Racing Schools

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by mfain

Todd,

I agree with the previous post. I moved to Pahrump and did the engineering and supervised the construction of the orignal 2.2 mile circuit of Spring Mountain for Rupert Bragg-Smith, the original owner/designer. It is a very technical track and a blast to drive. In the past few years the new owners have added more track and a lot of features. It is a great facility with several driving schools (Corvette, ZR-1, Lotus, Radical) with quality folks running the place. The schools are generally more geared toward car control and high performance driving than actual road racing, but they do have advanced courses. I now spend a lot of time at Firebird (Phoenix) and the track isn't as "upscale", but it is hard to beat Bondurant's school for instruction. However, if you are looking for a challenging course and would like to get a jump on future track days, I think a session at Spring Mountain will not disappoint you.

Pappy (56 Corvette Road Racer)

Thanks Pappy......I'm brand new to the road course scene so more of a beginner class is just fine. That is where I'll be spending a majority of my seat time so I thought I'd check there first. I'll check on Bondurant and see if they do one on one courses as well.

[GregWeld]

Todd ---

When I did BB - I did the "ZO6 EXPERIENCE"... they did class time - about apex - turn in - tire contact - braking - under and over steer etc - then we jumped in the CTS's they had set up with outriggers... the instructor can raise or lower either end or both -- and you go out and turn some figure 8's - while this butthead tries to mess you up bigtime! It's so much fun it's ridiculous! Then you get in the ZO6's and do some wet stops etc - then we did slalom - and they taught you about that - which is all about "balance"... Their school is all about building blocks - and they have that all figured out. There was only 4 of us in this class -- and we had all the instruction you could use - or needed.

The Spring Mountain romp - was more - some classroom time -- very basic instructions - lots of "if you crash it you pay the bill" - and then follow the leader... LOTS AND LOTS of laps -- which I was more than happy to do... but the LEARNING / TEACHING was not even close to what they're offering at Bondurant.

I also agree that the track was more fun at SM! But I needed the instruction from BB to be able to enjoy the seat time I got at SM -- if that makes any sense to you.

By the way -- you want to have a blast and really poo your little panties?? Do a 6 speed shifter cart class while you're at Bondurants!! 0 - 100 - 0 in about 6 seconds or less -- can't remember the actual number - but it's scary fast!

In the cars you brake BEFORE the corner -- in the carts - you drop gear and accelerate through the corner.... man, I'm tellin' ya - this is a blast not to be missed.