I have yet to take an evolution school yet I can drive fairly good I think. How much is there to learn in the phase 1 school for a somewhat experienced auto-xer. I've been driving for almost 3 years now and from my first national tour seem to be able to compete fairly well nationally. I'm just curious to what kind of techniques they teach you at the phase 1 schools or if its knowledge I might already have.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How much is there to learn in the phase 1 school for a somewhat experienced auto-xer. I've been driving for almost 3 years now and from my first national tour seem to be able to compete fairly well nationally. I'm just curious to what kind of techniques they teach you at the phase 1 schools or if its knowledge I might already have. </TD></TR></TABLE>

well, i compete at the national level and took the phase 1 and 2 recently and let's just say i had a lot of bad habits that they pointed out. you can always learn more in this sport. if the day comes and you think you know everything, you might as well quit...

 

I know theres always more to learn. I learn something new every event still. I just didn't know if the phase 1 was aimed more at people just starting. I'll still take it eventually once I have the money.

 

Renee took phase 1 and it slowed her down at first because it was causing her to "think too much." But after some seat time she was able to incorporate what she learned there and ditch some bad habits without applying thought. She ended up picking it up a bit as a result.

The key is apparently not just reverting back to your old ways after the school.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I just didn't know if the phase 1 was aimed more at people just starting. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Since you get 1:1 personal instruction, the instructor teaches you only at the level appropriate for your skill. It seems to work even if you're a better driver than the instructor, and if the instructor has never even driven a car like yours.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> How much is there to learn in the phase 1 school for a somewhat experienced auto-xer. I've been driving for almost 3 years now and from my first national tour seem to be able to compete fairly well nationally. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ask Neary. He was exactly in your situation (only had autoxed longer) and... uhh... his feedback was positive...

 

I know several national champions who have taken the course and they felt it was useful. As said above, they can tailor the instruction to your level. Consider going when they are teaching phase 1 and 2 and take it over two days. I've seen a number of national caliber drivers do that as a way to fix bad habits and kind of a tune up.

 

the real question: is it worth the $200/day?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MrIllegalX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the real question: is it worth the $200/day?</TD></TR></TABLE>

How much drive and ambition do you have to win? Auto-x is about 85-95% driver skill. It's important to you to say... $200 to improve my driving or $200 for that cool new intake, swaybar whatever.

You can't take your swaybar with you if you get a different car a few years down the road, but you can always take what you've learned in the EVO Schools with you.

Tuning the nut behind the wheel is the most important thing to do, if you desire to win.

 

$200 is definitely a lot of money. But, it's not like the instruction ends that day. Once you've participated in just one phase 1 school, you are welcome to ask Evolution instructors for help walking a course at any event, and you are also privy to the Evolution meeting Monday night at Nationals, where a panel of Evo instructors goes over both courses in depth.

I was actually coerced into taking phase 1 and phase 2, but I feel it's helped me out. You think having some "experience" makes it seem like it might not be worth it? Try having one of your instructors be your former co-driver!! I honestly thought I wouldn't learn anything new from the experience, but I did. Like already mentioned, a lot of it, for me, was just tweaking things I was already doing, but all three instructors for my group (yeah, we had 3 instructors per school) had driven with me before, and had driven my car before, so the instruction was certainly tailored to me.

Even Dean "The Man" Sapp says he learns something every time he takes or teaches a phase 1.

Karen

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CamaroFS34 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Even Dean "The Man" Sapp says he learns something every time he takes or teaches a phase 1.

Karen</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd imagine teaching, as much being a student, is a great way to keep your skills very sharp. If I'm instructing at a local event I find I have a much better understanding of the course and the techniques I need to use to drive it efficiently.

EDIT : For as much as I think I know, I would always take instruction whenever I can. Having said that, I still have not attended an Evo school

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CamaroFS34 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Even Dean "The Man" Sapp says he learns something every time he takes or teaches a phase 1.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hear that one of these years, he may even use two hands on the wheel...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How much drive and ambition do you have to win? Auto-x is about 85-95% driver skill. It's important to you to say... $200 to improve my driving or $200 for that cool new intake, swaybar whatever.

You can't take your swaybar with you if you get a different car a few years down the road, but you can always take what you've learned in the EVO Schools with you.

Tuning the nut behind the wheel is the most important thing to do, if you desire to win.</TD></TR></TABLE>

True! I never thought about it that way. You put all this money into your car to make it better, but none into yourself to be a better driver. Well I'm deff. signing up if I have $400 laying around comes November, when the Evo school is here.

 

But on the flipside, there are a lot of good drivers/national champs that have not taken an EVO school either. And there are a lot of drivers that have taken the school that don't do well at events.

It just depends upon the person and how much natural ability you have and how well you are able to read each course.

 

True - natural ability and smarts helps, but if you already have that, the school will "tune" it and hopefully help out.

 

For those of us "mortals" the EVO schools are definitely worth $200. I was in the same position, thinking I was doing pretty well with a couple years under my belt and finishing reasonably well at the National level. Still came away with a lot in the Phase 1. The best thing about it IMO was the ability to try different things and see what worked and what didn't. I got a lot of practice on slaloms which has paid big dividends at later events. Also learned (from the stopwatch) that downshifts to first in my ITR were only worth .1 of second as verified by me and my instructor (Ron Bauer). Big suprise, my tranny is thankful for this validation

I think if you go in with an open mind, wanting to learn, you'll come away with a lot of knowledge. What I took away, was reinforcement in some areas I *was* doing the right thing. Verification in others that I still needed work. And finally, improvement in things I was getting the hang of, but hadn't quite perfected yet. I'd highly recommend the EVO school Phase 1 even to experienced drivers, because it all comes back to the basics when you're going for a National Level trophy or championship.

 

Didn't the EVO school do away with split-time recording, or was that just at one or two events this year?

I could see that being a large benefit if it is still in place.

 

Yes, the EVO does the split times. Very handy to practice different techniques in different sections to see if individually they're making a positive or negative impact on your time. That may have been one of the most useful things about the entire school.

 

What is different about phase 2 for those who have taken it?

 

Phase two is very different. You start off with ONE course walk, and that's it. It's more of a remembering thing, to go with the looking ahead from phase 1. If you don't remember where the course goes, then you might not be looking ahead where you need to.

Karen