Mike Spencer
New member
First of all I want to start by saying, "WOW"!
I am in my late 40's and this was my very first time in any kind of real racing environment. I drove one of about 8 IT7 cars. There were a total of about 90 students. Group 1 was open-wheel. They probably had between 15 and 20 cars. Group 2 was what they called "small bore" stuff - SPU, Prod (G&H), ITB, ITC, GTL, SM and SS. They were the largest group with close to 40 cars (mostly Miatas). I was in Group 3 with everybody else including ITS, ITE, SPO, ITA, GT1-3 and (of course) IT7. I think we had about 34 total.
I have flagged at one school and crewed at another, so I have "some" reference points. This school was great! All of the classroom time was done on Thursday afternoon, then we did a walking tour of the track. On Friday morning we got "station wagon tours". Then we followed the pace car around in single-file. The next session we followed the pace car again, but double-wide. The third session we ran under double-yellow, except for the front straight. They dropped the double-yellow at "8" and "Start", and then we saw it again at "1". Then about halfway through the session the whole course went green. The school I flagged at they ran one session behind the pace car, and then they got turned loose. I thought this way was MUCH better.
They did another "station wagon tour" on Saturday morning. After having actually driven the track, I thought that was helpful. They did yet another during lunch on Sunday. That turned into very few instructors and quite a few sports cars just out fooling around. The session was (appropriately) cut short.
I had a very big concern right off the bat. In the classroom session on Thursday I found out (talking to his dad) that there was a young kid (under 18) driving an SPO Monte Carlo with about 500 HP. I don't know what rule they "violated", but this was essentially a GT1 car. There were a total of 3 of these sorta-GT1 cars. (Mental image: Me in my little 1st-gen being crushed at the end of the front straight by a kid sitting on a phone book trying to drive a GT1 car) BOY, WAS I EVER WRONG! I don't remember his name, and probably wouldn't list it anyway, but he was incredible. He waited for points, never EVER saw him dive-bomb anyone, had good car control and LOTS of maturity. OH! And he was usually fastest in the group, or at least in the top 3.
HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS (in absolutely no order whatsoever)
- 14 cars (not in my group) racing through SEVERAL double-yellows. They black-flagged the entire group and chewed some SERIOUS @$$.
- Passing a GT1 car TWICE! (No, not the "kid". This guy was just a little timid at first) One of my crew told me to enjoy it. "It will NEVER happen again!"
- A guy in a rented SRF who did a 5th-to-2nd downshift instead of a 5th-to-4th, spun off track, smashed the front end and blew what I was told is a $10,000 engine. (That'll leave a mark!)
- Seeing the passing flag at "start", then seeing two GT1 cars closing at about a bazillion MPH as I approached the braking zone at "1". The first one got around me and tucked in front so all I could see was his back bumper. The other one (yeah, the "kid") showed some real poise. He could have tried it, but didn't. Instead he tucked in behind me so all I could see in my mirrors was the nose of his car! We went through "1" that way, but since I couldn't see the track at all, I missed the turn-in for "2". I went 2-off driver's left and came back on behind the kid. After that, they disappeared into the sunset.
- Our 2nd red-flag of the school. It happened on Sunday. The first one was on Saturday. Most everyone was good about it. This time, I was going into "4" and saw them throw it at the last second. I pulled over around the corner (it's a Right) on driver's left. It was not a throw-out-the-anchor stop, but the next thing I see is one of the GT1 cars (not the kid) looming large in my rear-view. I "jumped" the car forward, he went off-track to the left and ended up along side me in the dirt. Then the parade started. We were just past the "back door" to the paddock. Out of the gate and onto the track comes an ambulance, a pick-up (fire truck) and then a flatbed. I'm thinking, "Boy! They're going to an awful lot of trouble to make this realistic." NOPE... Once EV had gone by they dropped the red, went black-flag-all and waved us on. We followed the EV trucks around to Pit Lane where we saw them go off driver's left toward a car sitting in the woods. Turns out a very fast (rented) blue ITA Miata had broken something in the front suspension. The left-front wheel came off just as he was turning onto the front straight. My crew later told me he left the track at full bore, slowly spun in the grass and backed into a tree. The driver was OK. We sat in the pits for quite a while. They let us back out for the rest of our session, but there was dirt all over the track between Pit-In and the front straight. Lots of tip-toeing and a reminder of what the debris flag looks like. Somehow, they got the car fixed at least enough for the guy to take his starts that afternoon and finish the school. He seemed fine, but I'll bet he's awfully sore today!
- My second "practice race". I picked up a few spots on the first green. We were waved off the second time, then waved off again the third time. That confused a few people including me. I found out later a guy in a BMW seriously jumped the second start (you KNOW they're going green this time, right?). He was black-flagged and brought in for a "consultation". The NEXT time around we got the green. Everything was clean until we got to "5". It's a fairly sharp left and I was on the inside. Suddenly, we were in a dust cloud that completely covered the corner. I was following another 1st-gen and about all I could see were his brake lights. We tip-toed through the corner until I saw a CRX off driver's left. We came out of the cloud and I punched it. Amazingly, I don't think anybody hit anybody. The remaining few laps were clean and I got to dice with the 1st-gen and an E-30 BMW the rest of the way. I ran my fastest lap of the school, and that kind of "tied the bow" on the whole weekend.
For anybody thinking about going to a driver's school, my best advice would be to bring a crew. My car had no real "issues", but just checking the tire pressures, adding fuel and washing the windshield would have taken more time than I had. I usually parked the car, went over to my instuctor, talked a little, as a group (instructor and students) we watched some of the Group 1 cars to see "good lines" vs. "bad lines", got back in my car, pulled onto the false grid and got ready for my next session. When I wasn't watching Group 1, I was talking to other drivers in my group, taking in water, or getting rid of it.
My other advice would be NOT to use a radio, even if you have one. It would have been so easy for my crew to call me when they threw a red flag, or when they black flagged me (I was a little worried at the time, but the Chief Instructor met me in pit lane and said they were just throwing random black flags to see if we were paying attention). The bottom line is, I DID miss a couple of flags. I also got racing with people and more than a couple of times thought to myself, "boy I sure hope they weren't showing anything at that last corner station, because I WASN'T LOOKING!" It's a school, and I need to learn to do this. I guess I see it like a calculator. It's a wonderful tool, but you need to learn to add and subtract long-hand first.
In the end, we wound up with almost 7 hours of track-time. Granted that DID include station wagon tours, and the walking tour we took on Thursday afternoon, but it was a BUNCH of seat time!
Thanks to ALL the Buccaneer Region people that put this on, all the other students who raced me clean, to Adam Malley my Chief Instructor, Heather Powers my Instructor, and especially Joedy and Sam my crew.
I'm looking forward to seeing some of you guys at the March race at VIR.
------------------
Mike Spencer
NC Region
ITA/7 RX-7 #60
1990 RX-7 Convertible (street car)
I am in my late 40's and this was my very first time in any kind of real racing environment. I drove one of about 8 IT7 cars. There were a total of about 90 students. Group 1 was open-wheel. They probably had between 15 and 20 cars. Group 2 was what they called "small bore" stuff - SPU, Prod (G&H), ITB, ITC, GTL, SM and SS. They were the largest group with close to 40 cars (mostly Miatas). I was in Group 3 with everybody else including ITS, ITE, SPO, ITA, GT1-3 and (of course) IT7. I think we had about 34 total.
I have flagged at one school and crewed at another, so I have "some" reference points. This school was great! All of the classroom time was done on Thursday afternoon, then we did a walking tour of the track. On Friday morning we got "station wagon tours". Then we followed the pace car around in single-file. The next session we followed the pace car again, but double-wide. The third session we ran under double-yellow, except for the front straight. They dropped the double-yellow at "8" and "Start", and then we saw it again at "1". Then about halfway through the session the whole course went green. The school I flagged at they ran one session behind the pace car, and then they got turned loose. I thought this way was MUCH better.
They did another "station wagon tour" on Saturday morning. After having actually driven the track, I thought that was helpful. They did yet another during lunch on Sunday. That turned into very few instructors and quite a few sports cars just out fooling around. The session was (appropriately) cut short.
I had a very big concern right off the bat. In the classroom session on Thursday I found out (talking to his dad) that there was a young kid (under 18) driving an SPO Monte Carlo with about 500 HP. I don't know what rule they "violated", but this was essentially a GT1 car. There were a total of 3 of these sorta-GT1 cars. (Mental image: Me in my little 1st-gen being crushed at the end of the front straight by a kid sitting on a phone book trying to drive a GT1 car) BOY, WAS I EVER WRONG! I don't remember his name, and probably wouldn't list it anyway, but he was incredible. He waited for points, never EVER saw him dive-bomb anyone, had good car control and LOTS of maturity. OH! And he was usually fastest in the group, or at least in the top 3.
HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS (in absolutely no order whatsoever)
- 14 cars (not in my group) racing through SEVERAL double-yellows. They black-flagged the entire group and chewed some SERIOUS @$$.
- Passing a GT1 car TWICE! (No, not the "kid". This guy was just a little timid at first) One of my crew told me to enjoy it. "It will NEVER happen again!"
- A guy in a rented SRF who did a 5th-to-2nd downshift instead of a 5th-to-4th, spun off track, smashed the front end and blew what I was told is a $10,000 engine. (That'll leave a mark!)
- Seeing the passing flag at "start", then seeing two GT1 cars closing at about a bazillion MPH as I approached the braking zone at "1". The first one got around me and tucked in front so all I could see was his back bumper. The other one (yeah, the "kid") showed some real poise. He could have tried it, but didn't. Instead he tucked in behind me so all I could see in my mirrors was the nose of his car! We went through "1" that way, but since I couldn't see the track at all, I missed the turn-in for "2". I went 2-off driver's left and came back on behind the kid. After that, they disappeared into the sunset.
- Our 2nd red-flag of the school. It happened on Sunday. The first one was on Saturday. Most everyone was good about it. This time, I was going into "4" and saw them throw it at the last second. I pulled over around the corner (it's a Right) on driver's left. It was not a throw-out-the-anchor stop, but the next thing I see is one of the GT1 cars (not the kid) looming large in my rear-view. I "jumped" the car forward, he went off-track to the left and ended up along side me in the dirt. Then the parade started. We were just past the "back door" to the paddock. Out of the gate and onto the track comes an ambulance, a pick-up (fire truck) and then a flatbed. I'm thinking, "Boy! They're going to an awful lot of trouble to make this realistic." NOPE... Once EV had gone by they dropped the red, went black-flag-all and waved us on. We followed the EV trucks around to Pit Lane where we saw them go off driver's left toward a car sitting in the woods. Turns out a very fast (rented) blue ITA Miata had broken something in the front suspension. The left-front wheel came off just as he was turning onto the front straight. My crew later told me he left the track at full bore, slowly spun in the grass and backed into a tree. The driver was OK. We sat in the pits for quite a while. They let us back out for the rest of our session, but there was dirt all over the track between Pit-In and the front straight. Lots of tip-toeing and a reminder of what the debris flag looks like. Somehow, they got the car fixed at least enough for the guy to take his starts that afternoon and finish the school. He seemed fine, but I'll bet he's awfully sore today!
- My second "practice race". I picked up a few spots on the first green. We were waved off the second time, then waved off again the third time. That confused a few people including me. I found out later a guy in a BMW seriously jumped the second start (you KNOW they're going green this time, right?). He was black-flagged and brought in for a "consultation". The NEXT time around we got the green. Everything was clean until we got to "5". It's a fairly sharp left and I was on the inside. Suddenly, we were in a dust cloud that completely covered the corner. I was following another 1st-gen and about all I could see were his brake lights. We tip-toed through the corner until I saw a CRX off driver's left. We came out of the cloud and I punched it. Amazingly, I don't think anybody hit anybody. The remaining few laps were clean and I got to dice with the 1st-gen and an E-30 BMW the rest of the way. I ran my fastest lap of the school, and that kind of "tied the bow" on the whole weekend.
For anybody thinking about going to a driver's school, my best advice would be to bring a crew. My car had no real "issues", but just checking the tire pressures, adding fuel and washing the windshield would have taken more time than I had. I usually parked the car, went over to my instuctor, talked a little, as a group (instructor and students) we watched some of the Group 1 cars to see "good lines" vs. "bad lines", got back in my car, pulled onto the false grid and got ready for my next session. When I wasn't watching Group 1, I was talking to other drivers in my group, taking in water, or getting rid of it.
My other advice would be NOT to use a radio, even if you have one. It would have been so easy for my crew to call me when they threw a red flag, or when they black flagged me (I was a little worried at the time, but the Chief Instructor met me in pit lane and said they were just throwing random black flags to see if we were paying attention). The bottom line is, I DID miss a couple of flags. I also got racing with people and more than a couple of times thought to myself, "boy I sure hope they weren't showing anything at that last corner station, because I WASN'T LOOKING!" It's a school, and I need to learn to do this. I guess I see it like a calculator. It's a wonderful tool, but you need to learn to add and subtract long-hand first.
In the end, we wound up with almost 7 hours of track-time. Granted that DID include station wagon tours, and the walking tour we took on Thursday afternoon, but it was a BUNCH of seat time!
Thanks to ALL the Buccaneer Region people that put this on, all the other students who raced me clean, to Adam Malley my Chief Instructor, Heather Powers my Instructor, and especially Joedy and Sam my crew.
I'm looking forward to seeing some of you guys at the March race at VIR.
------------------
Mike Spencer
NC Region
ITA/7 RX-7 #60
1990 RX-7 Convertible (street car)
