(Note: I'd mentioned here that I'd attended this class. I did the following writeup on Team Shelby and am reposting here.)
To recap....
Last December at the annual Shelby American Collection fundraiser party I picked up one of the classes that Bob Bondurant put in the silent auction. That entitled me to a two-day "Z06 Experience" class. Based on some discussion with others I decided to upgrade to the 4-day Grand Prix racing class.
The outline for the class is taken from the Bondurant brochure:
Day One
Intro / Tour / Van Ride
Ground School
Throttle Steer
Heel & Toe Downshift
(Lunch)
Ground School
Accident Avoidance
Handling Oval
Heel & Toe Downshift
Day Two
Ground School
Maricopa Oval
Skid Car
Braking Exercises
(Lunch)
Ground School
Intro Race Track
Lead & Follow
Instructor Ride & Drive
Day Three
Ground School
Skid Car / Instructor Ride & Drive-Short
Course [we didn't go back to this - straight to the track]
Intro Full Course / Lead & Follow
Instructor Ride & Drive
(Lunch)
Race Ground School
Practice Race Starts
Day Four (Formula Mazda)
Ground School
Fit to Cars
Formula Mazda Shifting
Lead & Follow / Open Track-Short Course
(Lunch)
Ground School
Lead & Follow / Open Track-Full Course
There is an instructor for each three students. This is determined by the use of the Cadillac CTS as an instructor car - driver plus three passengers for the course path intros and discussion. [One of these could be a very fun car. Certainly a sleeper car comparable to the Galaxie 500's of yesteryear.]
The first three days are in the Corvettes. I'd not driven one for something like 20 years, and I think maybe they're kind of OK now
The first day and second morning was in the practice area. It started off with a rather spirited drive over everything in a big van that had obviously been suspension tuned for some pretty cool handling. Then right to the cars and practice heel-toe downshifting.
Then to an accident avoidance portion of the course - you go down a single lane to a 3-lane fanout with three lights and have to take the one that stays green. A similar spot is used for some braking exercises.
The skid pad was a very good exercise. They have some Cadillacs with hydraulic lifter outriggers that lift the car's front and rear wheels to create under and oversteer. It really reinforces the "look where you want to go" when handling skids.
The second half of the second day was on the track. On the first afternoon we got introduced to a portion that is an oval with a constant radius and a decreasing radius circles and practiced entry / apex / exit. On the third day the other half of the course is used with lots of different turns and some tight chicanes that require the use of heel-toe and other things. Then the entire track is opened up combining both parts with two hills that really make it interesting.
During the driving sessions you are in the car by yourself most of the time. The instructors observe and then will ride with you pointing out areas of improvement that can be made, and once drove the car with me riding. I was overly cautious as I tried to approach the car's capabilities and he showed me that if I keep looking for the limit that it was going to take a while
As I said, the Corvette has grown up quite a bit. That said, the Corvettes had all of the "electronic nannies" (ABS, traction control and stability control) enabled, so it was almost impossible to really experience any oversteer even on the tightest turns. "Remember what you did to get the car to fix it and don't do that again". (Don't worry, no nannies on day 4).
For the SCCA card they also do race starts and restarts (with a pace car and green flag and all).
The third day is the end of the main class. One of the students couldn't continue to the 4th day which left us with 5 into day 4.
Day 4 is a totally different animal. We "graduate" from the Corvettes to the Formula Mazda cars. These are small purpose-built race cars with nothing but a seat, 4 wheels, engine and transmission wrapped in fiberglass. No nannies here. Low center of gravity and very stable. And fun. After getting fitted into the cars, and a brief intro lead/follow trip we were on the short track in the morning and the full track the rest of the day (about 5 hours total).
Passing is allowed in designated zones (the straight, with another zone added during the Mazda portion of the class).
This class is definitely worth it. You get to do things that you'd never be able to do on public streets, and the racing isn't in a competition mode.
It's not real easy to take pictures because you're in the car almost all the time. Lunch was 1-1/2 hours and for the first three days there was something on the track so I got some pictures during lunch. They follow.
Bondurant School of High Performance Driving
Linear Mode
