OK so here is my problem....

I have done 5 HPDE's and I am currently in intermediate and will be in advanced very soon. I have a GSR that I have already put a cage in and I am getting ready to go racing. The one problem I have is there are currenlty no more race schools for the rest of the year, which I will need in order to get my regional SCCA license.

1. Is this a good oppertunity to go to Skip Barber Racing School? I am thinking that this is probably the best bang for you buck (learning wise) that you can get. Do you feel the same?

2. Will the 3 day school get me a regional license?

3. Is it worth $3,500?

Thanks!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTECAcuraGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The one problem I have is there are currenlty no more race schools for the rest of the year, which I will need in order to get my regional SCCA license. </TD></TR></TABLE>

There's a school at summit (DC Region) in october, at VIR (SE) in November, and I'm sure others as well....

 

Me personally being about the same skill level as you report with a similar car, I'd say Yes! and I'd be all over it if I could afford the time and money.

I picked up "Going Faster" last year and can only guess that the Barber school would make the already awesome and informative book pale in comparison.

I've also considered a school: Derek Daley is the one I looked at, solely based on my free/vacation time does Not coincide with scheduled Skip Barber school's.

 

You need to call SCCA directly or go to scca.org to see what pro schools count for gainst your license. Some pro schools count for full requirements while others count for half so be sure when you go in what you will have when you come out.

I have not done a Barber School but I have done Russell, Derek Daly and they were pretty good (I got the most out of Daly at Las Vegas myself). Barber is probably the best known pre road racing school of them all. Check them all out for schedules, prices and what SCCA requirements they cover. Also at the school, let them know that you are wanting to get an SCCA license as sometimes they need to adapt their curriculum to meet SCCA requirements like giving practice starts, etc.

 

I believe there is an SCCA school at LRP like June 18th? Last weekend Skip Barber was having a memorial day sale where they took $700 off the price of the school, so I took advantage of that and signed up. I talked to a guy by the name of Steve Kunsey who was very helpfull, he said that the 3-day school satisfies the SCCA liscense requirements, and at the end, as long as everything goes smooth, you pay an extra $200 bucks and they send forms in to SCCA and eventually SCCA sends you your liscense. Right now most of the schools in June are full at LRP, but July he said was open. Hope this helps!

-Mark

 

Is it worth $3500?

Think about it this way.
Is your car 100% ready to go? If not, what does a rental cost? How is your car getting to the track? Do you have a crew? If so, are they free?

Finally, you are going to learn the "right way" to do everything, things as simple as braking and downshifting to approaching a new course. You'll be doing this with professional veteran roadracers overseeing you. If you are thinking of doing it at LRP, do it! The instructor pool is amazing there, there are guys with 100s of thousands of miles around LRP teaching there.

Not trying to knock an SCCA school but if you can do a "pro" school, do it!

 

If it's the school that uses the open wheel cars I would do it in a heartbeat. That's the way to go. I wouldn't do any of there other programs, not worth the money IMO. And for the NER SCCA region the Skippy school does count to get your license. And man, they really get you, $200 for them to send your stuff to SCCA. I finished a 2 day NER school to get my novice permit. This allows me to enter races but I need to do 2 races before I can get my regional license. You want to find out if you get your regional license or just a novice permit. I have 1 race left and then I can send in for my regional license. Then you need to do so many races every year to keep your license also, just keep that in mind.

s

 

So I called Skippy today to see if I could still get the $700 off and they gave me until the end of the day to do so... I thought about it and bam $2,800 later I am going to the 3 day school. Yes it's a lot of money, but how many HPDE's would you do to get the same level of talented trainers? Skippy will give you the best of everything and I should be able to come out of there a better driver. I will let everyone know how things go!

 

Have fun, congrats! Take pics and let us know how the school was, i'm interested as well.

 

If it's anything like the Bondurant school I did 8 years ago, it is worth every damn dime and then some.

I've been told by fellow instructors and students that I am a smooth driver with solid technique. I attribute this entirely to getting off on the right foot at a pro school. It was a very accelerated learning curve and was fantastic.

In three days I learned how to properly heel-toe, look ahead, shuffle steer, position myself in the car...you know, all the "sound technique" stuff. Now granted I didn't always *do* these things but I "got it" and that's a hufe deal.

If Skippy has a skid car, GET IN IT. That was the most effective instruction I've ever received. My instructor could simulate anything at the flip of a switch and I had to react. I'm convinced to this day that it's why I'm able to drive the car pretty fast with its rear swaybar endlinks fused solid

I probably need not tell you what a kick in the *** those Formula Dodges will be. The Fords I drove didn't even have wings or slicks and you couldn't pull the smile off my face for months.

The other thing is that you're using their equipment. I overheated one of the Bondurant mustangs, and rather than having to flail under the hood of the damn Integra, my instructor said "Hang on right here I'll go get you another car." And there it was. I think all I did was sit in a chair and drink a lemonade.

Not sure if you saw the thread, but my instructor at Bondurant just won the Indy 500 this weekend. So no, you don't get that level of knowledge at a BMWCCA Weekend.

Have fun, take pictures, and pay attention. It'll be the best three days of your motorsports life.

 

One other thing - at least with Bondurant, the three day school didn't get you a license. The fourth day of the 4-dayer was all racing and race practice, closing with a race at the end of the day. In the open wheel cars. So call them and make sure you get your license at the end of the Skip Barber 3-day.

 

when i went to skip barber in 2001 the 3 day racing school was enough to get your SCCA regional license. To get a national license required additional lapping days or advanced school. i think its worth the money, i havent done any pro stuff since but drove for Formula SAE and did pretty well.

 

You can get the SCCA liscense after the 3 day IF you do well enough. It isn't a given that you get the liscense just for finishing the program alive, you have to show that you can handle the car well enough at speed.

I did Skippy way back in '99, but it helped me a lot. It didn't help with racing, because quite honestly, they don't have any wheel to wheel excersizes in the curriculum, but I left completely comfortable with several skills that I didn't previously have. There is no skid car per say, but you do spend time on a skid pad. Enjoy it, it's a really good time!

 

I did both the Skip Barber three day race school and the SCCA school. Technically I didn't have to do the SCCA school but I did so to become familiar with how SCCA works.

Both schools are completely different but helped me become a decent racer.

Skip Barber:

They assume you know nothing and have never been on a race track before. The only assumption made is that you can drive a manual.

They start out slow and go over the basic as others here have mentioned. The first two days you don't even do a full lap. They spend a great deal of time on each skill and add the up to the point where by the third day you finally are doing some hot laps and by the afternoon you get to do some wheel to wheel racing with passing.

In addition you get 5 practice starts and you get skid pad time.

For me it was a great thrill driving an open wheel car, but I already knew many of the basics because I had been doing track events for 5 + years.

As some one else here posted, Skippy teaches you the basics of racing but it doesn't teach you TO RACE !

SCCA School:

Like being thrown to a pack of wolves. They tell you it's for beginners, but at my school 1/2 the folks were returning racers and people with extensive skills. There was no basics taught like heel n' toe, threshold braking etc... From the very first session I was thrown in with Formula Continentals and Formula Mazda's ( I was in a Spec Racer Ford). The slow controlled climate of Skip Barber was no where to be found. This was wheel to wheel racing from the start with passing everywhere.

I already had the basics and this was good wheel to wheel practice with everything from slower Formula V's to fast Formula cars. There were people in my group who had never done anything but autocross. How they got through the weekend is beyond me.

In the end I benefited from both schools but for different reasons.

I also did a few lapping days and the Advanced Car Control class before competing in the Eastern Region Formula Dodge Championship.

Overall, it sounds like with 5 HPDE's under you belt you could still greatly benefit from SKippy school.

Both are great but they are for differnet levels of skill.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
#40 Guident Technolgies/HRPWorld.com/Flatoutracing.net Integra LS H4

 

Jeremy, what dates did you pick for the 3-day school? Steve called me today and said the July 19-22nd was the soonest available dates so thats when Im going, maybe Ill see ya there!


-Mark