned may not translate as well into a BMW as what you learn in the Miata race school. If you want to start vintage racing an M1, however, this class would be a great start. Also, Lime Rock was a good beginners track because it's short so you focus on driving skills rather than getting lost, and you really couldn't get over 110mph to 120mph and (into serious trouble). I'd guess that Laguna Seca and Sears Point would be great beginners tracks, and Watkins Glen, Sebring, etc. would be good for an advanced course.
Finally, the class is $4k plus $500 for insurance ($3k deductible). But you can often find a sale when they're trying to fill up a class that is strongly under-subscribed (30% off or so).
John
P.S. the 2 most popular phone lap timers were race chrono for ANdroid (Free) and Harry's Lap Timer ($20) for Apple.
